CCAssist: "There, but for the grace of God, go I."
It's a common enough expression, but have you ever stopped to consider what it means? It means what has happened to someone else, under other circumstances, could have just as easily happened to us.
On June 7, 2006, it did happen to my family. The car being driven by my oldest son flipped on a gravel road. My daughter, who was 14 at the time, was thrown from the car. The car rolled over her, coming to a stop on her head. By a series of events that can only be attributed to Divine Intervention, she survived the accident, but every bone in her face was broken, and she suffered a hairline skull fracture.
My daughter was life-flighted to Houston, where she spent four days in the Shock/Trauma ICU and another week in the surgical ward. She underwent two surgeries to reconstruct her face, and didn't recover her full range of vision for another six months.
Her father and I wouldn't allow ourselves to think of the expense of our daughter's treatment, but we knew it would be staggering. In fact, we resigned ourselves to the knowledge that paying for her treatment would break us. At the time, the only thing that mattered was our daughter’s recovery.
A few days later, the youth group from our church came to visit. Fifty teens from a town with a total population of 300 traveled almost two hours to come see our daughter in the hospital. The pastor brought with him an envelope. They had taken up a collection and presented us with nearly $2000 to offset our daughter’s medical expenses! Our entire family was flabbergasted at the generosity of others displayed in our time of need.
Even though that gift wasn’t from CCAssist, the principle and the spirit are the same. Regardless of the source of the misfortune, a member of the CCA family is hurting. You may think you can’t make a significant contribution, but even an amount as small as a dollar, combined with the contributions of others throughout the company add up. Ours is a large family; nearly 17,000 strong. Imagine if every professional in CCA contributed only $1 per paycheck. That would amount to almost $35,000 a month ready to help our coworkers in their time of need!
Now if you’ve ever benefitted from the generosity of others, or if you’ve ever hurt for your friend in need, I challenge you. Complete the CCAssist contribution form coming in August. We never know who may need CCAssist next. It could be your best buddy at work. It could be you.