It only takes one – one kind word, one small gesture, one helping hand – to make a difference.
And that’s what Lisa McMillan hopes people take away from her new book, “Living Fulfilled: The Infectious Joy of Serving Others.”
Penned “three years and 23 people later,” the work embodies the McMillan’s mission to feed the hungry and make a difference in someone’s life. McMillan, a Brewton native, is most known for her Carlisa Ministries, a non-profit that provides free meals to Jefferson Davis Community College students and home-bound elderly, and her 53-day trek to Washington to bring attention to hunger.
A book sale and signing will be held Saturday at Longevity Antiques from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Cost is $21, and all proceeds will go back into the food bank ministry.
Inside the pages, McMillan tells how she was first introduced to the concept of giving when a couple gifted her with a silver half –dollar.
“I’ll never forget it,” she said, choked with tears as she recounted the experience. “I waved. They waved, and then they stopped. I was 12, walking home from my grandparents’ house.
“It was a white couple, driving a white Cadillac,” she said. “She asked my name, and I told her. She told me to hold out my hand and she put a Kennedy half dollar in it.
“She said, ‘That’s for waving at us. You didn’t know who we were, and you made my day,’” McMillan said. “The joy at doing something for someone else, I can’t describe it to you. It made me feel so good, and every day, that’s why I do what I do, because it makes me feel good.”
Proceeds of each book sale will be used – 100 percent – to fund feeding the needy in Brewton and the surrounding areas, she said.
“From that day on, I made it my goal to do something nice for someone else,” she said. “I started helping with the elderly in the community – little jobs, whatever they needed. I grew up trying to be that person. I want to give that joy back to people, that ‘my heart racing with that half dollar in my hand’ feeling. And that’s why I felt like I needed to write this book, so that maybe someone will read it and be motivated.”
McMillan said the book highlights random acts of kindness from people in the community – from donating a “few dollars” to stepping up to provide hundreds of dollars to feed the hungry.
“We hope this book will inspire people to look for those opportunities where they can make a difference,” she said. “God isn’t just going to drop them in your lap. You got to look for those. You can’t sit on your laurels.”
Copies of the book are also available by calling McMillan at 251.727.2411.
Overflow parking will be available for Saturday’s signing next door to Longevity at the Brewton Chiropractic Clinic.