There’s some good karma coming to Shane McDaniel and his twin sons Henry and Harrison.
Inspired by his late father and the time they spent bonding while chopping firewood when he was a child, the elder McDaniel harvesting firewood back in March and invited his sons, both 21, to help him carry on the tradition.
The men, who live in Lake Stevens, Washington, couldn’t have imagined how their bonding experience would end up helping so many people in need.
Living in a heavily wooded area, McDaniel had quite a bit of work to do after a storm felled many of the trees on his property:
“I had a lot of wood I had to cut because of storm damage and trees that were taken down. It just kept piling up and piling up. Once it got to be such an amount of wood we decided we could do something better with it.”
That’s when the family decided that they had so much excess that they ought to just give it away to those in need. McDaniel told People Magazine:
“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. So many people were stopping and asking to buy it and we just started giving it away.”
The project that began in March continued through October, by which point they had enough firewood to fill 80 trucks!
The elder McDaniel took to Facebook the following month to encourage those in need to get in touch and come collect the wood. He explained:
“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.
My boys and I have cut & split nearly 40 cords of firewood this summer. It is seasoned and 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.”
The post has since been shared over 9000 times, with almost 4000 comments praising the family’s efforts and generosity.
Many were inspired by the family’s efforts and offered to join in, even volunteering to transport the firewood to those who couldn’t come and get it themselves.
The McDaniel family managed to cobble together a group of volunteers to distribute the firewood and donate even more to their pile:
Some commenters were even inspired to donate more tools to the family:
Others were inspired to look at the world in a whole new way after seeing that not all news on the Internet is bad.
Those who received free firewood weren’t the only ones who benefitted. McDaniel said the whole project changed his sons for the better as well. He told People:
“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.”
The family had such a good experience making connections with people that they plan to do it again next year, with the help of some volunteers
“When you do good things for people, they don’t forget,” he told People. “I love helping people.”
And the family is still at it. They’ve recently been featured on the Today Show and have posted even more photos of their hard work and growing team.
With temperatures continuing to drop, we doubt that any of this wood will go to waste!
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