What can one person do?

For ten years during the Aids Epidemic, Ruth Coker Burks would go on to take care of hundreds of patients who were dying of Aids.

She didn’t have permission or the authority, she didn’t have the education or training, or even the resources to do this work.

She showed up when no one else would.

That act was sufficient.

The medical community didn’t even know how to treat people with Aids, and to make matters worse, families were abandoning these patients.

Against all odds, Ruth Coker Burks’ patients were living two years longer than the national average.

How is that possible?

Because Burks treated these patients as human beings. She gave them hope, dignity and respect.

What more do you need to start your movement?

All you need is to care. Care enough to serve a few people. And then, your message spreads and inspires.

“In 1984, it started. They just kept coming and coming. And they knew they would be remembered, loved, and taken care of, and that someone would say a kind word over them when they died.” – Ruth Coker Burks

[You can read the incredible story of the Cemetery Angel here.]