There are some stories that remind us why service matters. Then there are stories that remind us who we are meant to be. My conversation with Rob Adams, founder of Thanksgiving’s Heroes, is one of those stories. What began with an 11-year-old boy living in a truck, a pumpkin pie, and a promise to his mother has grown into a beautiful movement of families serving families. Yet, as Rob shares, the real gift isn’t simply the food being delivered. It is what happens to the people who show up to serve.

This conversation is about gratitude, keeping promises, finding purpose, and listening to those quiet whispers that ask us to help one another. Rob’s energy and belief in the power of service are contagious, but it is his message that stayed with me: “Be courageous. Be unreasonably brave when we serve one another.” As we head into this season of Thanksgiving, I can’t think of a more beautiful reminder of what the holiday is truly about. I hope you will listen, be inspired, and perhaps ask yourself one simple question: How can I be used to help someone today?

 

Here are a few highlights from our conversation:

Charity Matters: Tell us a little about what Thanksgiving Heroes does?

Rob Adams: Our first mission is always food insecurity. Here, where I live, one in five kids don’t eat unless they’re at school. That means during breaks, they can go without food. I kind of pigeonholed my nonprofit into Thanksgiving, but we also do a summer giving and a spring giving because kids are out of school.

Our big push is Thanksgiving. We have a goal to deliver 65 pounds of food to each family. It’s families serving families. Here in Salt Lake, 961 cars will come through the line, we’ll put boxes of food into their cars, and they will deliver 288,000 pounds of groceries on the Saturday before Thanksgiving.

We’re also doing it in Cleveland, Las Vegas and Phoenix. There are little franchises popping up all over the country. It’s a growing grassroots thing.

Charity Matters: What experiences did you have as a child that influenced your work?

Rob Adams: I was raised by two amazing humans. During the last big recession, my family moved from Las Vegas to Texas. The company my dad went to work for asked him to be dishonest. He said no, and suddenly we were out of work. There were six of us, and we ended up living in our truck.

As an 11-year-old boy, I thought we were camping. My parents never poured their shame, guilt or fear into me. Even though we were in this position, we were serving in our community. Service was just a big part of who we were. It never occurred to me that we were in a position of want. We were in a position of abundance.

Right before the holidays, the Christiansons brought us into their home. I opened their refrigerator and saw a pumpkin pie. Then I turned around and saw my mom crying. It was the first time I thought, “These people have something we don’t.”

I told her, “Mom, one day when I’m rich, I’m going to do this for somebody.” She said, “Robbie, I know you will.”

Charity Matters: What was the moment you knew you needed to act and start Thanksgiving Heroes?

Rob Adams: Fast forward. I was an adult, making a living and doing quite well. My mom was diagnosed with very aggressive brain cancer. She said, “Remember, you made a promise.”

I said, “Okay, I’ll feed 10 families. I’m going to 10x my experience.” I told my buddy Joe Gordon, and he said, “I want to feed 10 families.” The next thing you know, I had fed 755 families my first year.

My mom passed away right before the big day. I felt like Mom was there. She saw me. I had kept my word, and I was done. Then the next year, a woman called. Her husband had left her and her two daughters. It had been either pay rent or buy food. We had fed her family for that week. Now they were back on their feet, and she said, “We want to pay it forward.”

That’s what it’s about. It’s not the payday. It’s the pay it forward.

Charity Matters: What are your biggest challenges?

Rob Adams: They are a multitude. Inspiring and motivating volunteers to keep their word is huge. If I tell you I’m going to do something, I’m going to do my best to do it. I was surprised to discover that isn’t universal.

The second challenge is the continuing cost of goods. As costs increase, the needs in the community also increase. It’s more expensive for me to be me today, but at the same time, I’m driven to feed more people because the need is greater.

Charity Matters: What fuels you to keep doing this work?

Rob Adams: I spend a lot of time in the why of it. When things get hard, the first question I ask myself is, “Am I doing this for the right reason?”

The reason I do it personally is this is what I was made to do. This is my purpose here on Earth. At the end of the day, I keep moving forward because I have an unwavering belief that I cannot fail in this space.

An obstacle is just an obstacle. I believe the universe is conspiring for my success. Sometimes it does things outside of what I want, but the fact that I will succeed is undeniable.

Charity Matters: Tell us what success you have had and what your impact has been? 

Rob Adams: Of course, the stories are meaningful. People can record their experience delivering and receiving the food, and those stories are so poignantly sweet. But the thing that excites me is when I open registration for volunteers and it fills up quickly. This year, I need 961 cars to come through the line in one day, and it will fill up fast.

Families come because they want to start the holidays by doing this good thing and take their children from entitlement to gratitude. There’s a DJ. There are baseball teams loading cars and dance fighting with each other. It’s a festival of service.

People leave that line with an elevated frequency they can take into the community and deliver. This is how I am going to change the world.

Charity Matters: If you could dream any dream for your organization, what would that be?

Rob Adams: My dream is to create a foundation with an endowment large enough to fuel the costs of the nonprofit so I could say, “Every penny you donate goes to feed families.”

I want this to be a sustainable legacy long after I’m gone. There are too many people depending on this mission. It’s not depending on me anymore.

As Thanksgiving’s Heroes grows into different communities, I would love a national foundation that could support these little superheroes who say, “I want to do that. I can do that.” I want to help them grow, learn and not make the same mistakes I did.

CHARITY MATTERS: FOR SOMEONE WHO FEELS INSPIRED BUT OVERWHELMED, WHERE DO THEY START?

Rob Adams: I would write down my intention for the day: “Show me the opportunity. How can I be the tool in your hands today? Use me.”

The opportunity will be delivered to you. We all have these little whispers that come into our hearts. The question is whether we have the courage to make that phone call or do the thing. The opportunities are abundant. All we have to do is say to the universe, to God, “Use me, God. Use me.”

CHARITY MATTERS: IF YOU COULD GIVE OUR AUDIENCE ONE CHALLENGE THIS WEEK TO LIVE A LIFE OF SERVICE, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

Rob Adams: Have courage. We all get these little whispers to make that phone call, to buy food for the people behind us in line. The opportunities are endless. Be courageous. Be unreasonably brave when we serve one another. If you can do that, your mind will open up to the “Use me, God, use me” mentality every day.

If you want to cure your loneliness, if you want to cure whatever is weighing your heart down, get off your butt and serve somebody else.

Charity Matters: What life lessons have you learned from this experience? And How has this journey changed you?

Rob Adams: It has refined me in my leadership as a father, brother, friend and business person. There is no part of my life that hasn’t been touched by this refining process.

My daughters are growing up in a world where this is their lifestyle. They don’t know a world without this mentality. This is who we are. What a gift for my little family.

The biggest shift is that I used to believe my job was to fight food insecurity. Now I believe my real calling is to facilitate the opportunity for your family to fight food insecurity, to provide a space for you to show up and serve. I want people to leave with a heart full of love.

CHARITY MATTERS.

 

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