Your Role As A Life Changer - Subway ACS

YOUR ROLE AS A LIFE CHANGER

FACILITATORS NOTE:  Please take the time to memorize and practice this story.  The power of this story is in your ability to make it real and come alive for those in the room.

DO:  Share the following story to the room….

In the early 1980s, a man by the name of Sterling Price worked as a cook at a local Pizza Hut in Springdale, Arkansas.  This was before there were any national sandwich chains in town like Subway, Blimpies, Potbelly’s, or Quizno’s.  As Sterling tells the story…

“A lady came in one day and asked if we had meatball sandwiches.  When I told her we didn’t, she got very upset- on the verge of tears.  “Sorry”, I said that even though we didn’t have it on the menu, we did have sandwich rolls, meatballs, tomato sauce, and mozzarella cheese.  Since we had all the ingredients, I told her I could make it for her and just ring it up as one of the other sandwiches on the menu.

She thanked me profusely, and then explained that her husband was very sick and had lost his appetite.  She was desperate to get him to eat something, and had asked him if there was anything that sounded good.  He told her he might be able to eat some of a meatball sandwich.  She’d been to several restaurants already and no one could help her.  We were the last stop she was going to make before going home empty-handed.

She took the sandwich home and I didn’t think much more about it until the next day when she called Pizza Hut and asked for me.  She told me her husband had eaten as much of the sandwich as he could manage, and was very grateful she was able to get it for him.  It was the most complete and enjoyable meal he’d had in days.

Then she explained a bit more about her husband’s condition.  It turns out that he had been diagnosed with stage four cancer a few months earlier.  His loss of appetite was the least of his unpleasant symptoms, but perhaps the only one she could provide any comfort for.  It meant a lot to her that I had been so flexible with our menu.  Then she told me that he passed away quietly during the night.  That sandwich was his last meal.”

She was crying by then, but thanked Sterling again and said it helped make her husband’s last day of life a little more bearable.  Sterling says that this story still touches him to this day, and is a great reminder that even seemingly small things we do for others can have a big impact on their lives.

Say:
•	When Sterling was hired at Pizza Hut, I highly doubt he applied to be a “life changer.”
•	I don’t know if you knew this when you committed to be a part of the American Cancer Society and Relay For Life, you were taking on the role of being a life changer, too!
•	Have you ever considered the power you have as an employee or volunteer of the American Cancer Society? Have you considered that the most powerful role in the organization is the title of, Volunteer?
•	You have the power to influence how others see us, work with us, or donate to us. You can be the reason a customer (volunteer or donor) or constituent (person we serve) comes back, is supported by us, or get involved in the event or stays away, talks bad about us in the community, or encourages others to not be involved.