“Don’t allow the tragedy of your youth to become a lifelong excuse. Where you start in life doesn’t have to dictate where you end up.” Hal Donaldson
August 1969 – Concord, California: Twelve-year-old Hal Donaldson and his younger siblings were home alone and getting ready for bed when the doorbell rang. Two police officers stood on the steps. They sat the children on the sofa and told them their parents had been hit head-on by a drunk driver while driving home from church.
Their father, a young Assemblies of God preacher, was killed in the accident and their mother was seriously injured. The four children were left all alone. Neighbors Bill and Lavada Davis took them in to live with them in their small mobile home until their mother was out of the hospital.
It was a year before Hal’s mother recovered from her injuries, found a job, and could take her children back. Life was a struggle for the Donaldson’s. There was no insurance money from the accident, and part-time jobs did not cover expenses. The family survived on government assistance, food stamps, groceries brought to their door, and donations from church members.
With the aid of scholarships, Hal attended San Jose State University and graduated with a degree in journalism in 1979, then earned a degree in religion from Evangel University in Springfield, Missouri. He began a career as a journalist writing for Christian organizations and publishing companies.
In 1989, Hal’s company sent him to Calcutta, India, to write a story about Mother Teresa. During the interview, he said to her, “You are a very special woman, Mother Teresa,” but she stopped him by responding, “No, there are many who do what I do.” Then Mother Teresa took Hal’s hands, pulled him close, and asked, “What are you doing to care for the poor and suffering?” Hal shrugged, shook his head and said, “Nothing.”
Her final words to him were, “Hal, everyone can do something. If you can’t feed a thousand, feed one.” Convicted by the nun’s penetrating question, Hal had a sleepless flight home. He remembered the wonderful kindness and generosity expressed to his family two decades earlier after his father’s death.
Meeting Mother Teresa changed the course of 23-year-old Hal Donaldson’s life. After returning from his trip, he decided to experience first-hand the plight of the poor and homeless. He lived on the streets for three days each in eight of the largest cities in America, including New York, Chicago, Miami, Houston, and Atlanta. He interacted with drug addicts, alcoholics, prostitutes, and the homeless. He witnessed their plight up close and captured it in his book Midnight in the City.
It took more than five years, but a day came when Hal could no longer deny the whisperings of his heart. On a Saturday morning in the summer of 1994 in Watts, California, he loaded his old pickup truck with bags of groceries. He passed out the food to migrant workers outside a makeshift concert while telling them, “God loves you, and I love you.” While Hal had an idea to use his truck and feed a few hundred people on weekends, God had a bigger plan, including a convoy of 18-wheelers carrying food across America.
Today, 67-year-old Hal Donaldson is President of Convoy of Hope. This global humanitarian organization is the world outreach arm for the Assemblies of God Church. Based in Springfield, Missouri, the ministry operates out of a 300,000-square-foot warehouse, has a network of 10,000 volunteers, and a fleet of trucks that crisscross America.
Convoy’s signature event, Community Festival, involves hundreds of volunteers coming to a community with free groceries, clothing, shoes, medical and dental screening, job workshops, and hope for those in need. The organization has staged more than 1,000 community festivals. They also provide disaster relief after hurricanes, earthquakes, and other natural disasters worldwide, with boots on the ground in 25 countries.
Over the past three decades, Convoy of Hope has distributed almost 3 billion dollars in aid and touched more than 100 million people worldwide. The non-profit organization partners with Bass Pro Shops, The Home Depot, Culligan Water, Coca-Cola, and Hormel Foods. For 25 consecutive years, it has received a 4-star rating, the highest possible for a non-profit.
“God used a tragedy in my life for good,” says Hal. “For years, I questioned what I could do. I was paralyzed by the enormity of the need. I finally learned to just do the next thing God puts in front of me. Doing something is always better than doing nothing.”
A great inspirational story. Thaks Pete!