One Spark Foundation

Take time to visit and help One Spark help our community!

One Spark Foundation LXCL:Our MissionOur Mission here at The One Spark Foundation is to change the world, one Spark at a time, by encouraging others to choose to make willing acts of kindness. We call them Sparks.We are a multi-program, non-profit 501(c)(3) organization providing life-saving and life-enriching assistanc...

A few minutes ago, I received a phone call that left me sitting in silence.

The caller was a mother.

Before she told me her story, she said something important.

"Mr. Hill, neither my son nor I want any recognition. Please don't use our names. We don't want attention, publicity, or praise. But I am asking you to share this story because people need to know that One Spark is alive and thriving."

Then she began to tell me what happened.

Last Tuesday, I was driving through town when I saw a little boy standing behind a lemonade and cookie stand.

I pulled over and asked, "What are you selling, buddy?"

He smiled and said, "Lemonade and cookies."

I asked him how much he had left.

He ran into the house and came back with his mom.

I asked her, "If I bought everything, what would the total be?"

She did the math and said, "$154."

I walked back to my truck and grabbed some cash.

When I came back, I handed her son $1,000.

The little boy looked at me with wide eyes.

You see, this wasn't an ordinary lemonade stand.

This seven-year-old young man has Stage 4 neuroblastoma.

Instead of focusing on himself, he was raising money to help other children battling cancer.

I told him something I've learned over the years.

"The greatest gift we can give isn't when we think about ourselves. The greatest gift is when we think about the bigger picture and help someone else."

He looked at me and said, "What do you mean?"

So I walked back to my truck one more time and grabbed something special.

A One Spark hat.

The last one I had.

I told him, "We're not taking in a lot of money right now, and I don't know when I'll get more, but I want you to have this."

On the back of the hat are the words:

"Together We Can End Hate."

I explained that hate comes in many forms.

Sometimes hate is cruelty.

Sometimes hate is selfishness.

And sometimes hate is seeing a problem and doing nothing about it.

I told him, "When we see a problem and choose to do nothing, we have the worst heart condition known to man."

His eyes got big.

He said, "I hope I don't have the worst heart condition."

I smiled and told him, "Son, you have a beautiful heart."

Then something happened that caught me completely off guard.

He wrapped his arms around me and gave me a hug.

Then he said something I'll never forget.

"I wish you were my dad."

I didn't know what to say.

His mother quietly explained that his father had been killed in Afghanistan.

We talked for a few minutes about service, sacrifice, and life.

Before I left, the little guy asked, "How are you going to take all the cookies and lemonade?"

I laughed and said, "I'm not."

Instead, I stayed nearby and encouraged people to stop by his stand.

What happened next was incredible.

More than 250 people came by.

Together, they raised another $6,313 for children fighting cancer.

The media called.

I declined every interview.

This wasn't about publicity.

It wasn't about recognition.

It wasn't about being seen.

It was about a little boy fighting for his life who decided to spend his time helping other children fight for theirs.

As our conversation ended today, his mother said something I'll never forget.

"What you did for my son gave him hope to live and fight another day."

Then she said:

"Please tell people that One Spark is still alive. Tell them One Spark is still thriving. Tell them there are still people out there creating sparks every day. Not for recognition. Not for applause. Not for social media. Just because it's the right thing to do."

Folks, that's what a Spark is.

A Spark is an act of kindness.

A Spark is choosing to care.

A Spark is seeing a problem and refusing to walk past it.

A Spark is giving hope when hope is running low.

One act of kindness may seem small to you.

But to someone else, it may be the very thing that helps them fight another day.

Keep Sparking.

— David Hill

One Spark Foundation

"Helping as many people as we can, everywhere we can, as often as we can."