Service with a Smile

For over a decade there has been a men’s small group that meets on Friday mornings at 6 a.m. at a local Denny’s. Many of the faces have changed through the years, but a few have remained the same, including Navigator Pete Fuller, and one of the group’s two usual waitresses, Angie.

Just before the COVID-19 swept through the nation, the transmission in Angie’s car went out and she no longer had a way to get to work. Then the government orders went into effect and Denny’s was forced to close its doors, leaving Angie without the job she’d held for over 15 years.

As their usual meeting place was no longer available, Pete quickly thought about Angie and wondered how she was faring without a car and a job. He gave his number to a few of the Denny’s employees to see if he could get in contact with her.

It wasn’t until almost two months later that Pete got a call from Angie letting him know that she was okay, but that she’d had to move in with her daughter, a single mom of six.

“I picked up the story about that time, and so I started reaching out to see if anybody had a used car,” Pete said. “And then the small group guys were talking about pitching in… But outside of our group, I had a couple people just because I posted on Facebook… And a couple of my friends, just from reading that, pitched in.”

On top of people wanting to help purchase a car, one couple whose kids Pete used to coach in soccer, reached out to Pete with two cars they were willing to sell. Pete went over, inspected the cars and purchased one from them, knowing it was going to need a little work.

So Pete took it home, parked it in his driveway and went to work cleaning the car up, fixing a few parts here and there, and giving it a tune up to get it ready.

“I don’t normally do that kind of work,” Pete, an instrument engineer, said. “But I was happy with how it came out… The people who sold me the car saw my pictures and they said they couldn’t believe it was the same car.”

But on top of fixing the car up, the group decided to gift Angie with six months of insurance completely paid for, and an inspection so that it would be road ready when she got it.

In total, about eight people combined to raise the money needed to gift Angie the car.

“I really believe I was put here to serve,” Pete said. “I think my calling is to serve in whatever capacity I can. I know we’re supposed to be missionaries. Clear Creek has recently, kind of explained that being a missionary isn’t necessarily going over to Honduras and working over there for two years, or whatever… That’s what I always thought a missionary was. And you know, I’m grateful that there’s people who do that, that just wasn’t ever me. But I’ve always felt the need to serve… When I see people in need, it works on my heart.”