At work, Paul was the kind of person who stayed mostly in the background. He was polite, dependable, and quiet, often going unnoticed in the middle of office routines. Every day, he brought the same simple peanut butter and jelly sandwich wrapped in wax paper — a detail that sparked light teasing from coworkers who assumed it was just a personal habit. When Paul resigned without offering much explanation, I volunteered to help him clear out his desk.
That was when I found a bundle of children’s drawings tucked inside one of his drawers — pictures of families, hearts, and kids holding sandwiches with messages of thanks. It was clear these drawings held deep meaning for him, even though he had never mentioned children in his life. Curious, I accepted his invitation to stop by the West End Library one evening. There, I saw Paul standing outside with a cooler filled with brown paper lunch bags.
A small group of children, many facing difficult circumstances, waited patiently in line as he handed out meals with quiet encouragement. He explained that some of them often missed dinner, so he prepared food every day to ensure they had something dependable. The sandwiches he brought to work weren’t for himself — they were practice batches for the meals he prepared for the kids. His simple routine, once a subject of office jokes, suddenly made sense. I soon started helping him regularly and eventually learned that Paul had grown up in foster care, where food insecurity had been a familiar part of his childhood.
Preparing sandwiches had become his personal way of offering stability to children facing similar struggles. When Paul later collapsed from exhaustion, our office team immediately stepped up. We organized “Sandwich Fridays,” assembled lunch bags, and helped keep his efforts going while he recovered. After he regained his strength, Paul founded a nonprofit called One Meal Ahead. His mission was simple: provide children with one reliable meal to help ease their toughest days. Through his steady compassion, he changed countless lives, showing that even small acts of kindness can create a lasting impact.