The winter months make many people worried. Although we love it when the snow falls and we can admire the white landscape from the warmth of the house, many are discouraged by this idyllic picture when it comes to heating bills. In winter, everything costs more, and there are families for whom the warmth of a stove is a luxury.
Shane McDaniel and his twin sons, Henry and Harrison, decided to do what they could to make as many families in need happy as possible. When the 47-year-old man started chopping firewood in March, he never imagined his work would be the start of a months-long good deed.
“The Pacific Northwest is a pretty rugged area, it’s cold and wet. Once I started, I saw the need and my eyes were opened up,” McDaniel told People Magazine. “So many people were stopping and asking to buy it and we just started giving it away,” he added.
The father also said he started chopping wood to keep his memories of his father alive. As a child, McDaniel used to help his father chop wood. The father has created a tradition, so to speak: he is now continuing what he started decades ago with his sons, 21-year-old Henry and Harrison.
With a lot of firewood piling up around their home over the summer months, the McDaniels thought they could do some good with it. So they decided to distribute it to needy families so that no one would have to freeze in the winter.
The man got his hands on a lot of wood after cleaning up the storm damage and collecting fallen trees. “Once it got to be such an amount of wood we decided we could do something better with it,” Shane explained.
Between March and October, the three men chopped 80 truckloads of firewood. In November, McDaniel posted a post on Facebook describing his intentions to donate and encouraging anyone in need of firewood to contact him. The post has since been shared more than 9,200 times.
“If you know someone who BURNS WOOD, and [they’re] looking at a cold house this holiday season; maybe someone elderly or with small children in the house…then please help us help them,” McDaniel wrote in the post.
The father added that the firewood is ready to warm homes where it is truly needed. It is more firewood than most people have ever seen, as I’m sure anyone who has driven past my house has noticed.”
Since they placed the ad, the man and his sons have delivered firewood to many homes – so much that the family has lost count. The father of six says the act of kindness has even made a difference to his sons. “It’s a pretty wonderful thing to see. You can just see this feeling of pride and sharing that I don’t think they had before,” Shane told People Magazine.
On the other side, there was a lot of joy too, because it’s not an everyday gesture to give something for free in today’s world. Abby Valentine, 42, was one of the first recipients to publicly respond to McDaniel’s post.
“My home is really old and very cold,” Valentine, who lives in Seattle, told the Post. “With the help of the wood for my fireplace, we can cut back on using the heat. I try to save as much as I can, but if my home is way too cold I have to use it because I don’t want my kids getting sick.”
McDaniel is especially happy with the connections he has made with people. “When you do good things for people, they don’t forget,” he explained to People Magazine.
“I like helping people,” he added, and he has already decided to repeat the action next year, if his sons and volunteers help him.