"The memories are still painful, but we wanted to share them with you, because David's story is part of Mitt's story, and America deserves to hear it. ...the true measure of a man is revealed in the ...quiet hospital room of a dying boy, with no cameras and no reporters. This is the time to make that assessment."
Romney arranged a fireworks party on the beach to bring David a time of joy; he gave him solace and respect by helping David write a will, to leave his prized possessions to his best friend and brother. "How many men do you know who take time out of their busy life to visit a terminally ill fourteen-year-old?" asked Pat, the boy's mother. "We will ever be grateful to Mitt for his love and concern."
Next, we hear from another congregant who became a personal friend of the Romneys, Pam Finlayson. She started with a simple but telling anecdote. Mitt Romney, captain of industry, folding laundry in a spontaneous act of helpfulness. If only people would hear Pam talk, Democrat caricatures of Romney as a cold-hearted man, out of touch with ordinary people, would be seen as the shameful lies they are.
Pam and her husband had a very ill premature baby. As I sat with her in intensive care, consumed with a mother's worry and fear, dear Mitt came to visit and pray with me....I will never forget that when he looked down tenderly at my daughter, his eyes filled with tears, and he reached out gently and stroked her tiny back. I could tell immediately that he didn't just see a tangle of plastic and tubes; he saw our beautiful little girl...
When Thanksgiving rolled around, Kate was still struggling for life. Brain surgery was scheduled, and the holiday was the furthest thing from our minds. I opened my door to find Mitt and his boys, arms loaded with a Thanksgiving feast. Of course we were overcome. When I called to thank Ann, she sweetly confessed it had been Mitt's idea, that most of the cooking and chopping had been done by him. She and the boys had just happily pitched in.
One Saturday, Grant Bennett got up on a ladder outside his two-story [house] intent on dislodging a hornets' nest. . . .The hornets went right at him, and he fell off the ladder, breaking his foot. . . .About nine thirty that Sunday night, Romney reappeared. Only this time, it was dark out. Romney was in jeans and a polo shirt instead of his suit, and he was carrying a bucket, a piece of hose, and a couple of screwdrivers. "He said, 'I noticed you hadn't gotten rid of the hornets," Bennett recalled. "I said, 'Mitt you don't need to do that.' He said, I'm here, and I'm going to do it. . .You demonstrated that doing it on a ladder is not a good idea.'" Romney went at it from inside the house, opening a window enough to dislodge it. Soon the hornets were gone.
Two sons of Mark and Sheryl Nixon broke their necks in a car accident on their way home from a Mormon youth activity .... Both Rob and Reed Nixon were quadriplegics. After hospitalization and rehabilitation, the boys were home with their parents on the morning before Christmas when Mitt and Ann Romney showed up with their sons. The Romneys did not know them personally but had heard about the accident and the need to remodel their home to make it more accessible for the two sons. The Romneys brought a stereo for Rob and a check for Reed. Mitt told Mark Nixon he would pay for his sons' college educations if necessary, and he continued to give the family support financially. ... "What is more important to me than the dollar amount is that Mitt could have sent the checks in the mail instead of taking time out and coming over to see us," Mark Nixon says. "I'm much more impressed with the family values he demonstrated and what it says about who Mitt is."
The highlights of the last day of the convention, for me, were the ordinary people who spoke of the impact of Mitt Romney in their lives. I wish these speeches had been prime-time, and that every wavering voter could see them. This is what kindness looks like. This is the supposedly uncaring, greedy, rich bastard in action.
Grant Bennett, a fellow volunteer pastor at the Romney's Massachusetts church, explained that while building his business and earning his millions and raising five boys, Romney volunteered two evenings a week and every weekend -- ten, fifteen, twenty hours a week -- in acts of personal service and pastoral counseling. He met with those seeking help with the burdens of real life...unemployment, sickness, financial distress, loneliness...single mothers raising children, couples with marital problems, youths with addictions, immigrants...individuals whose heat had been shut off.
It seems to me when it comes to loving our neighbor, we can talk about it, or we can live it. The Romney's live it every single day.
...When a neighbor's 12-year-old son died, Romney organized the effort to build a playground in his name and then led the cleanup crew to maintain it. When a neighbor's house caught on fire, he organized neighbors to run in and save his belongings.
...Two sons of Mark and Sheryl Nixon broke their necks in a car accident on their way home from a Mormon youth activity .... Both Rob and Reed Nixon were quadriplegics. After hospitalization and rehabilitation, the boys were home with their parents on the morning before Christmas when Mitt and Ann Romney showed up with their sons. The Romneys did not know them personally but had heard about the accident and the need to remodel their home to make it more accessible for the two sons. The Romneys brought a stereo for Rob and a check for Reed. Mitt told Mark Nixon he would pay for his sons' college educations if necessary, and he continued to give the family support financially. ... "What is more important to me than the dollar amount is that Mitt could have sent the checks in the mail instead of taking time out and coming over to see us," Mark Nixon says. "I'm much more impressed with the family values he demonstrated and what it says about who Mitt is."
And then there is this extraordinary story. When a partner at work told Romney his 14-year-old daughter had snuck off to a rave party in New York, taken ecstasy, and disappeared, Romney shut down Bain and organized 200 employees to fly down to New York to find her...Romney set up a command center at the LaGuardia Marriott. He hired a private detective firm to assist with the search. He established a toll-free number for tips, coordinating the effort with New York City police. ...Romney and others from Bain Capital trudged through Manhattan, even scouring Central Park, and talked with everyone they could - prostitutes, drug addicts - to try to develop leads....The man who helped save my daughter was Mitt Romney.
Giving to their church heads the Romney list. The Democrats want to make tithing sound like a bad thing, something required and therefore meaningless. The Mormon church should be honored and famous for its charitable efforts. From 1985 to 2009, for example, Mormons donated over a billion dollars to humanitarian aid in 178 countries.
In addition to giving to and through the Mormon Church, the Romneys' main donations are to cure cancer, multiple sclerosis, and cystic fibrosis; to help the blind; and to help disadvantaged inner-city youths and disabled youths. They have given to libraries, to AIDS victims, to Harvard. In addition, Romney in 1997 created and led the Bain Capital Children's Charity Ltd., which spends more than $1 million annually on youths. Romney served for years on Boston's City Year, a group that works to help at-risk kids stay in school and graduate.
The Romney family commitment to help underprivileged children dates back to when Ann and her five boys saw a vehicle carrying a group of boys to a Massachusetts Department of Youth Services detention center. Ann became a remarkable volunteer. She was a director of the inner-city group Best Friends, for teenage girls.
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Articles: In a Kindness Competition, Romney Wins over Obama by a Landslide
