LANSING, Mich. — In many parts of the country, winter is challenging every year. In 2020 as we deal with the pandemic, it could feel even more difficult, but in Washington state, one man is working to keep cutting through those challenges. Chris Stewart has that story.
Shane McDaniel shares: “I am a Marine Corps veteran and my wife is disabled.”
Ashley explained that “I worry about my father who has been battling stage 4 cancer.”
They are hopes: “I’m struggling to pay my bills and have shut my furnace off.” and prayers: that Shane McDaniel and his family try to answer with each piece of wood tossed into this pile. Shane shared: “get my eight kids together and split as much wood as we can and we just keep mulling it and piling it up.” Tthey chop, split, and cut throughout the year, but it’s when the temperature drops.
This father of eight receives countless messages on facebook from people struggling, looking for a way to stay warm. Shane: “it’s a lot of messages from people that are just in despair." His drive to donate started three years ago, when he says during a scuba diving lesson he nearly drowned.
Shane: “drowning changes your perspective on what you even own what you spend your time doing and i just wanted to make a positive impact." Each winter since he’s given firewood to those facing challenges, like Sarah Deremer. Sarah: "our propane bill was almost $700 a month.”
Shane brought her firewood last year. She’s a single mom working multiple jobs, something heating bills don't understand. “I don’t get handouts. I’ve done everything on my own for me and my kids so it's just like, it was hard for me to accept someone being nice to me.”
Shane helps people fighting many battles including one he knows all too well. “yup, yeah, I lost my dad and my brother and my sister’s got cancer, yeah,” and then there are those fighting battles few will ever understand.
“I said I’m a 60-year-old woman who was just diagnosed with ALS and this might be my last winter.” Cindy Zink doesn’t know how much time she has left. “That’s what god has for me so I’m going to wake up every day and live that day that he gave me.” But for however long she will be here, she’ll be warmed by the wood in her fireplace. “It’s a beautiful thing when people come over and it draws them right into the home,” because warmth, especially in the most trying of times carries a meaning beyond just temperature and flame. “Those are the ones that make you say you know what we’re going keep doing this.”
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