By: Kenneth J. Souza, Anchor Staff
A local Christian charity with roots in Taunton came full circle last week by making its 100,000th donation delivery to needy residents in the city.
Easton-based My Brother’s Keeper, which has been providing furniture and food donations for 25 years, made delivery number 100,000 on Christmas Eve day to a family in Taunton.
The organization got its start in Taunton 25 years ago, when married city residents Jim and Terry Orcutt started collecting donations for the needy, after being inspired by a life changing “Cursillo” Catholic retreat at Stonehill College. The original home for My Brother’s Keeper was very close to the site of the 100,000th donation, Jim Orcutt said.
“As it turned out, our 100,000th trip was less than a half mile away from where it all started,” Orcutt said. “It really was amazing.”
Orcutt said he’s glad with what the organization has accomplished since then, but that it’s important to keep looking ahead.
“The 100,000th delivery is important,” said Jim Orcutt, who remains actively involved with the group and serves on its board of directors. “It’s an indicator of God’s blessing on our work, and God’s blessings on our mission. But we always have to be looking forward. … Our mission statement is one sentence: to bring the love and hope of Jesus Christ to those we serve.”
Orcutt said that he and his wife, current My Brother’s Keeper president Erich Miller, and two teenage volunteers, went on the milestone donation delivery trip. Before they set out, volunteers from the group held a special ceremony in which they brought a jar of 100,000 mustard seeds, as a reference to a parable that Jesus gave to describe heaven.
“Anything like a milestone isn’t really about the past,” Orcutt said. “It should be a springboard for the future. We went on the delivery representing the history of the organization, but also invited our president, who represents the present, and we invited two teenagers to go with us who have been volunteering since grammar school, representing the future.”
Orcutt said that they brought the Taunton family Christmas gifts. “They were very grateful,” he said.
My Brother’s Keeper recently opened a second location in Dartmouth to serve people in the Fall River area, in addition to serving the Taunton and Brockton area based out of its main Easton office.
“We focus on not so much what we are doing, but why,” Orcutt said. “The people being helped are in terrible situations. They are invisible poor. … We are telling people God answers prayers through people. Whether the first of the 100,000 deliveries or the last, that’s the way we want to do it, lifting people up and letting them know God’s work.”