Helping others.

That's what Jenni and her husband Bill do. They're from Valencia, PA, about 25 miles north of Pittsburgh. Jenni drives a bus, affectionately known as “Jenni's Express," where she plays music everyday to make it a fun experience for the kids. “Maybe the only smile they got that day was this one right here," Jenni told me.

Jenni and Bill have a family of their own, but they're adoptive parents too.

That's why we jumped at the chance to help them fix their leaky roof, even though we don't usually travel as far as Valencia. The area of their roof over the bathroom had been leaking for a while. Bill would normally fix it, but he got hurt at work and can't do that kind of work any more.



My helpers Thomas and John (above) and I could have just patched the spot where the roof was leaking, but Jenni and Bill were going to need a new roof anyway, so we figured why not just replace it.

Three thousand pounds of shingles torn off and another 3,000 pounds of new shingles later, Jenni and Bill have a brand new roof. No more buckets to catch the water that came through the bathroom ceiling every time it rained!

We like to get to know the people we help, and if we're lucky they want to get to know us better too. Jenni treated us to a Pittsburgh feast after we finished: ham BBQ, Hamburger Helper, and buffalo chicken dip. Yum!

John, aka Mr. Good Deeds Jr., takes a group selfie.

As our Pittsburgh Good Deeds network joins up with Sparkt and expands to other cities and maybe even other parts of the world, I'm excited to keep sharing our good deeds stories. And I want you to look for your own! Helping others feels great, and you'll know you made a difference in the life of someone else.