January 21, 2007: The Riggins Family

• Jan 18, 2007 08:44 PM ET
• by John Littlefield

One of the great things about my job is the travel - touring America, taking in the sights, sounds and smells of the real communities that intertwine to create the very fabric of American society. This week we roll the bus into Raleigh, North Carolina, and without exception - from everyone we met - we got such a feeling of giving and community through the altruism of these strangers coming together to help this one amazing family. Maybe it's a Southern thing - you know, that famous Southern hospitality. It sure taught me a thing or two about what it means to truly be selfless, to not have very much but still find it within yourself to give.

Our family, the Riggins, will always have a special place in my heart. Linda Riggins is a phenomenal human being. She gives and gives of herself to the family and her neighbors. She is a superhero. I can't say enough about her, through all the troubles in her life that she battles every day. Her husband, William, is legally blind and she has a history of medical problems, which then have added up to a history of medical bills. Not to mention this house, which has fallen into such disrepair that the city has threatened to condemn it. Through all of this, Linda has managed to raise her family while becoming a pillar of hope and a wonderful example of what giving really means by running the local community center's after-school program and the ministry, and by just being there when someone needs help.

After putting the family in the limo and sending them off on their first "real" vacation, I got right down to it. In honor of Linda's work in the community center, we decided to go ahead and fix up the old dilapidated building that had become the hub for her work. This building, while serving its purpose, still needed a face-lift. New paint, new roof, new windows, weather sealant, modernize the auditorium, you know, a little TLC. I loved being able to enlist all the neighborhood kids and work with them; they gave me tons of help and kept me on track.

While the kids provided valuable labor, we have to thank our awesome builder this week: HomeLife Communities, and the hundreds of skilled craftsmen who worked tirelessly to complete this mammoth project, which not only included building a home for the Riggins but also renovating the community center with me. What a great group of guys, also superheroes in my book.

To cap off the great week, we decided that the community center needed an insignia, a school seal, so we commissioned a mural to be painted. Underneath this mural we painted the words "Hope is Eternal." It was our wish for the children that they would continue to hope for their families, communities, futures and, ultimately, for a better world.