It was a Thursday or maybe a Friday. It could have been a Monday. It’s easy to lose track when you are working from home and the biggest change day-in and day-out is your shirt and your mind about whether that shirt is OK to wear for your next video conference call. But the date of April 24, 2020, will not leave my mind anytime soon. A news junkie since a young age, I generally tune into critical news updates while I work. This day I was fortunate to watch live as New York Governor Andrew Cuomo read aloud the letter he received from Dennis Ruhnke, a retired Troy, Kansas, farmer.
The overwhelming feeling of pride, of knowing that the world now knows what you’ve known your entire life — Kansans are compassionate, caring people. And that one beautiful act of sharing, of unselfish kindness, can bring joy to others when they need it most. That it can bring hope. That it can unite.
Dennis’ now famous gesture of donating an N95 mask to a New York healthcare worker was nothing out of the ordinary for him, or his wife, Sharon. A retired farmer and a retired teacher, giving of oneself is an extension of their vocations and a way of life.
Kansas Country Living is honored to share with our readers the article beginning on Page 12, “Humanity at its Best.” Writer MeLinda Schnyder includes a collection of the fraction of responses the Ruhnke’s have received from across the country and beyond. It just may be what you need at this time. The Ruhnke’s were certainly what the world needed on April 24.
