A pie for Christmas, and an act of kindness

It was a plain house where Jack Anderson and his mother, Rachel, lived. The walls needed paint and the front steps were rough. Their elderly friend, Harry, who lived across the street, sometimes tripped on those steps.

While every morning when Jack woke up, he always noticed the flapping shingles on Harry’s roof. Jack wished he could fix them, but he couldn’t do it alone. He wished that the young boys who lived so close by would pitch in and help him fix the roof for Harry.

Jack would soon graduate from high school and find a good job. Maybe then he could get a better house for his mother. He...