Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's The Ramsey Show, where we help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create actual amazing relationships. Merry Christmas America. We're so glad you're with us. Thanks for hanging out. And if you're not in America, thanks for hanging out anyway. Open phone is at Triple Eight, 825-5225, my co-host today, the one and only George Campbell, YouTube star, Ramsey personality, soon to be best-selling author of the new book, Breaking Free from Broke that's on presale now. Wow, I got a lot of stuff crammed into your title there, man.

Thank you.

I appreciate that. You got a big title today. I got a lot of stuff going on. This is a fun show. One of my favorite things to do ever is this show. Annually, we do a show on giving because we teach you. If you live like no one else later, you can live and give like no one else. If you follow the things that we have taught you here for 30-plus years, you will follow a process that we call... It starts with now. You have to take care of the now first, take care of your own household first, or you're worse than an unbeliever. Then once we get past taking care of now, then we move on and we start taking care of the future, then. Now, then. Then we say the future, then we take care of family. We want to take care of changing our family tree out past our future into the future. Then we move on and we take care of community in the world. You start talking about people outside your family, outside your future, outside of things. As your money evolves, your vision for what to do with it should evolve.

It should grow, shouldn't it?

Absolutely. Dave, you talk a lot about the myths that people believe about wealthy people and rich people. We say that if you're a stingy rich person, those exist, but there's a lot more that are philanthropists. That's what we call them when they're generous with their money. We want to highlight some of those stories as well. That's the stuff you can do when you have margin and you follow the baby steps. It's inspiring.

Now, in today's world, in a capitalistic economy, very few people attain wealth without having the character, quality, or generosity. Because when you're selfish versus selfless, you smell different. You have a stink about you, and nobody wants to do business with you. Nobody wants to elevate you. Wants to promote you. No one wants you're slimy. When people meet with you, they want to take a shower after they're done. If you're that person, it's very difficult to prosper in our current modern economy because everybody tells everybody it's called social media, right? But if you're a generous person, it's hard to deny generosity. It just is what it is. It's attractive. It changes who you are. It changes the way you smile. It is much more difficult to be depressed if you're generous. It is much more difficult to get divorced if you're generous. Very few people get divorced and go, That guy was just so generous, I couldn't take it. I just couldn't take it. My husband was completely... He was unbelievably generous. He just drove me nuts. That doesn't come up in divorce decrees. I haven't seen that one. Generosity doesn't break much, but it fixes a lot of things.

It might break the bank if you're out of control and you're dysfunctional with it, and you could do that. But generosity is what this show is about the day. Mike is in Orlando. Mike, tell us your generosity story.

Hey, Dave. Hey, George. Merry Christmas. Great to.

Be with you. Merry Christmas. How can we help?

Well, just a month or two ago, I was out of state at a restaurant, and I'd never been there before. Our server was talking to us about how she had just gotten this job because she was trying to make extra money to pay off her debt. Her reason was because she had recently purchased Taylor Swift tickets and put them on her credit card. It was a little over $700. She bought them as a gift for her partner, and she said they had a great time, but at the same time, she had these financial goals and stuff. Anyway, my wife and I have been following your plan for a while now, Dave. When I was here in her store, I started talking to her about how important I thought it was to get out of debt. I encouraged her to do the same. She's like, Yeah, I know. That's why I'm working here. Anyway, our bill ended up being $42, but I ended up signing the tip for exactly what she owed on her credit card, which she had shared with me. It was like $710.

Cool. Wow.

Yeah. You're more fun than a Tyler Swift concert. I'm just saying.

Well, she didn't know, you know what I'm saying? I just signed the thing for like 752. I get in the car, and I guess my wife could tell because she's totally on board with this whole thing. I guess, saw the look on my face because you paid her credit card off, didn't you? I'm like, I did, babe. She's like, That's so awesome. We never saw her again. I don't even live in that state. I checked. I didn't even know if it would work. I checked my statement to see if you can give a tip like that. You can. But yeah, it worked. I was so super thrilled. I was also with some other people at the table, and I didn't want them… When I was talking to her about all this, I think they were like, Man, this is weird that Mike's getting into it with this server about our life and whatever. But I mean, they have no idea what we did, and I don't care that.

They ever know. No, it's not their business. It's just all of America's business now. It's between you, the waitress, and God, and your wife. But yeah, there you go. Way to go, man. Way to go. Isn't that fun?

It is. I'll tell you, we came from $500,000 of debt.

You make Taylor Swift tickets look smart. Wow.

I know, man. We had a lot of stuff going on, and so we followed your plan, got to baby step seven. We dug out of half a million, and now we're just really excited about what God's doing in our lives. I just want to be, I don't know, I want to follow that. I'm excited to be a part of this team in the Ramsey scenario.

Way to go, hero.

That's inspiring. In a roundabout way, he bought a waitress Taylor Swift tickets. That's how I see it in.

My head. I can't go there.

No. But it's more exciting.

The headline reads better. He did not endorse the behavior. He just helped the poor girl who had made a mistake.

That's pretty wild. Concert tickets are what led us to this story of generosity.

Listen, going to Taylor Swift's concert is not a mistake. Going to Taylor Swift's concert, if you put it on your credit card and you're a waitress, that's a mistake.

By the way, the tour is sponsored by Capital One, Dave. That's just ironic. I'm just saying. They're making their money back.

Trust me. Your partner in crime, Rachel Cruz, cannot be controlled on this subject, I'm just saying. But aside from this. But yeah, great job, Mike.

Way to go, hero. That must have just blown her mind.

Yeah, it's so fun.

She must have thought, Oh, they miswrote this. I got to take it back to them.

That's what we're doing today's show is the annual giving show because God gave His only begotten son, and we celebrated this season. That's pretty cool. The OG giver. Yeah, the OG giver, the original. Check it out. We're going to talk to people who've done giving all hour this hour, all hour the next hour, and all hour the next hour. We've got some really special things we're going to add in because I got to tell you, there's a lot of fun stuff you can do with money. Sharon and I just took this wonderful trip. We were 16 days in Egypt. It was an absolute blast. Luxury, everything. Live like no one else. Later, you can live like no one else. Buddy, you tip somebody 100 bucks in Egypt, you changed their whole life worth. It's a lot of fun. I'm spreading hundreds everywhere. I had more fun doing that than I did on the trip. Trip was great, but this is a generosity hour. It's the most fun you can have with money. We're going to prove it to you over and over for the next few minutes. Don't you go anywhere. This is The Ramsey Shop.

If you own a gun like I do, you have to know the best ways to keep yourself and your loved ones safe responsibly, which is why the US Concealed Carry Association is giving away their complete Concealed Carry and family defense guide 100% free. The US CCA gives away resources like this to responsibly armed Americans because they believe you should have everything you need to be ready for the mental, physical, legal, and financial effects of self-defense. This is a company I trust, and this is material you can't afford to be without. So get your free family defense guide at usca. Com/ramsey right now. That's usca. Com/ramsey. George Camel, Ramsey personality is my co-host today. It's our annual giving show. Thank you for joining us. If you have been the recipient of an unbelievable gift or you were the giver of an unbelievable gift, we invite you to brag in either case because your bragging is not bragging on you. Your bragging is bragging on God, and it's encouraging other people, 30 million or so tuning into this, the various formats and platforms out there to become givers and become generous. This is all about inspiring additional generosity.

To that end, one of our favorite people at Ramsey, one of our own team members is with us. Melissa and guest relations works on our team, has for quite a while. She's standing on the Debt Free stage to talk about an incredible journey you've been on.

Hi, kiddo. Hi. How are you doing, Dave? Hi, George. Hey. I have been so incredibly blessed. My story starts back in May of 2021. I was diagnosed with a very aggressive form of breast cancer called triple-negative. I actually got the call here at work that day.

The doctor-I mean, you don't do just double negative. You go triple. Triple negative.

It's pretty bad.

It's pretty bad. The doctor called and said, Well, Melissa, this is not really the news that we wanted. You've got a really aggressive form of breast cancer. It's called triple negative. He said, Don't google it. Of course, I googled it. Don't google anything.

Can't tell someone not to.

Google it. Exactly. That made me want to google it. That particular type has a high recurrence rate, fewer treatment options, real aggressive grows very fast. I was here at work, got that call immediately. I had prayer warriors around me, hands-on praying for me. The next day, if they.

Should- Yeah, the bunch of work is front lobby with you.

That's what they do. Yes, they do. I'm part of the most amazing team, guest relations, Diana, Kat, Janel, Lindsay. Amazing front lines, Dave. But anyway, you actually came out of the studio on a break from the show. I don't know if you remember this. You came out, hugged me and prayed over me. That meant the world to me. Let me know. Let us know what you need. So fast forward a few weeks, I was about to go out to start 16 rounds of chemo. My team leader at the time came out. She said, Melissa, we don't want you working while you're taking chemo. We want you at home getting better, concentrating on that. I start crying. She said, Your job will be waiting on you when you get back. I start balling because you all know I love my job. I got the best job out there, best people. Then she said, Melissa, while you're gone, we're going to pay you full salary. I just lost it. I prayed. I cried so hard, called all my family on the way home. I said, You're not going to believe this. They're all crying. We're thanking God.

It was such a provision from the Lord. So fast forward, 16 rounds of chemo, five weeks of daily radiation, a year of immunotherapy, let's say, surgery. I had residual cancer. I had to have another eight months of seven or eight months of chemo. You all didn't know all that that I was going to be not even step foot in this building for a year.

And a half. We know it at the start, but we knew it all along. You kept us up to date. We were all daily checking in with you.

You all did nothing but encourage me, pray for me. I got so many texts, calls, gifts at home. Get this, on my eight-year Ramsey bursary, I get a call from my team leader, and she says, I'm laying in the bed. I just had chemo. She said, Happy Ramsey bursary, eight years, yay. She said, You're getting a raise today. I'm laying in the bed. I'm like, Who does that? Who does that? Ramsey Solutions does. Anyway, I was just so incredibly encouraged. Another part of this was my treatment bills were very high. I mean, David and I really did not know how high they went. It was because I had all kinds of some experimental things happening, but I never received a medical bill. Well, I did, but they were miraculously paid for. And my deductibles for like a couple of years. Who does that? Well, the Lord provided for us, and we knew, David and I knew from the minute that I got the diagnosis, the Lord told me, said, Melissa, this is not about you. This is about me and how I'm going to be glorified through it. I'm going to take care of you.

Don't worry, you're going to be fine. And David and I locked arms with this whole prayer army. I've got family and friends here and my team here at work. I mean, the encouragement was crazy. David, my husband, his nickname was Coach Positive because he was. He was Coach. He was tough sometimes. But my sisters, my friends, I've got the prayer warriors here. My best friend that did food. I can't even say. But the Day for Auntie Solutions was amazing.

Through this. This has been three years of hell.

It'll be three years this time.

Your hair grew back good.

Isn't it great?

Mine didn't grow back good. I know. But I didn't have cancer. But I kept thinking if your hair grew back that good, there's a chance for me, but there's not. I mean, it really did.

Did you color it? No.

It's just completely black.

Wow. It's awesome. Well, I did. I had highlighted it for a few years, so I forgot how dark it was, but I think it came back even darker. But Dave, something that I learned through this, my husband and I, we had many conversations, is if you hear of someone in need, make that call, pay that visit, take that food. Even if it's awkward, you don't.

Know them that well. It's always awkward.

It's always awkward. But I'm here to tell you because I've been the recipient of it, of people that I don't really even know, brought me food, flowers, gifts, all kinds of things, and it blessed me and it helped me. It encouraged me. And now through all of this, God has transformed my heart in many ways. I was walking with the Lord before, but now being him or at a place I never thought was possible. But I will never be the same as far as giving and doing for others. I hate that it took cancer.

To do that. Honey, you were already that way. That's one of the reasons everybody loves Melissa. I don't think they'd change you that much. But the end of the story today is you're free.

Well, they don't say that I'm cancer-free. They say I'm no evidence of disease because of the kind that I had, that they will wait. But each year that goes by, the percentages go down. When I get to five years, they may say cancer-free, but Dave, I've been healed. The doctors can say what they want to say, but I've been healed, and I know I have.

There's no current signs.

There's no current signs. I'm great. I'm out here. I'm back to work full-time since November.

Because the chemo knocked the crud out of you. Yeah, it did. I mean, it knocked you down hard. Yeah, it did. Took a little while to come. I mean, the cure will kill you. Yes. It's nasty. It was bad. But you're back and you're back to work what, three days a.

Week or four? Dave, I'm here every day, 8:00 to 5:00.

You're back 5:00? I knew we approved you to come back for 3:00, but I know you're back to five. You had to let your.

Energy level get back. Right. I had to beg to... I'm like, You all, I'm ready. I'm ready. Put me in coach. Put me in coach. They all cared about my health more than me coming and feeling a place in here. This guest relations team, you all were swamped in here in the lobby, and they all rallied. They just did what they had to do to take care of business. I've got people out here I need to be sure and think, carried me to chemo appointments, doctor visits, brought us meals, encouraged me when I couldn't get out of the bed. I can't even name all.

Their names. It is humbling to be the recipient at this level.

Yeah.

Generosity coming from every direction. Right. And you're too weak to do anything about it. You can't stop it.

Right, exactly.

Well, we're glad to have Mama Mel back. You said you were surrounded by Warriors, but we've seen your journey.

You are a warrior. Amen. Absolutely.

Thank you. And we are so happy to hear the journey and how well it's going. And good to have you back at full, Mama Mel at full force. There you go. That's what we're.

Seeing today. Thank you, Jesus. And thank you, Ramsey Solutions. Thank you so much.

You are Ramsey Solutions, kiddo. I love it. Beautiful. Well done. Wow! This is how it works, George. Generosity at its best.

My face hurts from smiling. It's going to be a long show for me.

This is The Ramsey Show. Look, folks, with all these devices and time spent online, having an ID theft protection plan is an absolute necessity in this digital world. The only plan I've ever recommended is from Xander Insurance. Xander blends cutting edge cyber and prevention services together with monitoring alerts, stolen funds protection, and unlimited recovery services to make sure you are fully protected at the lowest cost. Kids are even included for free on their family plan. Give them a call at 800-356-4282 or visit zander. Com to get you and your family protected. Welcome back to The Ramsey Show. It's our annual giving show. We thought we'd do something fun. We got a couple of hundred people or so in the lobby, and we ordered pizza for all of you. So pizza just got here.

They look hungry and now happy.

George, you need.

To go pay the- I'm paying the pizza delivery? Okay, I'll be right back, guys. Hold on.

Go pay the pizza. Go pay the pizza, George, and take care of that because we don't want the young lady to deliver pizza here and not get paid. That would be a negative thing on a giving show. You all want some pizza? You all like pizza out there? I want some pizza. I can't eat it while I'm on the air.

My little legs made it Dave. I'm out here in the lobby. You made it? Okay, cool. For those you not watch on YouTube, what's your name? Marisa. Marisa. I got to tell you, Marco's Pizza is my favorite. This is not sponsored. I just absolutely love Marco's Pizza. Well, I'm glad you like it. Did you bring me any cauliflower crust? Wasn't on the order. I'm just kidding. It's totally fine. Well, what's the.

Bill today? You gluten-free millennial.

It's 34.76. Okay, 34.76. You know what? I got 50 here and you can keep the change. How's that? Thank you. Merry Christmas. And you know what? I have extra change. Hold on, let me see if I can dig into these little skinny jeans. Yeah, I got $100, a thousand. Is that okay? Yeah, that's fine. That's for you. Merry Christmas.

Are you serious?

I am dead serious. Oh, my God. Thank you so much. What's the biggest tip you've ever gotten?

Probably.

170 bucks. Well, now it's 1,000. You can tell the story. Thank you so much. Are you serious? Absolutely. Yes. It's not even my money. It's Dave Ramsey's money, so you have to take it. Oh, my God. He's going to be okay. Oh, my God. What's making you deliver pizzas? Is this for fun? What's going on here?

Well, I'm just doing it right now.

To fill time. I'm going back to school with.

A.

Pc for medical coding.

Awesome. This is a side hustle for you?

Yeah, it's something that it's pretty.

Decent money while I'm.

Doing- Today it's decent money, that's for sure.

Oh, my God, yeah. I mean, the flexibility, too, is nice. It's not.

Something that.

I really want to do. I enjoy it.

I enjoy.

Talking with people, but I'm looking into.

Doing.

Something.

For my future. Well, what are you going to use the money on? Probably pay off some bills.

That's a nice relief. Get some new tires.

That's awesome. Any debt? You on the journey to pay off some debt? Because we can help you with that, too.

Yeah, but I mean...

We got you. We're going to get you taken care of with Financial Peace University, every dollar our budgeting tool, everything we can throw at you from this bookstore. It's on us today. I don't even know how to respond to that. You don't have to. Here's the thing. Here's your money. I'll switch you and I'll take the pizza. How's that? I'll give it away to the nice people out here in the lobby. You're amazing. Do you want to keep the bag? Oh, I can't keep the bag. Marco's property. But I will make sure you get the bag back to you and we'll get all these nice people some pizza. Merry Christmas on behalf of Dave Ramsey and the whole team here at Ramsey Solutions. You're amazing. Thank you so much. Thank you for what you're doing. Give it up for her, guys.

This.

Smells really good.

I hope you guys like it. We love it. We love it already. I love it. We like it because you brought it. Way to go. Man, that's fun. See, this is how you do it. All you got to do is just decide generosity works because it does. It changes everything. We'll take your calls if you want to call in. George is handing out pizzas out here. Give them a good shot of that. Oh, look at that thing. Oh, look at that pizza. Marco's just got a major national promotion that they paid ZIP for, and we paid for the pizza, too. I should have thought of this and told the guy I want a pizza for free for a year. I just gave him that much. She gets the bag back. Very good. Good job, George. Well done. You guys in the lobby give her another round of applause. Well done. Very cool. Where to go. Very cool. Well, if you've got a great giving story, a great receiving story, we would love to hear yours. Melina has one. She's in Asheville, North Carolina. Hi, Melina. Tell me your story.

Hi. My brother graduated high school a year early. For his 18th birthday that was coming up, my mom is like, I don't know what to do for him. All he's doing is spending all of his money. And he's going to end up nowhere. I recommended total money makeover for him. She got online and ordered it used to try to save some money and brought it down.

There's nothing cheaper than a used Total Money Makeover book. That's the cheap on cheap.

Yes. She bought one for herself, and she knew that we have followed you for years and that my husband and I are doing well. She's like, Will you teach us? Will you sit down and do a budget with your brother? I was like, Yeah. They came down for Thanksgiving, and he opened the book and he started reading the first chapter and there was $100. My mom just looked at me and she's like, Why did you do that? I said, I promise, mom. I did not do that. He's reading, and every chapter, there was a $100 bill. He ended up with $1300 in cash from.

Reading a year ago. Pretty much he starts fast-forward speed reading at some point, right?

No, he did. He read the whole entire book at that point. I sat there and he read the whole entire thing.

Did she own it? She put the $100 in there.

No, she didn't. She doesn't have it to put in it.

So she bought the used book and the person that owned it before did this and never took their money out?

Yes.

I don't know which was- And sold the $1300 in a used book for 10 bucks or something.

It came from Thrift Books.

I love it. Everybody's going to Thrift Books right now and buying books like crazy.

Right. Yeah, he read that and we sat down and we did his budget and he's in the construction union. I'm like, Bud, you're on Baby's Start to Three already.

This is wild. What happened was somebody else's mother put $100 in every chapter, gave them the book. They took it down and sold it to Thrift Books for two dollars, having never done what their mother told them to do. Then your brother gets the book from your mother, used and is the beneficiary of this. This is whacked.

Yeah. My mom spent like $5 on the book.

That's fabulous.

The money wasn't easy to see. I mean, it was in the middle of every chapter, really stuck into you wouldn't see it just flipping through it either.

Yeah, but how dumb is the person that sold the book and never read it? That's the one that you got to feel sorry for, right? Oh, man, that's hilarious.

But he went from baby step one all the way to he'll be done with baby step three at the end of this month now, and he's 18 years old. It just escalated.

It so quickly for him. He's on beat. He's going to do it now. He's going to live the way, right?

Yes. He's taking every out-of-state job that he can because he makes so much more money. He's like, I don't have a girlfriend or anything holding me down, so I'm going to just travel, make all the money I can, save it as much as I can. He wants to be a homeowner, he wants to buy a nicer vehicle.

You got to love Big Sisters, rendition of this. I don't have a girlfriend holding me down.

We're trying to keep.

It that way. Or holding me back from my potential future. Yes. That is so great. The light bulb actually went on when he finished the book, and he's actually going to go become wealthy because of this. Yeah.

He had been skipping back and forth through some jobs, trying to find a good fit, ended up getting in with the union. But in the middle of those jobs, went into debt with my grandparents because his vehicle needed work on it. He just goes through the drive-through all the time. I'm like, Look, all of this money that you're wasting on fast food and stupid shopping that you don't need.

To be doing. All the while, you could have bought a $5 book with 1,300 bucks inside. Yeah. Yeah. That is hilarious. I love the story. Oh, mixed up generosity, but it still goes a long way. That's fun. Very, very cool. Hey, thanks, Melino. We appreciate you sharing that. This is our annual giving show on the Ramsey Network, on The Ramsey show. If you have a story where you've been the recipient or you've been a giver, call us and let us know. We want to hear the story. Triple-eight-two-five-five-two-two-five. We need to hear from you. This is inspiring. It's hard to listen to this day of broadcast on generosity, not come away smiling and not coming away going, I need to get out of debt and get on a budget so I can do more giving. Because the only way you're going to do more giving is have more money. I have noticed that poor people don't feed hungry kids. Have you noticed that? Rich people do. So you got to live like no one else so later you can live and give like no one else. Hey, guys, buying a home is not a button push.

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Annual giving show here on The Ramsey Show. George Camel, Ramsey personality is my co-host. He likes to say he has the spiritual gift of giving away my money. Last segment, you were successful. I got a taste of that. You successfully did it last segment. $1,000 to the young lady delivering the pizza. What was her first name again? Marisa?

Marisa. Sounds about right. Yeah, all right. Now my first.

Rodeo, Dave. I think it was safe to say she was a little speechless.

Absolutely. Well, number one, putting someone on the debt-free stage like that on camera when you're just trying to in the middle of your work day, it's pretty jarring already.

I'm delivering pizzas next thing I know I'm on the camera.

Next thing you know, here's a $1,000. I have no clue what to say. We made sure I gave her a living give box with your resources as well in there because we want to help her on her financial journey as she goes to school and gets into medical coding and all that good stuff.

Seriously, you have been giving away a lot of my money lately, and it was, of course, authorized and encouraged. That's a good side, though. That's a lot of fun. That's a good side gig, though. Good work if you can get it. You guys took the crew, the camera crew, some of the production crew from the Ramsey show, and went out in the wild and did a little bit of this.

Talk about that. By the wild, I mean, Antioch, Tennessee. If you've heard Dave for more than 10 seconds, he's mentioned his hometown.

There's nothing wild about Antioch, Tennessee.

Well, back in.

Your day. It was wild then, and it's wild now for.

Different reasons. Let's go to Dave's neck of the woods and let's see if we can bless some people out there with some outrageous generosity. Where do I go, Dave? I go to America's favorite diner establishment, and that is Waffle House.

They're one and only.

Through thick and thin, Waffle House is open. You know the Waffle House index, Dave.

You heard about this? More through thick than thin.

They use the Waffle House index to measure how bad Hurricane is. If Waffle House is closed, we're all screwed.

That's basically how it works. Bad hurricane is Waffle.

They're out there Christmas Day, you name working their tails off. I thought let's go to Waffle House and bless some people. Here we go. Let's play it. Hey, guys, George Camel here. I'm outside of a Waffle House in Antioch, Tennessee, just down the road from where Dave grew up. You know Dave is all about outrageous generosity, and it's my spiritual gift to give away Dave's money. That's what we're going to do today. In just a few minutes, we're going to cover everyone's tab and blessed to wait staff with $500 each. On top of that, one special person is going to get something extra. Let's go in and show them some outrageous generosity. Hello, Shateekha. How are you? I'm pretty good. How are you? Good. I'm ready when you're ready, Shateika. I think that is mystery.

Oh, okay. I didn't know you have a sign seating. It's like- Yeah.

Like section. We do. Okay. Just can't.

Have chaos out here. You got to have some order. I'm going to serve you a coffee.

That's it. Just a coffee?

That's it.

All right. Plain as simple. You can give me the check whenever you're ready. Just a coffee? I'm a little guy. I got to keep my. You know what I mean?

Chatika. Coffee is.

A diet. Yeah, that's my diet. It all looks so good, but I feel like I'm going to be… That's it for the day.

You're in a coma. I'm a hash brown.

What? No, you.

Can do.

Something.

Light. It's hash brown. Great.

You know, whatever. That all.

Sounds heavy. Yeah. I don't know.

Okay. Can I do this? Hey, guys, quick announcement. I'm here on behalf of Ramsey Solutions, and we're going to cover all your tabs today. Merry Christmas.

Cheers.

Merry Christmas. It's on us. But you know what? Who do we have here? Can I just go ahead and give you your tip now? Use your can. Okay. Before I run out of money because I got to cover all these people's tabs. I didn't realize that you all are slamming at this. I'll never financially recover from this. Hey, because you're amazing. Well, hopefully your pockets will cover. Here's $500 for you, Brittany.

Thank you so much. Thank you. I appreciate that.

Thank you. No one else. Seriously? Well, I feel bad now. I want to do one for Crosby over there, too, whenever he's ready. Here we go. Well, Crosby, Merry Christmas, man. Here's $500 on behalf of Ramsey Solutions. Wow. We got to bless you, baby. All right, Ross, Merry Christmas. $500 on behalf of Ramsey Solutions. We just want to bless some people. God bless you all for being out here doing the Lord's work. Thank you so much. Merry Christmas. Dude, thank you. I got a kid on the way. Congratulations. I got a two and a half month old man. I know how it is. Just found out.

Last week.

This is….

Congratulations.

Man. That's good. That's incredible. What are you guys going to.

Spend it on?

Bill. Bill? Come on, Crikey is going to be so fun. What are you going to spend it on? Some art supplies. You're an artist? Yeah. That's awesome. Okay, I got to see your art after this. Okay, yeah. That'd be awesome. Okay, this is a lot. This is.

All in 20s.

Look like.

You're.

Balling out here. Thank you. Merry Christmas. Thank you.

I've just been through a lot. What's going on? Can you tell us.

About it? Well, last year, I.

Had three kids.

And last year I.

Was shot.

In my.

Chest by.

My mom.

Oh, my goodness.

I've just been having a hard time, and I really appreciate it.

Are you? We'll be praying for you. Are you doing okay? Are you doing okay? Are you better now? How are the kids doing? They're okay. What's the ages?

Seven, two, and three.

Wow. What are you doing for Christmas for them?

I don't know. I'm just hanging out.

Here, you'll be working on Christmas? Yeah. Oh, my goodness. Thank you. Well, how about this? You got all those kids. We need to get them some nice Christmas gifts, don't you think? How about this, Chantika? We got something special just for you. We got an extra $2,000 to get you. We got Christmas. We heard you've been going through it. We're going to be going through. We're going to bless you with $2,000 extra dollars on top of your 500. Thank you. Get those kids some Christmas gifts. I come back to you in a hundred. Okay, I'm going to come back to you.

In a hug to Tika. You're a warrior.

Thank you. You're a hero. Thank you for what you do every day. Okay, I'll pay my bill now. You will not believe this. I gave away my last dollar. Can I work this off in the kitchen? Listen, I'm like Lauderdale Ray, you all. I'm doing it. All right, we're doing this thing. Usually, I get to sit in front of a camera and act a fool. I'm actually working out. This is the most work I've done since I can remember. One, two, three, four. Merry Christmas, everyone. We'll see you. All right, that's a wrap. We gave away thousands of dollars. And let me tell you, there is no better feeling than giving away money. We always say that giving is the most fun you can have with money, and you can see why. The giver gets just as much joy, if not more, than the receiver. And it's so special to get to bless people, especially around the holidays. People are going through stuff, and I want to encourage you guys, you go give. Give a little until you can give a lot. Go bless some people. That's the spare to the holidays. God bless and Merry Christmas from Ramsey Solutions.

There we go, man. Way to go, George.

Thank you.

That was fun, man. Well done. Hey, if you're only a on audio and it was a little bit jumbled, pull it up on YouTube and watch it because we captioned it, and you'll be able to read the folks in the midst of the dishes clanking and all the other things going on, the background music, the whole bit. It's hard to hear some of it. So pull it up on YouTube, you can watch it again.

Our team clipped that on the highlights channel as well as its own video. That's a fun way you can just go watch that one clip on our YouTube channel.

Okay, just at the Ramsey Show.

Youtube channel? Yes, Ramsey Show highlights channel. It's right there. It's why I spent $5,000 on a cup of coffee. The team titled it in a fun way. That was a blast, Dave. Thank you for having the idea of saying, Hey, let's do some crazy stuff for Ramsey show to just inspire others to give generously.

Now, behind the scenes, I got to know, because I don't know, did you all know Shateka's story a little bit before.

You got there? All we did, we asked the management team, said, Hey, who's someone who could really use some extra money on top of that? They said, Shateka. I did not know her story.

But out of everybody there, you were already aiming at her. I was aiming at Shateka.

You just didn't know why. Exactly. I said, Hey, can you tell us what's behind this emotion? She told us, you can hear in the video, she was shot by her baby's daddy.

Wow.

I took my breath away when she said that in the last year. That's why I was asking her how she's healing up and she's got these three kids. She's working on Christmas Day. I thought, Let's give these kids some amazing gifts and show them an amazing Christmas because their mom is a warrior and has been through some things.

She's going to be working on Christmas Day. I mean, come on.

I hope they give her the day off now, but you know.

Now she can afford it. Exactly. That day, anyway.

It was really special, and people were flabbergasted that we were covering the tip, which by.

The way, to cover the tip. The guy picking up the menu and ordering after you said you were going to cover everything was funny. Wait, right here, right here. I got more. He started ready to order. That one's great. I like that.

You can cover the whole bill at Waffle House for 100 bucks, you all. That's something fun to do this Christmas. Really? 100 bucks will cover it. I'm telling you.

Okay. Go do that.

Thank me later.

What happened to the rest of the money, Jordan? We gave it. We did that three times, Dave.

That's for another video.

The washing dishes to cover your bill was cute. Is a nice touch.

Thank you. That really was work.

Nice.

Touch on that.

I'm not used to that. It's a joke. I'll have to wash dishes because I forgot my wallet. But you really did it too fun. This is a giving hour, a giving day on The Ramsey Show. Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's The Ramsey Show where we help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create actual amazing relationships. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. This is our annual giving show, where we talk with people who have been the recipient of generosity or they have been the giver of the generosity. We want to celebrate generosity because we teach people to live like no one else so that later they can live and give like no one else. My co-host this hour, Ramsey personality and author, Jade Walshaw, her brand new book, Money's Not a Math Problem, one of our quick reads. It's a quick read, about what, 40, 50 pages here? Something like that. 57 to be exact. You can read it very quickly. Money's not a math problem. The Real Reason You're Broke and what to do about it available for sale right now in the Ramsey Bookstore. She's my co-host today. If you have a giving story or a receiving story that will inspire others, we want to hear from you.

The phone number is triple-8-825-5255. I need to learn to pick up the right line. Brianna is with us in Austin, Texas. Hey, Brianna, welcome to The Ramsey Show. Tell me your giving story.

Hi, Dave. Hi, Jade. I love you guys.

Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas.

Dave, I called you a few years ago. This is the second part of my giving story. This is a continuum of my first story. Back in 2021, well, first off, my husband, Ralph, and I have been trying to get pregnant for about seven years. And we were told by the doctor that we had to go through IVF treatments, fertility treatments. We started our debt free journey four years ago in October started your program. And so at the time when we found out the cost, we realized we couldn't go back into debt for this. So we were blessed. My best friend and his wife actually blessed us with $20,000 to go through these treatments.

Wow.

So that was part one of the story. So we went through IVF and we realized it was a little more than 20, so it was 30. So my best friend and his wife said we got the extra 10. Don't worry about it. Wow. So we went through...

We.

Were.

Friends. Yes, my best friend since high school, he is amazing, went through our first round and unfortunately did not have any viable embryos that we can use. So as you can imagine, we felt completely defeated, just devastated. But I knew to keep my faith and trust that God would bless me with the desires of my heart, which, of course, is to be a mom. So Ralph and I obviously knew we didn't have the money to do another round, so we said, well, maybe we should consider adoption as an alternative. Well, Well, once my best friend Danny and his wife found out of the outcome of the first round, they said, No, you guys are going to do it again. And they gave us another $30,000.

Whoa.

To do another one.

Dang.

Wow. Which we did, and we got embryos from that. And last summer, we implanted one of our embryos. And I got pregnant, but I lost the baby very early on in the pregnancy. So again, just try to not question God, right? Because knowing He has a.

Plan and- Oh, this is a roller coaster of vicious emotions.

It truly was. It took me about a year to heal from that loss. A few months ago, I told my husband, Ralph, I think I'm ready to do another transfer. Dave and Jade, by the grace of God, we are pregnant.

That's so exciting.

Yes, we are pregnant. We're almost 11 weeks. We have a beautiful, healthy baby boy growing, and I just still can't believe it.

We.

Will be debt-free by January.

Hey. Well, now there's some interesting timing.

God's timing, right? Always His time, His plan.

God's plan. Wow.

Well, congratulations. And what an unbelievable friend.

That's what I'm thinking.

Yeah, he is a blessing. Him and his wife will be the godparents of our son, obviously.

Anything else they want. Oh, my gosh.

That's amazing. Absolutely. That's amazing.

Oh, man, that's amazing.

The journey has been seven years, right? Up and down and just so much emotions. But I wanted to come on and share the second part of the story just to remind people to never lose faith in God's plan, never lose hope, because he takes you through. It's never just a solid line, right? There are hills and valleys and it's up and down. At the end of the day, he always blesses you with those desires. It's just trusting his time and staying faithful.

Wow. Then I'm sure for you, this also informs, okay, you're debt free. This is going to inform how you live like no one else, right? Because you've seen how people can bless other people. I'm sure that you've already got some ideas cooking on how you would want to be a blessing, if I'm not wrong, right?

Jade, 100 %. 100 %. Our son will never know the word debt, ever.

Wow, that's incredible.

Thank you. Pretty amazing. So your friend, extremely wealthy?

You know what? He became a multimillionaire. He works for an organization that blew up when they went public a few years ago. And he's been there since they started up, and he cashed in his stocks. I mean, my friend never went to college. I mean, hes just a tremendous blessing. So he and his wife are multimillionaire.

That's right. It's a full gift. You don't have to pay him back. Wow.

No, not at all. And we're from the Bay Area. We're from San Jose, California, but moved out to Austin about seven years ago. And so he and his wife will be throwing a shower for us, a baby shower in California with all of my friends and family in a few months. So that'll be amazing.

Very cool. I love that.

Go.

Back home for that. Or back to the childhood home anyway.

Way to go. Congratulations. So my husband and I will be there in Tennessee next year. We're going to come out and do our debt-free scream. We've met you all when you came to Austin for your event a few months back. So we will be out there to do our debt-free screen for sure. And who knows? Maybe the baby will be here by that time and we can come in. You could meet him.

I'd love that. I would be honored. That's pretty incredible. Because one of my favorite things other than generosity is babies. Everybody wants babies. The only problem with babies is they grow up and want cars and tuition. But other than that, they're awesome.

That's.

Good, Dave. No, the little tiny ones, I love them. Then they hit about two and I let the parents take care of them. Then we had the seven-year-old, the eight-year-old, the 10-year-old last night for watching Elf, that's the right age. They're starting to be able to reason with them.

That's true. You want them to get to the age where you tell them what to do and.

They do it. Hypothetically, yeah. I love it. Don't do that to the dog. You'll kill the dog. Don't do that.

That's funny. When Sam and I found out we were having our first son, we did the little gender reveal, and my pastor leans over and he says, Oh, it's a boy. That's great. You don't have to pay for the wedding. That's the first thing I just started thinking about.

Wow! Not even had the kid yet. I know, right? They're already talking like this. This is great. Yeah. Too fun. Well done, you guys. Very, very well done. I love it. Hey, that's what it's about, generositygenerosity. It is more fun. Giving is more fun than anything else you can do with money. Now, you can do some really fun stuff with money. You can do some bad giving sometimes, and it's not that fun. But it is your best option at creating a lot of smiles. That's what we're doing today. We're highlighting and inspiring, receiving and giving any form of generosity that we can come up with. Jade Washaw, Ramsey personality is my co-host. This is The Ramsey Show.

This episode is sponsored by Better Help. Hey, it's Dr. John Deloney. This time of year can be great, but the holidays can cause anxiety for a lot of people, especially about giving gifts. Maybe your family makes super thoughtful, handmade things, or they demand you buy really expensive things, or maybe you just like experiencing time together, or you all just pick up random gift cards last minute. No matter how your family does gifting, remember to take care of yourself. Whether it's going easier on yourself during tough moments or treating yourself to a day of rest from everyone and everything, remember to give yourself some love this holiday season. If you're thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try. Betterhelp is flexible because it's online, so it can fit into your busy holiday schedule. Just fill out a short questionnaire to get matched with a licensed therapist, and you can switch therapists anytime for.

No extra charge.

In the season of giving, give yourself what you need with better help. Visit betterhelp. Com/daloney today to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P. Com/daloney.

Jade Warslaw: Ramsey personality, host, co-host of The Ramsey Show, and author of the new quick read that we just put out, Money is Not a math problem. You all be sure and pick it up and check it out. She's my co-host today and has also been a little bit busy in the last few weeks in preparation for this giving show today. That's right. You were out. George did this, too, and we tried to get a couple of other folks in on it. But you and George were the ones that pulled it off, out exercising spiritual gift of giving away my money.

That's right. That is the spiritual gift. It's easier when it's someone else's money.

Well, if you just remember, you don't own it, God owns it, you're managing it. Yes. It leaves everyone in that same seat. You're giving away someone else's money, and it's always easier to give away someone else's money.

That's a good point.

That's philosophical, Dave. I like that. There you go. Theological, too. Watch out. I'll get you with both of them. All right, so you guys went out with the film crew and set this up a little bit. What all happened?

We went over to, I guess, we were on the east of town, James?

It was more like north side, like.

Germany town, the nation's area. Okay. Yeah, the north Nashville.

We found a Kroger over there, and we thought it'd be really cool if we could find a way to give away groceries to folks. We wanted to be sneaky about it. We didn't want them to know that that's what we were there to do. But at the same time, you have to let them in a little bit because you have to get them to sign a waiver so that they can be on camera. What we did is we told them that we had a YouTube show and that we wanted to get their opinion on inflation and rising costs at the grocery store. That's how we got them to talk to us.

Then we - You got mic'd up that way and so on. Because I know the one lady, when I was looking at a mic on, I'm like, How did you get a.

Mic on? Yeah, well, we tricked them. We tricked them and we blessed them.

I love it. All right, let's roll it and see what happened.

Hey, what's going on, guys? I'm Jade Warshaw, one of the co-hosts of The Ramsey Show. Look, we're always telling you the most fun that you can have with money is to give it. It. So are going to put that to the test. We went over to our local Kroger grocery store, and we're going to see just how fun it is to give some money away. I came into Kroger grocery store, and I told Amy that we really just wanted to know her opinion on inflation and grocery store prices. But, Amy, what we really want to do is just tell you to fill up your cart, and we would love to bless you with whatever you can fit in that cart. What? Actually, I decided I think I just want to buy you guys those groceries today. Are you kidding? We have a really cool Christmas Christmas basket here that we'd like you guys to just fill up with.

Whatever you want. I got to call my mom and ask her what she wants.

What am I going to do?

I'm going to get meat. Yes, get meat. Get the most expensive stuff. Yes, get what you want, want, We are filling these carts up. This is so fun. I know.

We just need two.

No, you don't. You need a lot. That's what you guys want us to do.

My kid uses these. My baby.

Eats these. Yes, get plenty for the baby. Baby.

I things I've been wanting to buy and hadn't been able to buy.

Look, she's doing the right thing. She's just throwing it in the cart. This is great. What YouTube.

channel you guys.

Work for? It's called The Ramsey Show.

Dave Ramsey? Ramsey? Okay, I took his class last semester.

Oh, wow! Foundations and Personal Finance.

Wow! Yeah, the debt snowball effect, that's the one I'm currently using right right now, and help. I mean, it's help. I just came.

Here to grab some lunch on my lunch break.

Okay. Where do you work? We provide.

Insurance and things like that for families.

Of lower income housing or.

Whatever it may be that they can't afford 10K or provides insurance usually.

Okay.

Where's your your at?

It's back there. I was.

Scared I wasn't going to get it it here in time enough.

I.

Didn't get the car. Harold, me pushing your your wasn't part of the deal now. Where are you.

Guys from? We're from Kenya. Okay, cool. Yeah, my mom's from Somalia.

I was born in Kenya. I was born in Kenya. You've got another younger sister. Is it just the four of you guys? No, it's 10 of us. 10 of us? Wow. I love that. That is a.

Giant family.

This has been the funniest day of my life. Free food, you all. Who is sponsoring this?

That's what I want to know.

God is.

Yeah, God is. Definitely God is. You're right.

Amy, you did it. Oh, my God. I'd say that's a pretty full cart. Good job.

What is this for?

Because we just want to be generous and this is what we're supposed to do. We're supposed to bless people. And you were so kind to me when I rolled up on you in the aisle. I hope this was a blessing. I'm glad to see see It is.

This is not going to be a pretty face for for.

Blessings on blessings.

All right, two weeks of groceries. We're 388.75. But we're also feeding feeding a family what, 11? How long do you think this will last you? You? You're good for a Two months.

Months. Yeah, months good. Several months. Months. Don't have to go to.

The store for a while.

Merry Christmas.

Bless you all. Thank you, Carol.

Now that I get these in.

My car. All right.

Janae, we did not forget about you because you have been the one one up all these groceries and honestly, watching all these people get a blessing. Merry Christmas. $500. I hope that you can find something really great to to do with We just hope that you have a merry Christmas. Yes, girl. Wow, guys, that was so incredible. Look, the cliché says it's more blessed to give than receive. I can attest, it is so true. That is the most fun with money that I've had in a really long time. Look, this season, if you haven't had a chance, go and give. Go bless someone's life. It will truly be the most fun you can ever have with money.

Wow.

That was a good time. That was a good.

Time, Dave. How long were you in the store total?

Maybe three hours.

Whoa, okay. Yeah, we were in there a while. You're going to get it all set up and then go.

Well.

I think here's what.

I found- It took three hours to fill those buggies.

I feel like it was-.

Yeah, it was maybe like two hours, two and a half. But the first one took a while, and then we started saying, All right, you have 10 minutes, and that.

Helped move things along. Oh, okay, so they weren't all at the same time. We had to put them on a timeline. They're running back to back to back. That's right. Oh, I see.

We had to put.

Them on a timeline. The edit makes it feels like they're all together. Okay.

Okay. Yeah. I found was when you first say, Hey, go fill up your cart, there's this moment of, This can't be true. Then it's like, Well, I'll just get a little bit. I'm like, No.

Pile it in. Fill up the cart. Yes. Everything you can get in this cart, we're paying for it today.

That's right. It took him a moment. Finally, it clicked clicked in like, Oh, I'm getting crab legs and I'm getting steaks. Because they were grabbing little stuff. I was like, Guys, you don't understand the blessing here. We're using Dave's money.

Don't buy cereal. It takes up too much room.

That's right. That was a good time.

So fun. That's fun. That's very cool. Well done, gang. It's a lot of fun. It is the most fun you can have with money. It is. I mean, we say it over and over and over again, but when you experience that Secret Santa type of thing where you just walk up and randomly blow somebody's mind, fill up their tanks with gas. I mean, when we had the Fauci pandemic thing going, we sent a bunch of our team over to two of the hospitals, the local local to the gas station next door, and all the nurses and techs and docs that came up when we were filling up with gas. We paid for their gas, filled up all of them. That's great. It was a lot of fun. That's so much fun. Because they were on the front lines and there was so much tension in the air and fear in the air in those days, and everybody thought we're scared of other human beings and all this stuff. You just went out there and started putting gas in somebody's car. All of a sudden, everybody chilled out.

I would agree with that. It was cool in the store store because was for folks that you saw getting blessed. But there was a lot of people in the store watching that happen. There was this older guy who walked up to me. He goes, What are you all doing? You're giving away free groceries? I said, Yeah. He said, Well, what do you have to do to get them? I said, Well, you have to be willing to be on camera. He was like, Okay, well, I'm not willing to be on camera. It just so happened that when it was time to check out the two ladies, he was right in front of us. We were able to get his groceries, too. I said, Look, you're here. Let's Let's just your your groceries, You don't have to be on on I I said, I was just so happy the way it worked out because... And then, of course, there's the cashier. She's ringing up everybody, and she's watching all these people get a blessing.

What was the problem? From the law? What was the deal?

I don't know. He didn't have his hair done that day. I don't know. People get weird about being on on camera, it was fun that the way the day worked out, he ended up being in line with us, and he got to benefit from that, that, too.

It was fun. That's neat. Very, very fun. All right, folks, that's how it's done. That's what we're going to to do hour. We're going to take your calls from those of you that have experienced generosity on either side. You've been the recipient or the giver, and it's inspiring to lift up other people and cause them to do it. That's what this particular version of The Ramsey Show is all about. This is The Ramsey Ramsey Jade Walshaw, Ramsey personality is my co-host today. This is our our annual show where we highlight generosity here on The Ramsey show. Just a note for programming note for all of you, if you want to go back and watch some of the videos of Jade or George giving money away and blowing people's minds, it's a lot of fun or any parts of the the show. Can certainly do that on YouTube. In some cases, you're going to get the visuals. We subcaptioned it so you can read because there's sometimes background noise or the background music we put put over. Might be a little to hear in certain audio settings. Go check the YouTube out and you can watch it.

That way you can rewatch it if you want to. That thing is very easy. It's on the Highlights... What do you call that section? Yeah, the Highlights channel. Highlights section on the Ramsey Show YouTube channel, which by the way, there's there's 147 YouTube channels, literally. You all believe that? That's crazy. It's a lot. They sent us a note this week that the Ramsey Ramsey or the Ramsey Ramsey YouTube channel is number 1,055 out of 147 million. I don't know when being in the top 1,055 is a big win, but in that case, it.

Might be. I think that it is. I think that's a huge win.

Speaking of big wins in the lobby on the the Debt stage is one of our Ramsey team members with a a generosity story. Lily is with us. Lily is on the real estate team at Ramsey Trusted, working with real estate agents across America. How long have you been with the team, Lily? Lily?

45 days Oh, wow.

Fairly newbie then. Okay, good. All right, cool. Welcome, and you step forward. We put out a note to our team and and said any of you have great generosity stories you want to share on the air, you can. Lily, step forward. This is a special story. I've already heard a little bit about this, so I'll turn it over to you.

Thank you. In middle school, my parents divorced, and my dad ended up taking a job job opportunity states away, knowing that he would be able to still fly in and see us over the weekends or fly us to see him. So we remained close to him. He was a very special part of my life. And fast forward several years, he decided he wanted to move back to Nashville and be closer to my younger brothers to finish out their basketball games and finish out their younger years, not every other weekend, but more often throughout the week. And he moved back as he was getting closer to retirement age. He was about 50. And about two months later, he was diagnosed with glial blastoma, which is a very deadly brain cancer. Yeah, it was a big blow to the family. And we all researched it quietly on our own. And though we tried to remain positive, we knew that it likely meant he would be leaving us.

How old were you?

Let's see. I was in my early 20s, late 20s. I was in in college at the time. I had just transferred from school in New York to back home, which is a god thing. I was at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, and as he was sick, would come home regularly to help. Every single week with this type of cancer, he would lose more ability to speak, ability to understand words, and more of his personality. So it was every week a new version of my dad that was a little bit less, which was really, really hard to endure. And so during those months, as as going on, I realized I was very single at the time. But being so close to my dad, I cannot imagine a day where hopefully I get married and he's not there. And my husband doesn't get to hear from him, meet him. And I think a lot of girls want their dad to be able to walk them down the aisle. So I felt a little nervous about it. I didn't want to suggest that I thought he was definitely going to die, but knowing that it was a very real real I talked to my my about about and she thought it was a good idea.

So we started trying to turn the wheels. And a girl that I grew up with in in school, sorry, elementary school. Her and her brother had grown a very successful wedding videography business in town. I reached out to them full intent to pay for a wedding video. I think their wedding videos start at 10,000.

Wow. You were going to do a wedding video with your dad, but you were not engaged and.

Weren't dating anyone. Yeah, we just wanted to recreate a moment.

Just to to put that... Just have that in the memory box.

Yeah. The reason reason I it to be filmed, I wanted to do it for two reasons. One reason, most importantly, for my dad and I to just have the experience. It's something he wanted, it's something that I wanted, and in case we didn't get that chance. But two, a video to be able to share something that's timeless if that day comes where I'm married or getting married and he's not here. After talking to them, they wanted to do do it, and were booked for pretty much the whole year. I was about to travel abroad to Italy, and my dad was declining again every week. He was still in pretty good condition at that time, but I I for some reason, if I wait, it's not going to be soon enough. They said they wanted to do it. They wanted to gift it to us. Wow. Which was huge.

That's a.

Big gift. That's the generosity play.

Yeah. We wouldn't have been.

Able to- They gave you their services.

Yeah. They filmed it themselves. They actually have two sections of the business, and one is them, and one is some people that they basically contract out. And so they put everything together. We also had a family connection that owned a wedding venue, so Allenbrook Farms, and they gifted us their venue. So there was a wedding that was going to be on Saturday, and everything got set up early on Friday, another God moment. Everything was gifted. The flowers were gifted. Wow. Yeah. And so we got to have this moment together, which was super special. And then I went away to Italy, came back. My dad had lost a good bit of his personality, and we got the video back. We sat on the living room couch, watched it together, and cried. Yeah, I'll never forget that moment. And still single, still not sure when it would be used, but a moment that we got to have together.

That's beautiful.

Wow. Yeah. Fast forward to last year, and I'm about to get married. So this experience was about five years ago. And then got engaged in last last October, had everyone at our wedding venue, which was also gifted since my dad wasn't able to help provide for the wedding. Wedding. And had a projector up, and instead of doing the father-daughter dance, we played this video. And my husband got to watch it for the first time with me. Me. Really cool. Wow. Yeah. Wow. So it felt like my worlds were colliding. I remembered the moment that I was in there, and even though my dad was gone, it felt like he was there with me a little bit.

He was. Yeah. -beautiful. -oh, my goodness.

Wow.

Beautiful. Lots of generosity makes a tragic, really sad sad a precious memory.

Yeah.

Exactly. Exactly. It.

It. Yeah, I wouldn't have gotten to have and and share Yeah.

Yeah, I love to.

There was the videographer who gifted their their then you even got the wedding venue. Absolutely free.

Free. And were booked, exactly. It was just such a God thing. They both had the same same Friday and basically no other day of the year. Wow! Everything was just lining up quickly. It was like a week before I was studying abroad. Again, I just felt an urge to do it quickly. Dallas Wilson Wedding Films. They gifted it to us and so thankful.

That's a beautiful story. Pretty cool. Pretty cool, generosity story. It's tragic and sad. I'm crying with you, but wow! Powerful, powerful. No better use for money. The best use you can have with money, generosity. There's nothing that does us good. Well done. Well done. Thanks for sharing, Lily. Good work. This is a giving show on The Ramsey Show. This Christmas, you can give like no one else by sponsoring our life-changing curriculum, Foundations Foundations Personal Finance. Your gift can impact one or two students or even an entire school by teaching them to handle money the right way. Your generosity will provide hope and freedom, the gifts Christmas is all about. Find out more by going to ramseysolutions. Com/giving. That's ramseysolutions. Com/giving. It's our annual giving show on The Ramsey Show. Thank you for joining us. If you live like no one else later, you can can live give like no one else. Jade Walshaw, Ramsey personality is my co-host of the day. Today's Giving Story of the Day is sponsored by Neighborly, your hub for home home services you want to repair, maintain, or improve your home, stop wasting time. Scrolling through pages and pages of providers, Neighborly is all you need to remember for a nationwide network of local home service professionals.

Visit Visit com/ramsey to find reliable reliable near you.

Today's question comes from Kate in the United Kingdom. I'd love people to know that giving does not have to cost a thing. If you are not wealthy like me, you can still give your time, your skills, your attention to others. I volunteer with Age UK and have weekly phone calls with older people who are lonely and want some company. I am so lucky. I get to learn about the era, about them, and I really enjoy it. I also walk around our local park with someone who is lonely. It It doesn't a bean. Whenever they want, and I'm not working, we go for a walk. You can give, you can make a difference, and it doesn't have to cost you if you're struggling financially. Absolutely not. Winning. That right there.

Love that. Generosity is not a dollar amount. It's a character quality. Generous people are the ones that hold the door for you. They're the ones that smile. They're the ones that will go for a walk around the park with you. That's right. I love that. They're the ones that also give you a million dollars to hungry children. All of that is generosity. Yeah.

I was always taught it's your time, your treasure, and your talent. That's what you can give. Three Three.

That's it. Lauren is in Louisville, Kentucky. Hi, Lauren. Tell us your giving story.

Hi, Dave. Hi, Jade. Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas to you.

Okay, so we're still in the middle of our story, but to just go back a little bit. My husband lost his job after 15 years at a a company, we found ourselves door-dashing 10 hours a day to try and survive. And so we went to our church just to see what they could do or what they could help with, which is a really humbling experience. And of course, they were there for us. And we got gas cards and grocery card. But then one day I received a text from one of the women that was working with us. And she asked me to come in to church early one day just to tell our whole story, which is actually rather pretty long. And so I went in and I thought she was just being super sweet and told her the whole story. And she asked what I needed. And at that point, I was so thankful for the gas cards and the grocery help that they were providing. And honestly, I just wanted prayer and I really just wanted somebody to talk to, somebody to be alongside of us through our journey. And so that was it.

We hugged and I went to Church service and left and went back home. And I don't know if it was a couple of weeks later, we received another text that asked my husband and I together to come into the Church and to meet with the pastor at our local Church and her as well. And we had no idea what to expect. So we went in there, sat down, and found out that somebody had given the church $50,000 to manage to bless somebody that was in our shoes. Wow. Yeah. It was split between our family and another family who who in need. We received $25,000.

That's a lot of money. It is a.

Lot of money. You don't know what to say or how to react in those moments.

I mean, that's a fully-funded emergency fund for some people. That's a lot of money.

It is. Whoever we don't don't still to this this day. Have one month left at this moment of help, and we're so thankful for that. But we don't know who it is, and we're not supposed to know who it is. But we know that a little bit of their story is just at some point. I think this is an older couple. They had the same thing happen. Maybe they lost a job, almost lost their house, and somebody did this for them. And all these years later, they are really successful. I've heard they've had some health issues, but they wanted to return and do the same thing. And Dave and Jade, I have to tell you, when all this happened, we were debt free because we follow you guys. We did have a three-month emergency fund that helped us through at the beginning before we went to the church. The day will come when we do this exact thing.

Amen.

I know it will. Amen. The ability to pay it forward will be incredible.

My goodness.

Well done.

Wow.

Somebody well done out there. Good stuff. Good stuff. Now, how old were you all when all this happened?

I'm around 35. It's been about a two-year journey that.

We've been on. Husband's gotten a job now?

He does have a job. We don't know what's happening, but it's not even enough bill to pay the bills. We went from a six-figure income to just, I mean, almost losing our house. We have have applied, have happened non-stop. Non-stop. Somebody paid for, our preschool paid for all our Christmas gifts last year for our kids when taxes were due because we just worked non-stop. I opened a dog business, which has been really successful in my home, and we plan on expanding it. But we're just scraping by still. But we've never missed a payment on anything. And we don't play the lottery. I always listen to Dave because you make fun of your daughter for going on on and gambling and stuff. But we don't gamble. But my husband got some numbers in his head and bought a a lottery ticket where he had to put the numbers in on a a random and won $10,000 and after taxes, it was enough to pay our taxes for the year, which we didn't have.

That's wacky. That's crazy.

It's been non-stop. I don't even know how to explain it. It.

What a story. Way to go. Thank you for sharing. It's amazing. Thank you very much. A gift of $50,000 to the pastor, they say, Find two unemployed families that are struggling, give them 25 each. Or that's how the pastor decides decides to split it anyway. Pretty incredible, and it makes all the difference in the world. Thanks for sharing your giving story, Lauren. Very well done.

It's interesting how she said it was probably a a who had been through something similar. It's funny how when you go through a hard time, that's what informs how you want to give later on, because you've experienced it, you felt it, you felt the need, and so you feel feel and you feel, I mean, really, obligation is not the word, but you want to help out out in same area.

Well, you're inspired by people that are feeling the same pain you want. That's the thing. Thing. Yeah, nothing wrong with that at all. No, that's great. I mean, if you've been through cancer, then you're you're in soft spot for people that are going through cancer. Whatever it is, you're going to always have that. That's perfectly fine. By the way, that's one of the things with the Ramsey Family Foundation. We don't give to things that at least one member of the family doesn't have some some emotional connection to. You have to. It doesn't have to be that we necessarily felt that pain, but this is something that's on our heart. That's right. It's not just generally we're looking at the numbers and we just try to randomly figure out, Oh, these people are doing a good job. No, we need to have a feeling about it. It needs to connect to us. Yeah, I get that. Because we don't give to that many different things. We do well with the ones we do give to. But one of the analyzes is, does somebody in here in the Ramsey family, when we're sitting and talking about this, does somebody in here have a connection to this?

Does it prick your heart? Does it make you come alive to say, We want to do our generosity that way? That's right. There's nothing wrong with avoiding something that is perfectly valid, but that doesn't motivate you.

Yeah, of course.

Lots of very cool stuff out there. Lots of things you can do to be randomly generous or very intentional and diligently generous. By the way, I suggest you do both. You don't mess up with generosity. You can't outgive God, boys and girls. You just can't do it. It's impossible. Jade Washaw, good hour.

Thank you for.

Having me. This is a giving show on The Ramsey Show. Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's The Ramsey Ramsey where we help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create actual amazing relationships. I'm Dave Ramsey, our host, George George Ramsey personality, soon to be number one best-selling author of the book, Breaking Free From Broke. Book comes out in January. You can preorder it now. He's my co-host. Today is a special version of the Ramsey show. It's our annual giving show. We highlight generosity and giving. If you're just joining us, go back and pick up the other hours hours YouTube, or probably today, especially on YouTube, because you're going to want to see the videos of some of the generosity stories that we have featured and just a lot of fun. If you have a generosity story that you are the recipient of inspiring, generosity, or you were the giver of inspiring, inspiring, generosity. Want to hear the story because we want to let a whole bunch of other people hear the story because this stuff is infectious. It's contagious.

Really, it's weird how watching stories of giving makes me want to give. I know there's a lot of psychology behind that, but I think we need more of that in America today. That's the antidote to a whole lot.

Absolutely. The phone number, if you've got a great giving story, triple-8-825-5225, you jump in and we'll do that. That. Interesting, folks over at Mama Bear Bear legal that we endorse to do your will. Since 2019, Ramsey fans doing their with Mama Bear have left $361 million in charitable bequests through their Mama Bear wills. Altogether, users have given or pledged pledged $15,000 and gifts.

Wow! That's mind-boggling.

Wow! That's crazy.

That's called leaving a legacy.

Right there. That's not just leaving money to your heirs. That's talking about a gift charitable to some institution or some work of some some kind, right?

That's also pledged. There's people, if you have not passed yet, that's still pledged to be a part of that, as part of your passing, which is is really, inspiring. It's crazy. Crazy. It me want to relook at my will and go, Hey, what are some really cool ways to give?

Three hundred and 61 million. George, that wouldn't even get you started.

I'd love to rile people up. Long after I'm gone, I'm still making people upset and making people happy at the same time.

Shane is in Colorado Springs. Shane, tell us your giving story.

Yeah, thank you so much for all you do for the American people and even the people of the world. You're both absolutely American heroes. Just wanted you to know that.

You're very kind. Merry Christmas to you, Shane.

Merry Christmas to you too, sir. Last year, my friend Andrew was killed in the line of duty. He was a SWAT deputy sheriff and also a US Army combat veteran. But most importantly to me, he was my friend. As we were sitting at his funeral, they performed what's called an an End of Watch ceremony. It's where a dispatcher calls for the deputy, but the call goes unanswered. There's just silence. But however, once they finish the call, they play the deputy's voice with the quote saying, End of of which means all is well. And as I heard Andrew's previous recorded voice close the ceremony with code four, I just felt a feeling, overwhelming feeling of peace come over me, but most importantly, an overwhelming feeling to take action. Action. So my wife and I were driving home from the funeral, we we that we were going to do something special for Andrew's family because we didn't want them to feel like they were alone. Christmas was Andrew's favorite holiday. Holiday. So decided that we were going to pay for Christmas for his family. Family. So the Christmas season rolled around, we got him a beautiful Christmas tree, delivered it right to their doorstep.

We bought amazing, thought-filled gifts that reminded them of their father and the great experiences they had with Andrew. We had a beautiful Christmas dinner delivered to their their house, we didn't have to worry about the time and work it takes to prepare that dinner. And I'm an American soldier like Andrew was, and my my wife a school school teacher, money doesn't necessarily come easily at our house. However, because of what you all have taught, we have have side hustles. And one of those side hustles is actually a very successful vintage '80s themed and modern collectible store in our mall. And so because of the profits that we make from that store, we were able to provide Christmas for the two years family, not only last year, but this year as well. I just wanted to say, as an American soldier, I am constantly bombarded with people that, Thank you for your service, and all these heartfelt thanks. I'm very grateful for for it. I was was hoping, if I could ask all the Ramsey listeners to maybe think of the heroes that are closer to home this year. They're all around us, and they're the ones who will come running towards danger to protect protect us others run away.

Yep. They're willing to give their ultimate sacrifice in order to save our our like my friend Andrew did. They're our protectors, and they're the law enforcement force responders. Responders. So I could just ask everybody to please bank them and for the bank of protection they provide each and every day, I'd appreciate that.

Amen. Amen. Well said. If he was SWAT, he was running straight towards danger.

Yes, sir, he was. He was in this case. There was a a shots fired call, and was one of the first officers there, and without hesitation, ran straight into the fray.

Well, his legacy lives on. Thank you for sharing that story with us and millions of listeners, Shane.

That's powerful. Yes, sir, absolutely. I appreciate you giving me the time to honor his legacy.

Absolutely. What city was he in?

Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Where you live? Okay.

All right, very good. Yes, sir. Very cool.

Well, thank you for who you are, and yes, thank you for your service. But thank you for the generosity story. That's a guy that all of us look up to. He's a man that you want to step in and help his family. I'm really glad that someone actually did it instead of just thought of it. Good intentions don't get you much of anything. The actual actions are what cause it. Generosity is the same way. You can't just intend to do it. You've actually got to go do it. You did it, Shane. Thank you you for.

Doing There's thoughts and prayers, and then there's gifting the entire family some really thought-filled gifts. Christmas. On top of thoughts and prayers, what about an envelope of cash? What about covering the gifts? Let's do a little more with some action involved. That's an inspiring story.

Right there. Yeah, show up with some car keys for somebody that's carless. And have the car, too, by the way. That helps. But somebody that doesn't have a car.

That would be a cruel joke, though, just to.

Bring the key. I got keys for you. No, we're not doing that. No, give them the car, too, too, go with the keys. But yeah, do some stuff like that. It's amazing how much car you can buy for for or 5,000 bucks, even 2,000 bucks. If you go buy five or 10 of them, you can get a deal.

Oh, yeah. What's amazing to me is when you're not worried about your bills, you can worry about other people's bills. There's a piece of getting out of debt where you get to look up and out at opportunity because you're not so self-focused.

If it's not you this year, if you're in struggle in this year, and this is your year to turn things around and get to be that guy someday, that's okay. You're supposed to take care of your own household first. Are you a worse than an unbeliever? That's scriptural. Then, yeah, we take care of now, then we take care of then, start thinking about the future, and that's taking care of your household as well. Then we think about us, our family, making sure our family is taken care of, and that's generationally changing changing things. Then them, that's community. You'll work through that progression as as wealth increases and your quality of management of that wealth increases. It's a natural thing that occurs. This is The Ramsey Show. If you want to know how to keep more of your hard-earned money in your pocket, not the governments, then listen up. There are certain tax deductions and credits you can be qualifying for by the end of the year with help from an experienced and trusted tax professional. If you don't have one, check out our Ramsey Trusted Pros. They know the tax code inside and out, so you don't have have to, and help you file when tax season is here.

Get a trusted pro by going to ramseysolutions. Com/taxpro. Ramseysolutions. Com/taxpro. George Camel, Ramsey personality is my co-host today. The Ramsey Christmas Cash Giveaway is ending soon. The last day to enter is Wednesday, December the 20th. You could win the grand prize of $5,000. Enter every day to increase your chances of winning, ramseysolutions. Com/giveaway. This is our annual giving show, so that fits in. We're talking with a gentleman at the break from Louisville, Kentucky. They started a giving giving club. Years years ago, 10 people in the club, and they give $300 each twice a year. Okay, Okay, so $3,000 twice a $6,000 per annual, and done that for 25 years. The number of things they have seeded and inspired, particularly with Habitat Homes, he said, was absolutely amazing. That's an interesting way to put this money together with other people. I guess if you're in the club, you have to have bylaws on deciding on how the money is going to be be given, you're comfortable with that to put your 300 in, right? Yeah. We didn't ask him about that, but I assume that would be true.

He's giving us a thumbs up.

Giving us a thumbs thumbs telling us that that is true.

That's a cool idea. Then to make it a.

Tradition for 25 years. If you got 300 bucks, it's a way to create 3,000.

Yeah.

It's a little different.

Lift, right? And do some really cool things in your community and beyond.

Very good stuff. Thomas is with us in Oklahoma City. Thomas, tell us your giving story.

Hey, guys. Good afternoon.

Thanks for having me on. What an honor. Honor to be with you, sir. Merry Christmas. Tell us the story.

Okay, so.

About.

A year ago, we.

Had a fellow contractor that.

Found out.

That he died.

And so then we got a phone call from a potential client. We went out and visited with the client. And through discussion, we found out that this fellow was actually.

On that.

Project when he went home to take a nap and passed away.

And.

So we got with our fellow members of the Oklahoma City Decorative Concrete Association.

Association.

And actually all decided that we wanted to take this project on and.

See how we could help.

The widow. Widow.

And went.

Out and met with the potential client, asked him if we could take on this.

Project.

Finish it it doing an.

Epoxy floor.

And if he would then write the check for the remaining balance.

On.

The job.

To the widow. Widow.

And so came to an agreement that he would do that. One of the contractors supplied.

The material. We supplied all the labor. It took about six days.

To do the project, finished it all up. Up. And at the end, we went and presented the check to.

The widow and her three.

Kids, and.

They were just.

Completely.

Blown.

Away. It was a little over $8,000.

All right. Very cool. Cool. And it took was a little bit of creativity and six days of work. Yeah. Well, and somebody to furnish the materials on the other side, side, too, but yeah.

Yeah, What was really neat is even.

Our guys on our crew.

They actually came up to me when they found out about the project, and they.

Asked if they could work for free or for half their hourly wages, which we.

Didn't allow them to do that. But I thought that was really neat that they wanted to be part of it.

In that way as well.

Wow. Love it. Way to go, guys. Wow, very cool. This guy, he was a concrete sub, is what you're saying?

Yeah, decorative concrete. We do like like epoxy or polished concrete, things like like that.

What he did as well. I guess he.

Was battling with COVID.

And.

His guys were on.

The job doing the project. He went home, and during that time.

He took.

A nap, and I suffered a heart attack and just didn't make it through. We felt the calling. Calling. Done some projects.

This where we've.

Reached out to the community and helped out some schools and different things. But this one really hit home because it was such a personal level, and he was a.

Fellow contractor. Yeah, just right there in the neighborhood. Oh, my gosh.

Wow.

Very good idea, Thomas. How old are you?

I'm 37.

My brother and.

Business.

Partner is 43.

How.

Long you all been in business?

Since 2008. Right after high school for me. He was a.

Little older than than.

And we.

Just.

Learned it and went.

From there.

I suspect you're going to continue to prosper. Well done, sir.

You probably inspired that whole crew to even be more generous with their time and their talent and their money.

Well, the thing thing you can be kind to someone, be generous to someone, and it affects that person. But it is impossible for you to do that and not affect other people simultaneously because someone, somewhere is watching. Even if you don't want them to be, even if you're trying to keep it secret, someone saw that happen, and it inspired them, it changed them, it caused them to think, the girl checking out the groceries, if you pay for the buggy in front, you just pay it forward. It inspires the person doing the checkout. It inspires the person that got the free groceries, but also inspires the person doing the checkout. They're never the same. No. Generosity reshapes people's brains, and they can never return to the same shape. Once you've witnessed it, once you've been part of it, there's a chemistry that's completely different than spending, completely different than enjoyment of money on a fun thing yourself, or saving up and getting something you've worked really hard for. All of those things are fine. Fine. Nothing wrong with that at all. We teach that all the time. But it doesn't reshape your brain. What reshapes your brain is witnessing and participating in generosity.

Well, we've always said money amplifies who you are. It's a magnifying glass. But what's interesting is that that changes who you are, and that's what's so powerful about it. It's not necessarily the immorality of money, but it's what you do with it. When you give it away, it affects you way more than just hanging on to it, spending it, and having a good time.

I think that's increased... I know what it is just from personal experience. I don't have data on this, but just anecdotally. It's increased dramatically when there's a personal element to it. The filming that we showed in another hour of of you into the Waffle House and giving each of the staff members 500 bucks, and then one lady who had a particularly hard year giving her $2,000. You were up close in person. I mean, she's crying. We catch it on camera, of course. But you get the hug. Everybody's watching all of this in the whole freaking Waffle House. I mean, it's a show going going in a sense. That reshapes everyone that is within touching distance of that. That's a little different than mailing a check to to.

X, Y, Hitting the button on the website, which is still great. There's nothing wrong with that. But you're losing that personal experience for sure.

Yeah. We just had a bunch of tornadoes north of Nashville up in the Clarksville area, a bunch of homes destroyed. Destroyed. But can send money there through XYZ if there's a good XYZ. But there's a little difference in the buddy of ours that has a church up there, and they're on the ground cleaning up trash. They're showing showing up. They're up cleaning up up trash and people find the kid's stroller four blocks over and all this stuff. It's crazy what goes on with the tornado. But yeah, there's a thing that happens when you're there and you witness it in in the person receiving it, or the person giving giving for that matter. If you just watch it happen, it's a lot different than hitting Submit on a website. It's the same thing. It's true of ordering, of buying something that you go into a store, store, touch it, you feel it, you think about it. There's sensory. There's a sensory thing. Then you make the decision to buy. It's a lot different than I think it might fit. Let's see. If it doesn't, they can allow me to return it. You hit click, click, right?

It's a.

Different thing. We've lost that for sure in digital age. That's a good good reminder you're you're giving find ways to make it personal.

Well, you don't have to do your whole budget that way. You don't have to walk up and hand your toth check to the preacher each Sunday and go, Da, da, da, da, da, da, da. You don't have to do that. Oh, man, that'd be bad. But just turn turn that thing But occasionally, if you're going to do something for someone, just do it in person. It's just whacked. Sometimes the reaction is weird. It's almost always a little bit of awkward moment around it.

You've experienced that. Oh, yeah, it can be very awkward, but it's always worth it. Just because the person doesn't know how to respond doesn't make it any.

Less powerful. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. It takes their breath away, literally. Yeah, that can happen, I promise you. This is is The Show. Folks, changing your family tree takes more than rice and beans and side hustles. It's also about transferring the big financial risks off your family by having the right kinds of coverage in place. That's why my team created the coverage checkup quiz. It only takes about five minutes to find out what types of insurance you need and don't need to protect your finances. Make this quiz one of of your regular starting right now at ramseysolutions. Com/checkup. That's ramseysolutions. Com/checkup. George Camel, Ramsey personality is my co-host today. He's also the author of the brand new book, Breaking Free Free Broke. You can get it in the Ramsey Solution Store. Well, at least you can get the pre-order of it. It will actually come out in January. It's only only $20 to it, and you get $100 in bonus items, including his newest talk, Show me the money. I don't know where you got that title. And exclusive access to an online private event and a Q&A with George, George, and the e-book. If you you you get all of that for just 20 bucks.

The book is Breaking Free From Broke. He exposes the most common money, myths, and excuses head-on, like credit card schemes, investing traps, mortgage myths, all the stuff you wish you'd been taught in high school. Preorder it at ramseysolutions. Com/store. George, I just got an email a few minutes ago that the pre-sales on it are outstanding. They're breaking records.

Wow, that's.

Good news. It is good news.

Well, I appreciate everyone's support of it. I've been getting a lot of messages and DMs. People are excited about it. They listen to we release an audiobook preview, and we're doing something fun with the audiobook.

I know. I've been.

Listening to the samples. Enhancements, some sound.

Design, some music. Not your mama's audiobook. Audiobook. This is I got some cool stuff in it.

I can't do anything normal. It's a toxic trait of mine. I just have to be a little extra.

This is our giving show today. We're taking calls from those of you that are recipients or the givers in something that's inspiring and generous. The phone number is is triple-888255. 5, Harrison in Connecticut says, When I was a kid in the early 2000s, my dad had an old Tahoe for sale at the bottom of the driveway. He got a call from someone inquiring to purchase the car. It was an expectant father with very little little money. Dad decided to gift the car to him. At this time, old used cars weren't worth much now, and my dad used this opportunity to show us kids how to be charitable and kind to strangers. Good. Years later, we found out the car car still going. Good. Very cool. Kimberly in Texas. Thanks to following the Ramsey Ramsey this year I was able to give gift cards to all 20 of the teachers at my son's daycare. Daycare. As a single mom of two, I never would have thought be able to give so abundantly and no longer have to live paycheck to paycheck. I'm so grateful to Ramsey Solutions, all that you provide to educate on financial security and freedom.

That's cool. Wow.

You see the transformation there. There. She remembers living paycheck to paycheck, and now she's on the other side. Side.

Yeah, and care of the workers at a daycare is a really good idea. Jamie in Ohio, our friend's three-year-old three-year-old was diagnosed with leukemia. She was child number three. Three. Was pregnant with number four. They had to distance themselves from social interaction to protect their daughter's immune system. My husband and I, over a 10-week period, mailed them $100 gift card every week from random places, gas stations, grocery stores, restaurants. Each was sent anonymously with a word of encouragement and scripture. I thank God their daughter is now healed and thriving. Love that.

That's a fun idea.

Yeah, very cool. Good stuff. Rich is in Albany, New York. Rich, Rich, tell your giving story.

Hey, guys. How are you doing?

Great, man.

I've been listening to you guys since about August of this year. Like most people, I got caught up and listened and read everything I could possibly find. One of the stories that just kept popping with me was the one about the Thanksgiving morning at the Waffle House. I just had this feeling. I was just like, I can't wait till I'm in a situation where I can actually do that. So as I just kept going and listening, I decided some point in October, I was like, You know what? I'm going to do something this Thanksgiving morning. It's not going to be on that scale, but I'm going to do something. So the day before Thanksgiving, I tell my seven-year-old boy, I was like, Look, after gym tomorrow, we're going to hit the diner, which was a surprise. I mean, the morning of Thanksgiving Thanksgiving morning, going to a diner. But he had no idea what was up. So after we had left the gym, I let him choose the diner. I even let him choose whatever we were going to sit at the booth or table service. I had these $2.50 bills into my pocket, and I was going to tip a waitress.

$100 too?

Yes. Whoa, good. I like this. I know. I did have a little trepidation. I mean, we're dead smack in the middle of Baby Step Step $15,000 are we throwing at the the five credit accounts are already down. I was thinking, maybe I can use this 100 bucks elsewhere. I mean, Thanksgiving morning, and I'm out at Diner, and I know I'm not ordering rice and beans today. My son, he's 17. He was going to order like he was going going the electric chair at midnight. I'm thinking to to myself maybe just 50 bucks. But the waitress comes comes over, in her late 50s, quick reading, reading, drinks. Finally talked myself out. I was like, like, they said this is the most fun you can have the money, so we're going to do it. I even had it as a line item in the every dollar app, $100 for gobble-gobble fun. We were going to do this. She comes back with drinks. I decided to start start open up a little rapport. I was like, How did you get so lucky to work Thanksgiving morning? At this point, this is when God showed up. She was in this thick southern drawer that that had no being anywhere near Albany.

She says, Oh, I don't mind, honey. I live here alone. All my family is back home in Tennessee. I couldn't believe what I heard. Heard. I mean, I I am, and I'm trying to go through all these Ramsey steps, and I'm wondering, is this the path? Is this what I should be doing? Doing? And she is, a waitress a thousand miles away from home in Albany, and she's from Tennessee. It's the last three months months just been intense. I'm trying to recreate this Waffle House House story. Here she is, my waitress from Tennessee. I almost handed her the $50 bills right there. We hadn't even ordered food yet. My son could have chosen any diner. He could have have a counter. We went up to that that and it had to be her. It was her. The whole meal, I was... I was in awe. I knew this was God's work. This was the light. We paid the bill. She came back and reached in my pocket. I handed it to $50. She was floored too. I mean, her eyes said, I can't take this. But I said, Thanks for the breakfast. I guess not all of us in New York is a bad.

I don't know if she needed the money, but I know I needed her. After that, it was worth a heck of a lot more than $100. We got back into the car. I explained the story to my son, and why it was just so crazy that this waitress was from Tennessee. He's been listening. It's been going in the background for months. Your podcast, your stories, everything. They're getting books for Christmas. They have no idea. It's in their stock. George's book will be here in January. They know that I'm all in. When I explained it to him, he was just like, We should do this every Thanksgiving. I was like, The diner or the giving? Giving? Like, No, No, no, giving. I was like, Yeah, I think that's really cool. You're damn right.

Absolutely. That's exactly the way that works. Well done, Rich. Beautiful.

Well played. Morris, Morris, caught and That kid, he caught caught He caught dad being generous and said, That's what I want to do.

I'm going to be generous because some hillbilly in Tennessee is saying to be generous, and then shows up in his waitresses from Tennessee. It's like God saying, saying, you. That's amazing. Told you. No $50 here, $100. Dump them both out there, buddy.

I think we need more callers from Albany. I love that accent.

Well, he loves ours, so there you go.

Something for everyone in this story.

That's a lot of fun. Well done, Rich. I love it. Well played. Actually, the truth is that guy guy sent that in- Oh, that's right. You read it. -to our customer care. I read that in our staff meeting. I read hate mail in our staff meeting, and I read brag stuff in our staff meeting both just to inspire our team. They like both, actually.

I like his version of it, though, with the accent, it really tells the.

Story better than you did. Yeah, it's a lot better than me reading in his voice. It's a lot better.

You get the upstate New York York feel, adds to That's it. Adds to it.

It's awesome. Very cool. This is our annual giving show here on The Ramsey Show. Our scripture of the day, Proverbs 11:25, A generous person will prosper. Whoever refreshes others will be refreshed. Maya Angelow says, When we give cheerfully and accept accept everyone is blessed. That's good. Well done. All right, Sarah is with us on our giving show today. Hi, Sarah, in Nashville. Tell us your giving story.

So I got got call in back in August and get some help with my mortgage. And someone heard my story and offered to help the kids and I with our mortgage. And they are from Murfreesboro. They actually, when I spoke to the guy, Nate Burns, he had told me that I knew his sister-in-law. And he explained to me that his sister-in-law knew me and had heard my story on your show. Also, she was the donor liaison who held my hand and walked me through the organ donating process when my husband passed away. Away. And the one that's been in contact with us every year annually about our organ recipients and how they're doing and the lives that my husband was able to save and give a second chance and the way the whole situation took full circle. It was a phenomenal experience. Wow. I was.

Just wild. Okay, so I'm just now catching on, and I'll make sure our audience catches on as well. Sarah called in back in the summer and was about to be foreclosed on. We took her call, John Deloney and I did, George to add Sarah on a few weeks ago to revisit that. But when you called in your house, you owed like like $65,000, it worth of 300,000. It was 45 days from being foreclosed on. Only need about $3,000 to be current. A bunch of things have happened around Sarah's life since then. One was the house was brought current, to another listener donated her car. Her husband was 36 years old and fell through a roof. He was a roofer and passed away. Now you're saying when that happened, he had planned to donate his organs, and the liaison ended up being the cousin of the guy who sent you the money to catch your house up?

The.

Sister-in-law.

The sister-in-law.

With his wife's sister.

Oh, my gosh. Okay, this just just keeps layers to it.

Wow. It was amazing. I get goosebumps every time I tell this story because it restored a faith in me that I so desperately needed.

Okay, so she helped you walk through the process of your husband, 36 years old, passing, donating his organs, and then she heard you on the air behind and recognized your voice.

Yeah, she recognized my last name.

And I know her. We didn't have your last name on the the air?

They found me, they found me on Facebook to tell me they wanted to help with the house. I had commented on the post that it was me and that he could reach out to me and his sister-in-law sent my name. I was like, Oh, I know her. When I talked to Nate, he was like, You know my sister-in-law, sister-in-law, I was like, I don't think so. He told me how I knew her. I was like, Oh, my God, I do know her. I I do. Know her well.

That is a full circle. That's amazing. Yeah. Okay. It was awesome. There's a lot- That's wild. -a lot of intricacy to this generosity. It's going everywhere.

Yeah. We need a new segment called Small World, Big God. How about that? That's pretty cool, Sarah.

Yes, that's amazing.

I love that idea. We love hearing from you. Our whole team has been cheering you on and praying for you. You got a special place in our our for sure, in America's heart.

You guys are a forever part of our family. We are so grateful for you guys and everything that you you not only for us, but for everybody that listens to you guys. You're such a blessing.

Thank you, Sarah. Good to talk to you again and Merry Christmas. Thanks for calling in to share another circle in this story. The story just.

Keeps going. I see on our screen, it says, Eight Lives Were Saved From His Organ Donations. How cool is that?

Wow, that's amazing. Lisa is in Scott City, Kansas. Hi, Lisa. Tell us your generosity story.

Hey, well, I'm not sure I can top that one. That was pretty-.

That one is pretty nice. There's a lot going on there. It's not a competition. I don't think anybody can can that one. One. It's not a That's okay.

It's not a competition. Mine is, well, it's been October 2022. My kids all wanted to go to church camp, and it was way more than I could really afford. Actually, they started. I told them, We'll get an envelope, write, can a cook on it, and start saving your your doing it the the day-to-day, roomsy I said they all did. I said, I'll help you throughout the year. We'll come up with to save money.

How many kids? Kids? Three.

Three, Three high school kids. They were making decorated sugar cookies to sell at Halloween time, and they had sold a ton. I had helped them over the weekend, and we were delivering cookies all Saturday night, Sunday. Sunday at church, a man just came up to me. I was busy talking with someone else. He's like, Hey, I stuck something in your Bible. I thought he was paying me for some cookies that he had gotten. I I didn't look at at finished church, went home, started cooking lunch. Lunch. And I was cooking lunch, I thought, Oh, I should get that check out of my Bible before I forget about it so my kids can count it because they were keeping track of who they delivered to, who's paid. I opened it up and it was a check for $5,000.

Oh, Oh, my.

I mean, makes me cry right now. It was enough with what they had already owned and saved to completely pay for all of them to go to church camp the next summer.

Wow.

I took it out there and I showed them, and I'm like, Can't be be left by you guys, gave me at church this morning. While I'm crying, they have the biggest smiles on their faces. Faces. Like, You can go. You're going. You're going to church camp. I was just overwhelmed with with I just can't even explain it. Or just somebody giving you a gift like that.

That's amazing. To take care of something. That's a lot of money.

It is a lot of money, yes. I'm living on a teacher's salary. That is a lot of money.

Money. Very cool. Very good story. Thank you for sharing that, Lisa. That is amazing. It's fun. The kids are working towards something, and then God says, Okay, I'll help.

I got you.

You. I got this.

My face hurts for sure this hour, Dave. I don't know about you, but my mouth muscles from smiling this much. It feels good, and it's definitely inspiring. I see why you've held this a tradition on The Ramsey Show.

Kelly in California, we encourage our seven-year-old son to think about those that are less less fortunate his birthday, he wanted his friends to bring donations for the Humane Society rather than than gifts, included this message in his invitation. He ended up collecting an entire cart full of pet toys, food, beds, blankets. The joy he received from giving his gifts to the animals is something he continues to talk about. I asked him if he wanted to choose another organization this year, and his answer was, This is a hard decision. I know that I would really love to get a lot of presents and awesome toys from my friends, but I know I can help more animals or kids than maybe some people. I think I want to help because that feels good. Boom, there you go. Seven years old. It gets it.

If a seven-year-old can get it, I think any adult can and should.

Man.

Well, it's fun, Dave. On the every dollar budget you have giving right underneath income. It's the first line item. Was that intentional on your part?

Well, you're giving for those people that are people of faith like we we are. First first fruits. Off the top. The first thing you do is tithe. The first thing you do is give, offering. Before you do anything else- It's not leftovers. No, everything else is is left after the giving. Just to get that rhythm in your life to start to build that generosity muscle. The interesting thing is the more you do do like any other habit habit or trait, the more refined it becomes, the stronger your generosity muscle gets. You're more discerning, you're careful, and your gifts are more effective. First time or two, 30 years ago, we started doing this stuff. We were a bit sloppy at it. But now it's very refined. Your heart was there. Yeah, but you look look back and That was weird. But we did it anyway, right? But you really can't mess this up. It's impossible to mess it up because because on the other side doesn't think you messed it up. Hey, guys, get in gear. That's what the season is all about. Good reminders. The giving portion of what we teach is there. The reason it's number one line item in the budget is to remind God is the ultimate giver.

That's what we're reminded of at Christmas. He gave His only begotten son that you might have everlasting life. There you go. That puts this hour of The Ramsey Show in the books. We'll be back with you before you know it. In the meantime, remember, there is ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of of Christ Jesus. Hey, folks, Dave here. You want to hear even more life-changing content from Ramsey? Download the Ramsey Network app, so you can catch all your favorite shows all in one one like like Ramsey Show, Smart Money Happy Hour, and and Dr. John Deloney Show. You'll get real talk about life, relationships, money, and your career. Plus, the app lets you browse by topic like debt, business, or selling your home. Get the content you want whenever and wherever you want to listen. Download the Ramsey Network app today.