You could say Ducks on a Mission began ten years ago with a single turkey. I saw a Facebook post; someone needed help with Thanksgiving, and I thought, “Sure, I can buy a turkey.” It was an easy, quick way to meet a tangible need in the name of Jesus. It was love in action, just like in 1 John 3:18.
What I didn’t know then was that God would take that one “yes” and multiply it. The next year, God showed me that more families were struggling to fill their tables for the holidays. I owned a small cell phone repair shop near a grocery store, and I decided to use that little bit of influence for good. I offered a $10 discount for donations of canned goods. In year three, I wanted to decorate my kayak for a race, so I asked people for rubber ducks and for every 75 ducks, I sponsored a child to receive a bike and attend a program to learn how to ride it. They were Ducks on a Mission.
I would later learn the name for this kind of ministry: servant evangelism—meeting practical needs in the name of Jesus so people can experience His love up close. It’s the way Jesus cared for people throughout the Gospels: feeding, healing, helping, and then speaking to the deeper, spiritual needs of the heart.
Over the last decade, I’ve seen God grow Ducks on a Mission, but He’s also grown me. This ministry has stretched my faith, revealed my strengths, and taught me God loves to work through ordinary people who offer Him the use of their time, talents and treasures. Like the parable of the good servants, when we steward what God entrusts to us, He does the multiplying.
There have been plenty of early mornings, late board meetings, weekend fundraisers, and sore muscles from hauling pallets of food. But then when I think about the people we’ve prayed for and with, the Bibles given, the joy on families’ faces, and the love of Jesus shared in simple, tangible ways, the kingdom value certainly outweighs any cost.
Today, Ducks on a Mission provides full holiday meals, spiritual resources, and compassion for 35 families at Easter and 70 families at Thanksgiving in the Roanoke Valley. And it all began with one turkey and one “yes.”
Brooke Moon’s story on Kevin Stuckey Roanoke VA
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