The Annual Giving Show!

Thanks for hanging out. And if you're not in America, thanks for hanging out anyway. Open phones at 888-825-5225.. 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. 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. And 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. And then we move on and we take care of community and the world. And you start talking about people outside your family, outside your future, outside of thing.

And so, as your money evolves, your vision for what to do with it should evolve. You should grow, shouldn't it? Absolutely. Dave, you talk a lot about the myths that people believe about wealthy people and rich people. And we say that, you know, you're a stingy rich person, you know, that those exist, but there's a lot more that are philanthropists.

That's what we call them when they're generous with their money. And we want to highlight some of those stories as well. That's the kind of stuff you can do when you have margin and you follow the baby steps. It's inspiring. Yeah.

In today's world, in a capitalistic economy, very few people attain wealth without having the character quality of 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. Nobody 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. And so, but if you're a generous person, you know, it's hard to deny generosity.

It just is what it is. And it changes who you are. It changes whether your 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.

They go, you know, is 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. It just drove me nuts.

That doesn't come up in divorce decrees. You know, 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's about.

today. 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, you know, I, I was just a month or two ago, I was out of state at a restaurant and I'd never been there before.

And 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. And her reason was because she had recently purchased Taylor Swift tickets and put them on her credit card. It was like 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.

So anyway, we've been following, my wife and I've been following your plan for a while now, Dave. And, um, and so when I was here in her store, I started talking to her about how important I thought it was to get out of debt. And, you know, I encouraged her to do the same, which is like, yeah, I know that's why I'm working here. So anyway, um, our bill ended up being like $42.. Um, but I, I ended up signing the tip for like exactly what she owed on her credit card, which she had shared with me, was like $710..

Oh, wow. Yeah. You're more fun than a Taylor Swift concert. I'm just saying.

Well, I mean, and I never, and I never, um, she didn't know, you know what I'm saying? So, like, I just signed the thing for like $752.. I get in the car and I guess my wife could tell, you know, cause she's like totally on board with this whole thing. And, um, she, I guess, saw the look on my face, cause you paid her credit card off, didn't you? And I'm like, I did, babe.

And she's like, that's so, so awesome. We never saw her again. I mean, I don't even live in that state. I checked. I didn't even know if it would work.

You know, I checked my, um, statement to see if you can give a tip like that, or, you know, whatever, but, but yeah, it worked. So I was super thrilled and, and, uh, you know, I was also with some other people at the table and I didn't want them, you know, like, 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, uh, server about her life and whatever. But I mean, they have no idea what, what we did, and, and I don't care that they ever know, but it's not their business. It's just all of America's between you, the waitress, and God and your wife. But yeah, there you go.

Way to go, man. Why don't you guys have fun? And it is, and I'll tell you, we came from $500,000 of debt. Whoa. Um, and yeah, so, so you make Taylor Swift tickets look smart.

Wow. I know, man. We, we had, we had a lot of stuff going on. And so we followed your plan, got to baby step seven. So we dug out of half a million and now we're just, you know, I, I'm just really excited about what God's doing in our lives.

And, and I just want to be, I don't know. I want to follow that. And I'm excited to, to be a part of this, this team and the Ramsey scenario. Way to go. That's inspiring.

In a roundabout way, he bought a waitress, Taylor Swift tickets. That's how I see it in my head. Oh, no, I can't go there. No, it's more exciting. The headline reads, he did not, he did not endorse the behavior.

No, he just helped the poor girl who had made a mistake. Oh, that's pretty wild.

Concert tickets are what led us to this story of generosity. Going to Taylor Swift concert. It's not a mistake going to Taylor Swift concert. If you put it on your credit card and you're broke and you're a waitress, that's a mistake. Okay.

By the way, the tour is sponsored by Capital One, Dave. So, you know, 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, aside from this, great job, Mike. Way to go, hero. That must have just blown her mind. Yeah. It's so fun.

She was like, oh, they missed, they miswrote this. I got to take it back to them. So that's what we're doing. Today's show is the annual giving show, because God gave his only begotten son and we celebrate it this season. That's pretty cool.

The OG giver. Yeah, the OG giver, the original. And so check it out. And we're going to talk to people who've done giving all hour this hour, all hour of the next hour and all hour of the next hour. And 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 a hundred bucks in Egypt. You change their whole net worth. It's a lot of fun. So I'm spreading hundreds everywhere.

It was the most, 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. And 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 Show.

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's 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.

So this is all about inspiring additional generosity. And to that end, one of our favorite people at Ramsey, one of our own team members, is with us. Melissa, in 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 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. Why not? 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. So I was here at work, got that call. Immediately. I had prayer warriors around me, hands-on praying for me.

The next day... Now, the bunch that works this front lobby with you, that's kind of what they do. Yes, they do. I'm part of the most amazing team, Guest Relations. Deanna, Kat, Janelle, Lindsay.

Amazing front lines, Dave. But anyway, so 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. And I start crying. She said, your job will be waiting on you when you get back.

I start bawling because y'all know I love my job. I got the best job out there. Best people. And then she said, Melissa, while you're gone, we're going to pay you full salary. I just lost it.

I prayed. I mean, 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 see, surgery. I had residual cancer. I had to have another eight months of seven or eight months of chemo. And 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. And you all did nothing. but encourage me, pray for me. I got so many text calls, gifts at home.

Get this, on my eight year Ramseyversary, I get a call from my team leader and she says, I'm laying in the bed. I just had chemo. She said, happy Ramseyversary, 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.

So anyway, I was just so incredibly encouraged. Um, another part of this was, uh, my treatment bills were very, very high. I mean, we, David, and I really did not know how high they went. It was, um, because I had all kinds of, you know, some experimental things happening, but I never received a medical bill. Well, I did, but they 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 in my team, here at work. I mean, and 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 he, but, my sisters, my friends, I've got the prayer warriors here. My best friend that did food.

I can't even say that Dave Ramsey solutions was amazing. This has been a three, three years of hell. I mean, it'll, it'll be three years. Your hair grew back good. Isn't it great.

Mine didn't grow back good, but I didn't have cancer. But I mean, 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, this is just completely black.

Wow. Well, I did, you know, I'd had, uh, highlighted it for a few years. So I sort of forgot how dark it was, but I think it came back even darker, but, um, yeah, I, um, but you know, 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, if it's awkward, you don't know them, that well. It's always awkward, but, but the I'm, 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 that, through all of this, God has transformed my heart in many ways. I mean, I was walking with the Lord before, but now who being hammered a place I never thought was possible, but I will never be the same as far as giving and doing for others. And I hate that.

it took cancer. You were already that way. That's one of the reasons everybody loved Melissa. I don't think they changed you that much, but, uh, uh, 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. Uh, 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. They, 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. I'm back to work. full time since November.

It came on, knocked the crud out of you. I mean, it knocked you down hard. It took a little while to come. I mean, the, the cure will kill you. Yes.

It's like, it's nasty, but you're, you're back and you're back to work. Uh, what? Three days a week or four. Dave, I'm here every day, eight to five. You're back five.

I knew we approved you to come back for three, but I didn't know you're back to five. You had to let your energy level get back. Right. And I kind of had to beg to, I'm like, y'all, I'm ready. I'm ready.

Put me in coach, put me in coach. And, and, you know, and they were also, they all cared about my health more than me coming and feeling a place in here. And this guest relations team, Dave, y'all had, y'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. And it was, you know, and 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. Um, 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. Um, 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 we're surrounded by warriors, but we've seen your journey. You are a warrior. Amen. Absolutely. 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.

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.

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Welcome back to the Ramsey Show. It's our annual giving show, so 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.

You need to go pay. Oh, 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, you know, 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. Y'all want some pizza? Y'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. Okay, cool. For those of you not watching on YouTube, what's your name?

Marissa. Marissa. I gotta 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 to $1,000..

Is that okay? Yeah, that's fine. That's for you. Merry Christmas. Are you serious?

I'm dead serious.

Thank you so much. What's the biggest tip you've ever gotten? Probably $170.. 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. He's going to be okay.

What's making you deliver pizzas? Is this for fun? What's going on here? Well, I'm just doing it right now in a filled time. I'm going back to school with a PC for medical coding.

Awesome. So this is a side hustle for you? Yeah. I mean, it's something that it's pretty decent money while I'm doing it. Today, it's decent money.

That's for sure. Oh my God. Yeah. And 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. Yeah. That's awesome. Any debt? You on the journey to pay off some debt?

Because we can help you with that, too. Oh, 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. You want to keep the bag? Oh, I can't keep the bag.

That's 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. And 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. Yeah.

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. And we'll take your calls. if you want to call in. George is handing out pizzas out here.

Give him 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. And 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. Way to go.

Very cool. Well, if you've got a great giving story, a great receiving story, we would love to hear yours. Malina has one. She's in Asheville, North Carolina. Hi, Malina.

Tell me your story. Hi. So, my brother graduated high school like a year early. So 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. And so I recommended Total Money Makeover for him. And so 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. And she bought one for herself. And she knew that we have followed you for years and that my husband and I are doing well. So she's like, will you teach us? Will you sit down and do a budget with your brother?

I was like, yeah. So they came down for Thanksgiving and he opened the book and he started reading the first chapter and there was a hundred dollars. And 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. And he's reading and every chapter there was a hundred dollar bill.

So he ended up with $1,300 in cash from reading. Yeah. Pretty much. He starts fast forward, speed reading at some point, right? No, he did.

He read the whole entire book at that point. Like I sat there and he read the whole entire thing. Did she own it? She put the hundred dollars 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. And sold $1,300 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. So yeah, he read that and we sat down and we did his budget and he's in the construction union. And we're like, I'm like, bud, you're on baby, start to three already.

This is wild. So what happened was somebody else's mother put a hundred dollars in every chapter, gave them the book. They took it down and sold it to thrift books for $2, having never done what their mother told them to do. And 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. It wasn't, the money wasn't easy to see. I mean, it was in like the middle of every chapter, like really stuck into, you wouldn't see it, just like whipping 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 it just, he went from, you know, 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 and he has, you know, it just, it escalated it so quickly. He's on beat. He's going to do it now. He's going to live the way, right?

Yes. Yes. He, 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.

And he wants to be a homeowner. He wants to buy a nicer vehicle. So it's wonderful. You got to love Big Sister's 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. That is so great. So he, the light bulb actually went on when he finished the book and he's actually going to go become wealthy because of this. Yeah.

Yeah. He, he had kind of 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-thru all the time. And I, I'm like, look at all of this money that you're wasting on fast food and stupid shopping that you don't need to be doing.

And all the while, you could have bought a $5 book with $1,300 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, Malino. 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. 888-825-5225.. We need to hear from you.

This is inspiring. It's hard to listen to this day of broadcast on generosity and 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.

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It's our 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. And last segment, you were successful. I got a taste of that.

You successfully did it. last segment. A thousand dollars to the young lady delivering the pizza. What was her first name? again?

Marissa. Marissa. That sounds about right. Yeah, all right. Not my first rodeo, Dave.

I think it was first, I think it's 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 workday, it's pretty jarring. already. I'm delivering pizzas.

next thing, I know I'm on the camera. And next thing you know, here's a thousand dollars. I have no clue what to say. And 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. So seriously, you have been giving away a lot of my money lately.

And it was, of course, authorized and encouraged. Lots of good side gigs. Good work, if you can get it. And 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 it.

And by the wild, I mean Antioch, Tennessee. And 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.

So let's go to Dave's and let's see if we can bless some people out there with some outrageous generosity. And so where do I go, Dave? I go to America's favorite diner establishment, and that is Waffle House. The 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 a hurricane is. If Waffle House is closed, we're all screwed. That's basically how it works.

Bad hurricane. Bad hurricane. So they're out there Christmas Day, you name it, working their tails off. And so I thought, let's go to Waffle House and bless some people. So 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. And you know, Dave is all about outrageous generosity, and it's my spiritual gift to give away Dave's money. So that's what we're going to do today.

In just a few minutes, we're going to cover everyone's tab and bless the waitstaff with $500 each. And on top of that, one special person is going to get something extra. So let's go in and show them some outrageous generosity.

Hello, Shatika. How are you? I'm good. How are you? Good.

I'm ready when you're ready, Shatika. I think that is meant for you. Oh, okay. I didn't know. you all have assigned seating.

Yeah, like sections. We do. Okay. You just can't have chaos out here. You got to have some order.

I'm going to get you a coffee. That's it. Just a coffee? That's it. All right.

Plain and simple. And you can give me the check whenever you're ready. Just a coffee? I'm just, I'm a little guy. I got to keep my, you know what I mean, Shatika?

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, that you're in a coma. A half brown. Well, no, you can do something.

white, you know, half brown. Great. You know, whatever. That all sounds heavy. Yeah.

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.

Merry Christmas. It's on us. But you know what? Who do we have here? Can I just go ahead and give you your ticket now?

You sure can. Okay. Before I run out of money, because I got to cover all these people's tabs. Yeah. I didn't realize that y'all are slamming at this.

I'll never financially recover from this. Hey, because you're amazing. Here's $500 for you, pretty. Thank you so much. Thank you.

I appreciate that. No one else. Well, I feel bad now. I want to do one for Crosby over there too, whenever he's ready. There we go.

Well, Crosby, Merry Christmas, man. Here's $500 on behalf of Ramsey Solutions. Wow. God bless you. All right, Ross, Merry Christmas.

$500 on behalf of Ramsey Solutions. We just want to bless some people. God bless y'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, so this is-. Wow. Congratulations, man. God's good. That's incredible.

What are you guys going to spend it on? Bills. Bills? Come on, Crosby's going to need some funds. What are you going to spend it on?

Some art supplies. You're an artist? Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah.

Okay. I got to see your art after this. That'd be awesome. Okay. This is a lot.

This is all in 20s. Look how you're balling out here. Thank you. Merry Christmas. Thank you.

I've just been going through a lot, and 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.

They're okay. What's the ages? Seven, two, and three. Wow. What are you doing for Christmas for them?

I don't know. Just hanging in here, you know? Hanging in 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, Shatika? We got something special just for you. We got an extra $2,000 to give you.

I want to bless you with $2,000 extra on top of your $500.. Get those kids some Christmas gifts.

Can I come back here and hug you? Okay. I'm going to come back here and hug Shatika. 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. Y'all, you will not believe this. I gave away my last dollar.

Can I work this off in the kitchen? Listen, I'm like Lana Del Rey, yo. I'm doing it. All right. We're doing this thing.

Yeah. Usually, I get to sit in front of a camera and act a fool. I'm actually working it. This is the most work I've done, since I can remember. One, two, three.

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's 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 so 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 spirit of the holidays. God bless, and Merry Christmas from Ramsey Solutions. There we go, man. Way to go, George. Thank you.

That was fun. Well done. Hey, if you're only listening 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 kind of 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, so 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. Okay. And that was a blast, Dave. So 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 Shatika'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? And they said, Shatika. So I did not know her story. But out of everybody there, you were already aiming at her.

I was aiming at Shatika. Exactly. And so I said, hey, can you tell us what's behind this emotion? And she told us, you can hear in the video, she was shot by her baby's daddy. Wow.

I mean, it took my breath away when she said that in the last year. And so 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. And I thought, let's give these kids some amazing gifts and show them an amazing Christmas, because their mom is a warrior. Yeah.

And has been through some things. Oh, she's gonna 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. So 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 so funny.

He went, waiter. Wait, wait, right here, right here. He started ready to order. That one was great. I like that.

You can cover the whole bill at Waffle House for a hundred bucks, y'all. That's something fun to do this Christmas. A hundred bucks will cover it. I'm telling you. Okay.

Go, do that. Thank me later. So 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. That was a nice touch. Thank you. That really was work.

Nice touch on you. 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 Warshaw.

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, and 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 888-825-5225.. 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, first off, my husband, Ralph and I have been trying to get pregnant for about seven years. 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. At the time, when we found out the cost, we realized we couldn't go back into debt for this. We were blessed. My best friend and his wife actually blessed us with $20,000 to go through these treatments.

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

Wow. We went through. These are good friends. Yes, my best friend since high school. He is amazing.

Went through our first round and did not have any viable embryos that we can use. 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. Ralph and I obviously knew we didn't have the money to do another round. We said, well, maybe we should consider adoption as an alternative. 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.

They gave us another $30,000 to do another round, which we did. We got embryos from that. Last summer, we implanted one of our embryos and I got pregnant, but I lost the baby very early on in the pregnancy. Again, just try to not question God, right? Because knowing He has a plan.

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.

Yay! 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.

And we will be debt-free by January.

Well, now there's some interesting timing. God's timing, right? Always His time, His plan. God's plan. Wow.

Wow. Yes. Well, congratulations. And what an unbelievable friend. Yes, that's what I'm thinking.

Yeah, He is a blessing. Him and his wife will be the godparents of our son, obviously. And anything else they want. Oh, my gosh. Yes, absolutely.

That's amazing. Oh, man, that's amazing. This journey has been, I mean, 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, you know, He takes you through. It's never just a solid line, right? There are hills and valleys, and it's up and down. And at the end of the day, He always blesses you with those desires.

It's just trusting His time and staying faithful. Wow. And 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? Jane, 100%. 100%. And 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 multi-millionaire. He works for an organization that kind of 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, this was just a tremendous blessing.

So he and his wife are multi-millionaire. That's great. It's a full gift. You don't have to pay him back. Wow.

No. Wow. 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.

Yes. Go back home for that. Yeah. Or back to the childhood home anyway. Way to go.

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 y'all when you came to Austin for your event a few months back. So we will be out there to do our debt-free scream, for sure. And who knows, maybe the baby will be here by that time, and we can come in.

You can 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.

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've got, I love them. But, you know, and then they hit about two and I'll let the parents take care of them. And then, you know, we had, like the seven-year-old, the eight-year-old, ten-year-old, over last night, for, you know, watching Elf. That's the right age.

They've got, you know, 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. Hypothetically. I love it.

Don't do that to the dog. You'll kill the dog.

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 he started thinking about. Wow. Not even had the kid yet. This is great. Yeah.

Too fun. Too fun. Well done, you guys. Very, very well done. I love it.

Hey, that's what it's about. Generosity. 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.

And 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. And 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 Walshall, Ramsey Personality, is my co-host.

This is The Ramsey Show.

This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. This is Deloney, and I'm always railing against social media, especially in the summer, because everyone uploads the highlight reels of their perfect bodies and perfect vacations and perfect kids. And I know they're not real. And I also know that I'm blessed beyond my wildest dreams. But I still find myself wishing my life was like other people's.

And, based on the data, I know this is happening to you, too. Comparison is wired into us. But comparison can also become the thief of joy, because we can feel like we're not enough and begin acting and thinking in ways we would never think otherwise. When all gets to be too much, think about contacting BetterHelp. BetterHelp is 100% online therapy staffed with licensed therapists.

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Jade Warshall, Ramsey Personality, host, co-host of the Ramsey Show and author of the new quick read that we just put out, Money's Not a Math Problem. Y'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. You were out, George did this too, and we tried to get a couple other folks in on it, but you and George were the ones that pulled it off, out, exercising the 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? So we went over to, I guess we were on what, the east side of town, James? It was more like north side, like Germantown, the Nations area. Okay.

Yeah, the north Nashville. And so 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. And so it kind of, 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 kind of let them in a little bit because you have to get them to sign a waiver so that they can be on camera.

And so 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. And so that's how we got them to talk to us. And then we kind of... And you got them mic'd up that way and so on. Yeah.

Because I noticed the one lady when I was looking at a mic on, I'm like, how'd you get a mic on? Yeah. Well, we tricked them. We tricked them and then 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. So we 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 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 groceries today. Are you kidding?

We have a really cool Christmas basket over 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 get? I want to get meat. Yes, get meat.

Get the most expensive stuff. Yes, get what you want, girlfriend.

We are filling these carts up. This is so fun. Oh no, we just need two. No, you don't. You need a lot.

If that's what you guys want us to do. My kid uses these. My baby eats these. Yes, get plenty for the baby. I know things I've been wanting to buy and haven't been able to buy.

Yes. 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? So it's called The Ramsey Show. Dave Ramsey? Okay, I took his class last semester.

Oh wow, foundations and personal finance. Wow. Yeah, the debt snowball effect. Yeah. That's the one I'm currently using right now, and it's help.

I mean, it's help. I just came here to grab some lunch on my lunch break. 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. TenCare provides insurance usually.

Okay. Where's your cart at? It's back there. I was scared. I wasn't going to get it around here time enough.

Harold, me, pushing your cart 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. So you've got another younger sister. Is it just the four of you guys? No, it's ten of us. Ten of us.

Wow, I love that. That is a giant family. This has been the funnest day of my life. Free food, y'all. Who is sponsoring?

this is what I want to know. God is. Yeah, God is. Definitely God is. You're right.

Amy, you did it. 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 it. It is.

This is on blessings.

All right, two weeks of groceries for $3.88 with $75.. But we're also feeding a family of what, 11?. How long do you think this will last you? Two months. Yeah, two months, good.

Several months. We'll have to go to the store for a while. Merry Christmas. Bless y'all. Thank you, Carol.

Now how do I get these in my car? All right, Jenea, we did not forget about you, because you have been the one like ringing 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 do with that.

We just hope that you have a Merry Christmas. Yes, girl.

Wow, guys, that was so incredible. Look, the cliche says it's more blessed to give than receive, and I can attest. It is so true. That is the most fun with money that I've had in a really long time. So 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. Wow, that was a good time. That was a good time, Dave. How long were you in the store? total?

Oh, maybe three hours. Whoa, okay. Yeah, we were in there a while. Did you get it all set up and then go? Well, I think, here's what I found.

It didn't take three hours to fill those buggies. It was, 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. I think. Oh, okay.

So they weren't all at the same time. We had to put them on. They're running back to back to back. That's right. Oh, I see.

We had to put them on a time limit. The edit makes it feel like they're all together. Okay. Yeah. What I found was when you first say, hey, go, fill up your cart, there's like this moment of, this can't be true.

And then it's like, well, I'll just get a little bit. And I'm like, fill up the cart. Everything you can get in this cart. We're paying for it. That's right.

And it took them a moment and finally it clicked in. It's like, oh, I'm getting crab legs and I'm getting like steaks. Cause they were grabbing little stuff. I was like, guys, you don't understand the blessing here. Like we're using Dave's money.

That's right. So, oh, that was a good time. So, so fun. That's fun. That's very cool.

Well done. Well done, gang. It's a lot of fun. It is, uh, 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 experienced that, uh, secret Santa type of thing where you just walk up and randomly blow somebody's mind, fill up their, uh, gas, fill up their tanks with gas. I mean, when the, we had the, uh, Fauci pandemic thing going, we, uh, sent a bunch of our team over, um, to eat, to two of the hospitals, the local hospitals, to the gas station next door, and all the nurses and techs and docs that came up. when we're filling up with gas, we paid for their gas, filled up all his car. It was a lot of 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, you know, we're scared of other human beings and all this stuff.

And you just went out there and started putting gas in somebody's car. All of a sudden, everybody chilled out. Yeah. You know, I would agree with that. It was cool in the store, because, you know, that was for, for folks that you saw getting blessed, but there was a lot of people in the store watching that happen.

And there was this older guy who walked up to me. He goes, what are y'all doing? You're giving away free groceries. I said, yeah. And he said, well, what do you have to do to get them?

And I said, well, you know, you have to be willing to be on camera. And he was like, oh, okay, well, I'm not willing to be on camera. And it just so happened that when it was time to check out the two ladies, he was right in front of us. So we were able to get his groceries too. And I said, look, you're here.

Let's just get your groceries too. You don't have to be on camera. I said, but, and so 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 blessed. 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 camera, but it was fun that, the way the day worked out, he ended up being in line with us and he, you know, got to benefit from that too. So that was fun. That's neat. Very, very fun. All right, folks, that's how it's done.

And that's what we're going to do this 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, this particular version of the Ramsey show, is all about. This is the Ramsey show.

Jade Walshall, Ramsey personality, is my co-host today. This is our annual giving show where we highlight generosity here on the Ramsey show. Just a note for a programming note for all of you. If you want to go back and watch some of the videos of Jade or George giving the stuff, giving money away and blowing people's minds, it's a lot of fun, or any parts of the show. You can certainly do that on YouTube.

And in some cases you're going to get the visuals and we subcaptioned it so you can read, because there's sometimes background noise or, or the background music we put over it made it a little hard to hear in certain audio settings. So go, check the YouTube out and you can watch it. And that way you can rewatch it if you want to, that kind of thing. It's very easy. It's on the highlight or the, what do you call that section?

Yeah, the highlights, highlights, section on the Ramsey show YouTube channel, which, by the way, there's 147 million YouTube channels, literally. Y'all believe that? That's crazy. And they sent us a note this week that the Ramsey show or the Ramsey network YouTube channel is number 1055 out of 147 million. I mean, I don't know when being in the top 1055 is a big win, but in that case it might be.

I think that it is. I think that's a huge one. Speaking of big wins on the, in the lobby on the debt-free stage is one of our Ramsey team members with a great generosity story. Lily is with us. Lily's, on the real estate team at Ramsey, trusted working with real estate agents across America.

How long have you been with the team, Lily? Uh, 45 days. Fairly newbie, then. Okay. All right, cool.

So welcome. And you jumped, you stepped forward. We put out a note to our team and said, if any of you have great generosity stories you want to share on the air, you can. And Lily stepped forward. This is a special story.

I've already heard a little bit about this. And so I'll turn it over to you. Thank you. So, in middle school, my parents divorced and my dad ended up taking a job opportunity several 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 glioblastoma, 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. So how old were you? I was, let's see, I was in my early 20s.

Okay. 20..

So I was in college, actually, at the time, I had just transferred from school in New York to back home, which is a God thing. And so 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. Yeah.

And so during those months, as times 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 possibility, I talked to my stepmom about it, and she thought it was a good idea. So we started kind of trying to turn the wheels. And a girl that I grew up with in middle school, sorry, elementary school, her and her brother had grown a very successful wedding videography business in town.

And I reached out to them, full intent to pay for a wedding video. I think their wedding videos start at $10,000.. Wow. So 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 put that, just to have that in the memory box. Yeah. And the reason I wanted 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. And after talking to them, they wanted to do it. And they were booked for pretty much the whole year. I was about to travel abroad, to Italy, and my dad was declining again every week. And I felt he was still in pretty good condition at that time.

But I felt for some reason, if I wait, it's not going to be soon enough. And so 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 own 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. And 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. Yeah.

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. And last October we had everyone at our wedding venue, which was also gifted, since my dad wasn't able to help provide for the wedding.

And we 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. It's 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.

Beautiful. Lots of generosity makes a tragic, really sad thing, a precious memory. Yeah, exactly. Transformed it. Yeah.

Something I wouldn't have gotten to have and share. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. I love the watch.

Wow. So there was the videographer who gifted their services. Then you even got the wedding venue. Absolutely free. And they were booked.

Exactly. Yeah. And it was just such a God thing. They both had the same Friday available and basically no other day of the year. Wow.

So 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. Yeah. And yeah, Dallas Wilson Wedding Films.

Wow. And yeah, they gifted it to us and so thankful. Oh, that's pretty cool. Yeah. 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 as good. Well done.

Well done. Thanks for sharing, Lily. Good work. This is a giving show on The Ramsey Show.

All right, let's cut to the chase. It's easy to get discouraged about crazy house prices and interest rates. But when you have the right real estate agent to help you buy and sell the right way, you'll have confidence to make smart decisions. Ramsey Trusted Agents aren't just experts who guide you through buying or selling. They're someone you can trust to have your back from the first call to closing day.

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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 live and give like no one else. Jade Walsh, our Ramsey personality, is my co-host of the day. Today's giving story of the day is sponsored by Neighborly, your hub for home services.

When 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 Neighborly.com slash Ramsey to find reliable help 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'm 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 doesn't cost 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. Uh-huh. And 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.

And they're the ones that also give you a million dollars to feed 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 Ts.

That's it. Lauren is in Louisville, Kentucky. Hey, Lauren, tell us your giving story. Hi, Dave, hi Jade, Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas to you.

Okay, so we're kind of still in the middle of our story, but to just kind of go back a little bit, my husband lost his job after 15 years at a company, and 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 cards. But then one day I received a text from one of the women that was working with us, and she asked me to come into 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 kind of 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 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. And it was split between our family and another family who was in need.

And so 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. It is. So whoever, we don't know still to this day.

We 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 did have a three-month emergency fund that helped us through at the beginning, before we went to the church. And the day will come when we do this exact same thing. Amen. I know it will.

Amen. The ability to pay it forward will be incredible. Yeah. Oh, my goodness. Well done.

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

So 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 still to pay the bills. We went from a six-figure income to just, I mean, almost losing our house. And we have applied. I mean, miracles have happened nonstop.

Somebody paid for, actually, our preschool paid for all our Christmas gifts last year for our kids when taxes were due, because we just worked nonstop. I opened a dog business, which has been really successful in my home, and we plan on expanding it. But we're just, like, scraping by still. But we've never missed a payment on anything. And we don't play the lottery.

I always listen, Dave, because you make fun of your daughter for going on vacations and gambling and stuff, but we don't gamble. My husband got some numbers in his head and bought a $2 lottery ticket where he had to put the numbers in on a random day 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 nonstop. I don't even know how to explain it. Wow. 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 decided to split it up anyway. And pretty, pretty incredible. And it makes all the difference in the world. Thanks for sharing your giving story, Lauren. Very well done.

Very well done. It's interesting how she said it was probably a couple who had been through something similar. And 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 obligated and you feel, I mean, really, obligation is not the word, but you want to help out in that same area. Well, you're inspired by people that are feeling the same kind of pain you want. Yes. That's the thing. So yeah, there's nothing wrong with that at all.

No, that's great. I mean, if you've been through cancer, then you're going to have a soft spot for people that are going through cancer. Whatever it is, you're going to always have that. And 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 of us, one member of the family, doesn't have some kind of an emotional connection to.

You have to. It doesn't have to be that we necessarily felt that kind of pain, but this is something that's on our heart. 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 analysis 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? And I mean, does it prick your heart?

Does it make you come alive to say, we want to do our generosity? that way? That's right. And there's nothing wrong with avoiding something that is perfectly valid, but that doesn't motivate you. Yeah, of course.

Yeah. So 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 Washock, 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 Show, where we help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create actual, amazing relationships. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. George Campbell, Ramsey personality. Soon to be number one best-selling author of the book, Breaking Free from Broke. Book comes out in January.

You can pre-order 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 in giving.

And if you're just joining us, go back and pick up the other hours on YouTube or, well, 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. So if you have a generosity story, that you are the recipient of inspiring generosity, or you were the giver of inspiring generosity, we want to hear the story, because we want to hear it, and 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. And 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. So the phone number, if you've got a great giving story, 888-825-5225.. You jump in and we'll do that. Interesting, the folks over at Mama Bear Legal Forms that we endorse to do your will,

since 2019, Ramsey fans, doing their wills with Mama Bear, have left $361 million in charitable bequests through their Mama Bear wills. Altogether, users have given or pledged 15,186 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 to some kind of institution or some kind of work of some kind, right? Wow. And that's also pledged, so there's people, you know, if you have not passed yet, that's still pledged to be a part of that, as part of your passing, which is really, that's inspiring. It's crazy. Makes me want to re-look at my will and go, hey, what are some really cool ways to give?

$361 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. So, last year, my friend Andrew was killed in the line of duty. He was a SWAT deputy sheriff and also U.S. Army combat veteran.

But, most importantly to me, he was my friend. And as we were sitting at his funeral, they performed what's called an end of watch call ceremony. And 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 watch, 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. So, as my wife and I were driving home from the funeral, we decided that we were going to do something special for Andrew's family, because we didn't want them to feel like they were alone. And so Christmas was Andrew's favorite holiday. So we decided that we were going to pay for Christmas for his family.

So when the Christmas season rolled around, we made, 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, you know, experiences they had with Andrew. We had a beautiful Christmas dinner delivered to their house. So they didn't have to worry about, you know, the time and work it takes to prepare that dinner. And, you know, I'm an American soldier, like Andrew was, and my wife's a school teacher, you know, so money doesn't necessarily come easily at our house.

However, because of what you all have taught, we have multiple side hustles. And one of those side hustles is actually a very successful, like, you know, 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 Andrew's family, not only last year, but this year as well. And I just wanted to say, you know, as an American soldier, I am constantly bombarded with people, you know, thank you for your service and all these heartfelt thanks. I'm very grateful for it, but I was hoping, so if I could ask all the Ramsey listeners to maybe think of the heroes that are closer to home this year, you know, they're all around us and they're the ones who will come running towards danger to protect us while others run away.

And they're willing to give their ultimate sacrifice in order to save our lives, like my friend Andrew did. So, if, you know, they're our protectors and they're the law enforcement first responders. So if I could just ask everybody to please thank them and for the protection they provide each and every day, I'd appreciate that. Amen. Amen.

Well said. And if he was SWAT, he was running straight towards danger. Yes, sir. He was. He was, in this case, there was a shots fired, call, and he was one of the first officers there and, without hesitation, ran straight into the fray.

Wow. Well, his legacy lives on. So 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. 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. I mean, 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. And 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. And generosity is the same way.

You can't just intend to do it. You've actually got to go do it. And you did it, Shane. So thank you for doing that. There's thoughts and prayers.

And then there's gifting the entire family some really thought-filled gifts. So, 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. And 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. 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, that'd be, we're not doing that. No, give them the car too, that go with the keys. But yeah, I mean, do some stuff like that. It's amazing how much car you can buy for four or 5,000 bucks, even 2000 bucks.

I mean, and you can go, you know, if you go buy five or 10 of them, you can, 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. And if it's not you this year, if you're in struggling 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, or you're 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's taken care of, and that's generationally changing things. And then them, that's community. And you'll work through that progression as your wealth increases and your quality of management of that wealth increases. It's a natural thing that occurs.

This is the Ramsey Show.

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George Campbell, 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 slash giveaway. This is our annual giving show, so that kind of fits in. We're talking with a giving club. 25 years ago, there were 10 people in the club, and they gave $300 each, twice a year. So $3,000 twice a year, $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 some money together with other people. I guess if you're in the club, you have to have bylaws on deciding on how the money's going to be given. That way, you're comfortable with that. to put your $300 in, right?

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 up, telling us that that is true. That's a cool idea. Yeah, and then to make it a tradition for 25 years.

If you got $300, it's a way to create $3,000.. Yeah, 10x that. 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 a 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, and we actually all decided that we wanted to take this project on and see how we could help the widow. And so we went out and met with the potential client, asked him if we could take on this project, finish it up, do an epoxy floor, and if he would then write the check for the remaining balance on the job to the widow. And so we 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. And then, 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. Wow.

Yeah. Very cool. And all it took was a little bit of creativity and six days of work. Yeah, yeah. Well, and somebody had furnished the materials on the other side too, but yeah.

Yeah, right. And 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. Love it. Way to go, guys. Wow. Very cool.

So this guy, he was a concrete sub, is what you're saying? Yeah, yeah. Decorative concrete. So we do like epoxy coatings or polished concrete, things like that. And that's what he did as well.

And yeah, 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. Yeah. And so we felt the calling. We've done some projects like 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. 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 have y'all been in business? Since 2008..

So right after high school for me, and he was a little older than that, and we just kind of learned it and went from there. I suspect you're going to continue to prosper. Well done, sir. And you probably inspired that whole crew to even be more generous with their time and their talent and their money. Well, the thing is, 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, you know, the checkout, the girl checking out the groceries. You know, if you pay for the buggy in front, right, 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. Now, 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, you know, getting something you've worked really hard for. All of those things are fine.

They're 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 generosity changes who you are, and that's what's so powerful about it.

It's not necessarily the, you know, the amorality of money, but it's what you do with it, and when you give it away, it affects you way more than just hanging on to it, spending it, having a good time. And I think that's increased.

I know 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. So, like, the filming that we showed in another hour, of you going into the staff members, 500 bucks, and then one lady who'd 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. You know, everybody's watching all of this in the whole freaking Waffle House. I mean, it's a show going on, in a sense, and so that reshapes everyone that is within touching distance of that. That's a little different than mailing a check to XYZ. Hitting the button on the website, which is still great.

There's nothing wrong with that. You're losing that personal experience, for sure. Yeah. I mean, we just had a bunch of tornadoes north of Nashville, up in the Clarksville area, a bunch of homes destroyed, and yet you can send money there through XYZ, if it'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 up, cleaning up trash and helping people find the kid's stroller four blocks over and all this kind of stuff.

It's crazy what goes on with a tornado, but yeah, there's a thing that happens when you're there and you witness it in person, the person receiving it or the person giving it, 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's true of ordering, of buying something, that you go into a store, you touch it, you feel it, you think about it. There's a sensory. There's a sensory thing, and 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 a digital age. Yeah. It's a good reminder. when you're giving to find ways to make it personal. Well, you don't have to do your whole budget that way.

I mean, you don't have to walk up and hand your tithe check to the preacher each Sunday and go, da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. You don't have to do that. Oh, man, that'd be bad. But just turn that thing in. 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 The Ramsey Show.

George Campbell, Ramsey personality, is my co-host today. He's also the author of the brand new book, Breaking Free from Broke. You can get it in the Ramsey Solutions store. Well, at least you can get the pre-order of it. It will actually come out in January.

It's only $20 to pre-order it, and you get $100 in bonus items, including his newest talk, Show Me the Money. I wonder where he got that title. And exclusive access to an online private event and a Q&A with George, audio book and the e-book. If you pre-order, 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. Pre-order it at ramseysolutions.com slash store. George, I just got an email a few minutes ago that the book is, the pre-sales on it are outstanding. They're breaking records. Wow, that's good news.

It is good. 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 audio book preview and we're doing something fun with the audio book.

I know, I've been listening to the samples. Some enhancements, some sound designs, some music. Not your mama's audio book. 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 888-825-5225..

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 money. My 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 was still going. Good.

Very cool. Kimberly in Texas. Thanks for following the Ramsey plan. this year. I was able to give gift cards to all 20 of the teachers at my son's daycare.

Whoa. As a single mom of two, I never would have thought I'd 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? Yep. She remembers living paycheck to paycheck, and now she's on the other side. Yeah. And taking care of the workers at daycare is a really good idea.

Jamie, in Ohio, our friend's three-year-old daughter was diagnosed with leukemia. She was child number three. Mom 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 a $100 gift card every week from random places, gas stations, grocery stores, restaurants.

Each was sent anonymously with a word of encouragement and scripture. 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, tell us your giving story. Hey, guys.

How 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 at 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 the gym. tomorrow, we're going to hit the diner, which was kind of a surprise.

I mean, it's the morning of Thanksgiving morning. I mean, we're 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 what we were going to set at the booth or table service. I had these $250 bills in my pocket, and I was going to tip a waitress.

A hundred dollars. a tip? 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. two. $15,000.

are we throwing at the snowball, five credit accounts already down. And so I was thinking, maybe I can use a hundred bucks elsewhere. I mean, it's Thanksgiving morning and I'm at the diner and I know I'm not ordering rice and beans tonight. And my son, he's 17.. He was going to order like he was going to the electric chair at midnight.

So I'm thinking to myself, maybe just $50.. But the waitress comes over, she's in her late fifties, quick reading drinks. And I finally told myself that. I was like, no, they said, this is the most fun you can have with money. So we're going to do it.

I even had it as a line item in the every dollar app. A hundred bucks, it's for gobble, gobble fun. So we were going to do this. So she comes back with drinks. I decided to open up a little rapport.

And I was like, I was like, how'd you get so lucky to work Thanksgiving morning? And at this point, this is, this is when God showed up. She was like in this thick Southern drawer that had no business, being anywhere near Albany. She says, Oh, I don't mind, honey. I live here alone.

All my family is back home in Tennessee.

And I, I couldn't believe what I heard. I mean, here I am, you know, the, I'm trying to go through all these Ramsey steps and I'm wondering, is this the, you know, is this, is this the path? Is this what I should be doing? And here she is, you know, a waitress a thousand miles away from home in Albany. And she's from Tennessee.

Uh, you know, the last three months has just been, you know, intense, uh, trying to recreate this waffle house story. And if she is my waitress in Tennessee, I mean, I almost handed her the $50 bills right there. We hadn't even ordered food yet.

Um, so, I mean, my son could have chosen any, uh, diner. Uh, he, I mean, he could have chose accounted, uh, uh, cause you know, we went up to that booth and you know, it had to be her, it was her. Uh, so, I mean the whole meal, I was just, you know, I was, and I was like, I knew this, this was God's work. This was like, you know, the light. Um, so we, we paid the bill.

Um, she came back and, you know, I reached in my pocket, I handed it to $50 and, you know, she was, she was floored too. I mean, she, her eyes kind of said, you know, I can't take this. Uh, but you know, I just, I said, thanks for the breakfast. I guess not all of us in New York is a bad, um, and I, I don't know if she needed the money, but I know I needed her. Uh, after that, it was worth a heck of a lot more than a hundred dollars.

I mean, um, so we got back into the car. I explained the story to my son and, you know, why it was just, you know, so crazy that this waitress was, was from Tennessee. Uh, and you know, he, he's been listening and, you know, it's been going in the background for months, you know, your podcast, your stories, you know, everything, might, they're getting books for Christmas. They have no idea. It's in their stockings.

George's book is, you know, it will be here in January. Uh, so, uh, they know that I'm all in. Uh, so, when I explained it to him, he was just like, yo, we should do this every Thanksgiving. I was like the diner or the giving. And, uh, he's like, no, no, no.

The giving I was like, yeah, I think that, uh, I think that's really cool. You're damn right. Absolutely. Absolutely. That's exactly the way that works.

Well done, Rich! Beautiful. Well played. More is caught than taught. And that kid, he caught that.

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 and his waitress is from Tennessee. It's like God saying, told you. That's amazing. Told you.

No, $50 here. $100.. Dump them both out there, buddy. I love, 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 sent that email in. Oh, that's right. I read that in our staff meeting too.

I read, uh, I read hate mail on our staff meeting and I read, uh, brag stuff on 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 sells the story better than me.

reading in his voice. It's a lot better. Yeah. You get the upstate New York feel as to it is 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 Angelou says when we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed. Oh, 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, um, I got the call in back in August and get some, uh, 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. And, um, she's 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 just, it was very, it was a phenomenal experience. Wow.

It 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, um, back in the summer and was about to be foreclosed on. Uh, we took her call, John Deloney and I did, George to add Sarah on a few weeks ago to revisit that.

Um, but when you called in your house, you owed like $65,000 is worth 300,000.. It was 45 days from being foreclosed on only about $3,000 to be current. And a bunch of things have happened around Sarah's life since then. One was the house was brought current, uh, to, uh, another listener donated her car. Her husband was 36 years old and fell through a roof.

He was a roofer and passed away. And now you're saying his, uh, when that happened, he had, uh, planned to donate his organs and the liaison was 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, his wife's sister. Oh, my gosh. Okay.

This just keeps having layers to it. Wow. It was amazing. Like I get goosebumps every time I tell this story, because it, it, 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, and I wouldn't have your last name on the air. Well, no, when they found me, they found me on Facebook, um, to tell me they wanted to help with the house. And, um, I had commented on the post that it was me and that, you know, he could reach out to me and his sister-in-law, my name.

And I was like, Oh, I know her. And when I talked to Nate, he was like, you know, my sister-in-law, Erin. And I was like, I don't think so. And he told me how I knew her. And I was like, Oh, my God, I do know her.

I do. I know her. well. Wow. That is a full circle.

That's amazing. Okay. It was awesome.

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. That's amazing. I love that idea. We love hearing from you.

Our whole team has been cheering you on and praying for you. And you, you, uh, you got a special place in our heart, for sure. And America's heart. You guys are forever part of our family. We are so grateful for you guys and everything that you do, not only for us, but for everybody that listens to you guys.

You're such a blessing. No, thank you, Sarah. Good to talk to you again, and Merry Christmas. Thanks for calling in to another circle. And 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. There's a lot going on there. I don't think anybody can top that one. That's okay.

It's not a competition. 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. So they were actually, they started, I told them, we'll get an envelope, right? Can I cook on it and start saving your money doing it the Dave Ramsey way?

And so they all did. And I said, I'll help you throughout the year. We'll come up with ways to save money. How many kids? Three, three, three high school kids.

So they were making decorated sugar cookies to sell at Halloween time and they had sold a ton. And so I'd helped, helped him over the weekend and we were delivering cookies like all Saturday night, Sunday and Sunday at church. A man just came up to me. I was busy talking with someone else. And he's like, Hey, I stuck something in your, in your Bible.

And I thought he was paying me for some cookies that he had gotten. So I didn't even look at it. Finished church, went home, started cooking lunch. And while 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've delivered to, who's paid.

And I opened it up and it was a check for $5,000..

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

So I took it out there and I showed.

you guys and like, gave me at church this morning.

And while I'm crying, they have like the biggest smiles on their faces. You can go, like you're going, you're going to church camp. So I was just like overwhelmed with gratitude and just,

I just can't even explain it. Or just somebody like giving you a gift like that. That's amazing. It's a lot of money. It is a lot of money.

Yes. And I'm living on a teacher's salary. So that is a lot of money. Wow. Wow.

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. Wow. 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 fortunate.

For his birthday, he wanted his friends to bring donations for the Humane Society rather than gifts. We 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. So 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 EveryDollar 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 are. It's first fruits.

It's off the top. The first thing you do is tithe. The first thing you do is give offering. And before you do anything else, it's not leftovers. No, it's, everything else is leftover after the giving.

Just to kind of get that rhythm in your life, to start to build that generosity muscle. And the interesting thing is, the more you do it, like any other habit or character 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. And, you know, first time or two, you know, 30 years ago, we started doing this stuff. We're a bit sloppy at it, but now it's very refined.

Your heart was there. Yeah, but, you know, you look back and you go, that was kind of weird. But we did it anyway, right? But you really can't mess this up. It's impossible to mess it up because somebody on the other side doesn't think you messed it up.

So, hey guys, get in gear. That's what the season is all about. Good reminders. The giving portion of what we teach is it's there. And the reason it's number one and number one line item in the budget is to remind, you know, God is the ultimate giver.