Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, November 12, 1995 TAG: 9511100042
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CODY LOWE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Up in Eagle Rock, a tiny Botetourt County community hugging the bank of the James River just a few miles from its origin, the flood is hard to forget.
A lot of families still live in 10-year-old houses they were forced to build to replace the ones the water washed way. Occasionally a traveler will spot a piece of debris still decorating a tree limb so far out of reach that even a decade's worth of community clean-up days hasn't succeeded in getting it to the landfill. Some of the businesses that lined the lower street by the river and the railroad tracks are no more.
Harold Cook was one of the lucky business owners.
Well, lucky as a person can be whose store - Zell's Market - was 10 or 12 feet deep in water and whose grocery stocks were destroyed.
The day after the waters receded, a number of Harold's neighbors showed up to help clean up the mess so he could get started again. They hauled off a store full of spoiled groceries, cleaned shelves, repaired furniture, and washed and washed and washed the mud that clung to everything.
In those cool November days, they gave the sweat of their brows and the laughter in their souls to help a man whose generosity is known throughout the community.
And after pitching in with their backs and their encouragement, a few of his neighbors even sent along cash.
Some of the money came with notes of encouragement, but much of it was anonymous.
A decade after those $20 and $50 contributions were received and spent, Harold Cook still thinks about the donors.
Standing behind the meat counter where he holds court in the back of his store, Harold laughs about his dilemma:
``I still don't know who that money was from. So I just have to be nice to everybody who comes in the store.''
Though most of the people who know him would argue that Harold was nice to everybody who came into the store before the flood, too, hearing him talk about the lasting influence of those generous gestures from his friends warms the heart.
It is clear that behind the laughter is an abiding appreciation for the kindness of unidentified friends.
Listening to Harold tell that story, I am reminded that most of us probably have some similar story in our own lives. We can recall a time when a friend, or even a stranger, quietly or anonymously made some small expression of caring that sticks with us.
It might have been help with a flat tire, a hand with the groceries, forgiveness of some debt, a joyful word on a terrible day.
For some of us, our religious teachings compel us to do our good deeds, like our prayers, in private. ``When you give alms, don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.''
In Harold's experience, and our own, we can see the power of that advice. Anonymous philanthropy creates its own lasting legacy.
We should all be so lucky as to come through disaster and have to face a dilemma like Harold's.
by CNB