Love for the Gerber Boy

In 1975, a child named Raymond Dunn, Jr., was born in the state of New York. The Associated Press (AP) reported that at his birth, a skull fracture and oxygen deprivation caused severe retardation. As the child grew up, the family discovered that he had other impairments. His twisted body suffered up to 20 seizures per day - He was blind, he was mute, and he was immobile. And if that wasn’t enough, he had severe allergies that limited him to only one food - a meat-based formula produced by Gerber Foods. In 1985, Gerber Foods ceased production of the formula that Raymond Dunn, Jr., depended on to survive. His mother scoured the country, buying up all the formula that stores had in stock - accumulating cases and cases of the product; however, in 1990, her supply ran out - without this particular food, Raymond Dunn, Jr., would starve to death. In desperation, his mother appealed to Gerber Foods for help. The employees of the company listened; and, in an unprecedented action, volunteers donated hundreds of hours to bring out old equipment, set up production lines - with permission from the Food and Drug Administration - and produced the formula - all for one special boy In January 1995, Raymond Dunn, Jr., known as the "Gerber Boy," died from his physical problems. However, during his lifetime, he called forth a wonderful thing called compassion. Jesus, the Chist, in our Holy Scripture text, for today, was talking to a religious scholar who asked Him the question, "Who is my neighbour?" What he meant was, "Who should I love?" or "Who should I have compassion for?" Jesus responded with the "Parable of the Good Samaritan."

Source: From a sermon written by Rev. Dr. Barry L. Davis, entitled, "Showing Christ-like Compassion," found at www.sermonworld.com, and used by permission.