Thursday, December 30, 2010

Allan Tibbels: Treasure in earthen jars


Allan Tibbels. White man. Middle-class. Quadriplegic. Christian.

What's unusual was not what he was, but what he did. In 1986 Allan Tibbels abandoned his privileged lifestyle and moved into Baltimore's inner-city Sandtown neighbourhood, and changed the lives of one of the city's most violent and poverty-stricken areas. For 21 years he opened his home to his neighbours, shared their life, and through Habitat for Humanity gave a roof over the heads of several hundred people. Tibbels died of multiple organ failure early June. He was 55.

Author Chris Rice in a post said Tibbels "showed us what peace looked like."

Brad Greenberg of Get Religion described "how the remarkable strength of a crippled man could remake an inner-city neighbourhood."

Tibbels became wheelchair-bound after an accident 25 years ago, but though he lost so much of the mobility we take for granted, he never lost hope nor wasted his life.



Video from Clip Syndicate

More: Read how Tibbels's involvement with Habitat for Humanity transformed a community.

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