Yes, that is exactly what my mother-in-law is doing. Last September drugs took the life of her 24 year-old grandson who lived on the family farm next door.  Although her heart aches, she is fighting back rather than mourning quietly.  Carol Stockman doesn’t want other families to experience the agony she and Sam’s family are currently enduring.

While visiting me in Florida this winter she said that even though she would like to stay longer she needed to get back home to Michigan.  “I want to do whatever I can to help fight drugs in Berrien County while I am still able to do so. Access to drugs in my county (and all over America) is way too easy. I have to help families learn to recognize and fight it so they don’t lose a family member like we did.”

My mother-in-law is 87 years-old and runs on EverReady batteries – I’ve know her for nearly forty years and she has never stopped giving to organizations and people in her community. She clearly has and continues to provide leadership for the betterment of her community; youth organizations, church activities, political campaigns, street ministry programs, women’s groups, charitable fundraisers, creating an educational foundation and so much more.

Today she has helped organize a community effort to form a county-wide FAN (Families Against Narcotics) program as a mechanism to strike out drugs.  Lots of schools and families are joining hands to attack this problem and support one another in their efforts to deal with the personal drug issues affecting so many families and friends.

The picture above showing Carol and her grandson Sam was posted on the front page of the Hearld Palladium, her local paper in southwest Michigan. The commitment of a grandmother inspite of her loss was picked up by the Associated Press and has appeared in news releases all over America. Nationwide support and encouragement inspires her to continue.

I have always been proud of my mother-in-law, but today words cannot describe how I feel about all the wonderful things she has done and still continues to do to help others.