Greg had just started his morning routine, the familiar hum of his car blending with the crisp autumn air, when something unusual caught his eye. There, on Keller Parkway, was Tina—the cheerful lady who made his favorite pizzas at Pie Five—walking steadily along the sidewalk. She looked exactly as she always did: smiling, warm, and determined, but something about her stride told him there was more to her morning than a simple walk to work.
Without thinking twice, Greg pulled over and called out. “Hey Tina! Need a ride?”
Her face lit up instantly, that familiar, radiant smile spreading from ear to ear. “Oh, Greg, thank you!” she replied, sliding into the passenger seat.
What should have been a brief, two-mile drive became a conversation neither of them expected. Tina shared that she had started her job at Pie Five just seven months ago. Every day, she walked four miles to and from work. “Yah,” she said with a small laugh that barely masked her fatigue, “but what can you do, Greg? I need the job… life doesn’t stop. So I make it work.”
Greg felt a pang of concern. “Wow. That’s hard on your body… that’s exhausting.”
She nodded, a flicker of resilience in her eyes. “I used to have a bike,” she explained, “but it broke, and I don’t have another one.”
By the time they reached Pie Five, Greg’s mind was racing. He dropped her off with a simple, “I’ll see you soon!” but he knew he couldn’t let it stop there. The thought of Tina walking miles every day, simply to make ends meet, stayed with him. He immediately called his friend Bianca Ballog, his voice tinged with emotion as he recounted the encounter.
“Bianca,” he said, “we need to get her a bike.”
Bianca’s response was instant, compassionate, and decisive. “Greg, absolutely. Let’s do it.”
Two hours later, Tina’s life changed in a simple, beautiful way. A new bike, ready and waiting, gleamed in the morning sunlight. When Tina saw it, her expression was priceless—pure disbelief melted into a wide, radiant smile. “I… I don’t even know what to say,” she whispered, her hands gently brushing over the handlebars as if she couldn’t quite believe it was real.
Greg smiled back, his heart full. “Tina, we may be getting this for you, but you’ve given more to me today than you’ll ever know.”
It was a small act, but its impact was profound. For Tina, it was mobility, convenience, and relief from a daily struggle. For Greg, it was a reminder of the power of human connection—the way curiosity, kindness, and genuine care could ripple out to change someone’s world in an instant.
“Get to know people,” Greg reflected later. “Ask questions. Listen to their struggles. Ask what you can pray for. God has called us to serve and love our neighbors as ourselves. If people truly understood that… if they lived it every day… a lot of the trouble in this world wouldn’t exist. There are people in need all around us, right in our own backyards. All it takes is stepping out of your circle and reaching out.”
In that quiet morning, on a small stretch of road, an ordinary drive became an extraordinary lesson in empathy, generosity, and the simple but transformative power of paying attention.
Credit: Greg Ballog
