Becky's Giving Spirit Rubs Off

Becky Gama has a giving soul.

It was apparent from the moment I met her in 2017. I went to her Dunedin, Fla. hospital to see her closet.

Yep. Her closet. This is no ordinary closet. It’s filled with donated items for patients who happen to enter her care without adequate clothing. It was inspired by a homeless man who was fortunate to be assigned Becky as a nurse. She knew she had to help.

She had no idea she’d be helping so many others.

“Sleepwear, underwear, bras, anything you could need,” she said in our first interview in 2017.

It lovingly came to be known as ‘Becky’s Closet’. It was an incredible blessing…

But, not everybody’s size was available. That didn’t sit well with one of her long-term patients.

“This is America. That’s not acceptable,” said Quentin York.

Mr. York was in Becky’s care off and on for two years. He had an infection after a hip replacement. He and Becky shared many long talks during his lonely nights as an “inmate” in the hospital.

Becky Gama stands with Quentin York in front of 'Becky's Closet'. York donated $500 to fill it with clothes of all sizes

“I didn’t know if I was going to live,” he said.

When he heard about Becky’s Closet, and how it was starting to run low on key items, he decided to fix it. Quentin and his wife wrote a check for $500. It was enough to buy items in every size, from small to extra large, for both men and women. Becky’s giving spirit had rubbed off.

“I like stories where people help ‘the lesser of these’,” said York. “She approaches her job not at a job but a calling.”

When Jesus preaches the greatest sermon in history, called the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), he commands us to do what Becky and Quentin have done by saying “So WHEN you give…”, not “IF” you give. Examples of giving are hidden all over the bible.

Galatians 6-9:10 (NIV) “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”

Proverbs 22:9 (NIV) “The generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor.”

Giving and blessing are cousins. One leads to the other. In this case, Quentin’s gift provided Becky with the blessing.

“I felt blessed because it was somebody that I didn’t know. Just had a relationship as patient-nurse and he wanted to be involved in what was going on in the community.”

Money well spent, I’d say.

“It’d do it again,” said Quentin.