Doing Good

Veronika Scott was just a college student when she got the idea to help the homeless population in Detroit by creating a winter jacket that turns into a sleeping bag. Soon, however, she saw that the coats—while useful—weren’t meeting the underlying need. That’s when she started thinking differently.

Like Veronika, we all yearn to have a positive impact. And with problems like unemployment, homelessness, global warming, abandoned animals, and on and on, the opportunity to help our communities really is around every corner. But how do we know what action to take to do the most good? How can we discern what the real need is—along with a solution that will provide more than a band-aid?

Taking a deeper look at what good really is helps us to act with the best intentions to affect change in the world. The words of Jesus, and the textbook of Christian Science, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, both define God as good. Not just a divine being who is good to His creation, but the essence of good itself. Good that’s actually a power.

Defining God as good, and therefore the source of all good, was important to Jesus. In an account found in three different places in the New Testament, a man addresses Jesus as “Good Master,” and then asks him how he can achieve eternal life. Before offering the man an explanation about the requirements of eternal life, Jesus first responds by saying, “Why do you call me good? There’s only one good, and that’s God.”

It’s as if, before anything else is covered, Jesus wants to acknowledge that God is the source of his good, the man’s good, and every ounce of good going on anywhere. That’s an important fact that still applies today. It can change the world because if unlimited and all-powerful God is the driving force behind the good you do, everyone is included, your actions can’t be hindered or stopped, and they will bring countless blessings to your community and the world.

Since God is the source of all genuine good, it takes unselfishness and heartfelt inspired listening to understand how to do the most good in the world. We’re listening to God for the kind of excellent idea that shifts thought from the ordinary to the extraordinary. That kind of inspiration changes the lives of those on the giving end, as well of those on the receiving end.

I believe that Veronika Scott—not a college student anymore, but now Founder and CEO of The Empowerment Plan—has achieved that kind of excellence. When you watch Veronika’s video, she’ll tell you about how her idea developed into the outstanding project it is today. Although I have no idea what her religious views are, I can see God at work right there in her heart and the heart of Detroit.

The creativity, resourcefulness, and courage to develop her plan and go forward with it, could only have come from Good itself. Veronika’s idea was simple, but has been profoundly life-changing for many people. Not only did she create a convertible coat for the homeless population in Detroit—and now around the world—but she also exercised humility to expand on her plan. The willingness to see her idea develop and grow into something she wasn’t expecting has given her the ability to offer jobs to homeless women to help her manufacture these coats. With steady employment, many of these women have left homelessness behind. In a small but significant way, Veronika’s initial plan hasn’t just helped the homeless population, but has actually done something to combat homelessness itself.

Veronika is an inspiring example of how creativity and unswerving love for the community—both having their source in God—can have a profound effect for good in the world. She inspires me to see the action of doing good in a new and inspiring way. With that kind of devotion to excellence, and to Good itself, nothing can keep any of us down!

Other helpful ideas about doing good:
The Bible:
2 Corinthians 9:7
Message of 1902 by Mary Baker Eddy p. 17
Miscellaneous Writings by Mary Baker Eddy p. 12
Retrospection and Introspection by Mary Baker Eddy p. 86