Jimmy Murphey's tattered 40-year-old, four-bedroom house is more of a warehouse for the needy than a real home for him. In the living room, stacks of canned goods cover nearly the entire floor and rise almost to the ceiling. Two bedrooms, including Murphey’s overflow with toys and canned goods up to a visitor's shoulders. Two industrial-sized freezers stuffed with meat take up most of the floor space in another room.
Murphey, a 77-year-old man with a beneficent smile, buys the food on sale throughout the year and stores it for his annual Christmas dinner and toy giveaways that he has organized for more than three decades. Each year, Murphey distributes about 11,000 meals and hundreds of toys to the needy with the help of donations of time and money from friends, local business people and other individuals. Last Christmas, Murphey and his army of 500 volunteer cooks and drivers gave away meals in seven towns. Murphey spent much of Christmas day in his own kitchen cooking meals for more than 1,200 people who formed lines more than three blocks long outside his home to get a holiday dinner.
Although Christmas is by far Murphey's biggest food giveaway day, he hands out meals throughout the year to the needy. Murphey has passed out free meals to the poor since he was a child. It all started in the 1930s, after Murphey's mother fell on hard times and asked the local social services agency for help. The agency turned her down. After she got back on her feet financially, Murphey's mom made a vow. "Mom said, 'Whoever knocks on this door will share what we have even if we are as dirt poor as the people asking. We won't deny anyone,'" says Murphey. His mom organized annual Christmas dinner giveaways and Murphey took charge of the event after she died in 1968.
By the 1980s, Murphey was serving several hundred people. The number grew to thousands by the 1990s as word-of-mouth and media stories spread news of his good works. Contributions also grew. Now, local politicians contribute food, money and supplies. Business people donate cash and help cook and serve food along with volunteers of all races and nationalities. School children collect canned goods to give to Murphey. Bojangles Restaurants donates food. Murphey's home offers precious little living space for him because nearly all of it is taken up by food and toys. But that's the way he wants it. Murphey is too selfless to ask for a home makeover. But if he did, he would likely want additional storage space and shelves to store more food and toys, and a bigger kitchen to prepare more food for more people. Sitting on his couch between boxes of toys Murphey says, "I wish I could do even more."
Murphey would not want to marvel at a spacious new house that he can enjoy. He would take pleasure in having a home built to serve others.
Help this true angel to touch more people.
Toyota of Concord7670 Speedway Blvd
Concord, NC 28027
704-979-7700
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