By day, Jorge Munoz is a school bus driver and by night, he drives his truck around New York City feeding about 130 people daily. And, his extraordinary good deeds earned him a Citizens Medal given to him Wednesday by President Barack Obama.
His mother always told him to share and with her help, along with his sister and nephew, the 46-year-old Columbian immigrant has only missed one night of serving homemade meals to the hungry in the last six years.
With the money he earns as a bus driver and donations he receives, he gives out about 22 pounds of rice, 20 pounds of pasta, 60 pounds of chicken, 150 cups of coffee and 160 slices of bread.
“For these men and women, serving others isn’t just the right thing to do,” Obama said, “it’s the obvious thing to do.”
The Citizens Medal was established in 1969 to recognize American citizens who have performed exemplary deeds of service for their country or their fellow citizens. The public was invited to nominate candidates in January. The other 12 winners include Roberta Diaz Brinton, a Los Angeles science and technology educator, Daisy Brooks in Chicago who is helping struggling young women, Betty Kwann Chinn, an emigrant from China who provides twice daily meals to those without shelter, Cynthia Church, of Wilmington, Del., who provides assistance to African American women with breast cancer, Susan Retik Ger, a 9/11 widow who provides aid to Afghanistan widows, Mary K. Hoodhood who feeds thousands of hungry children in the Grand Rapids, Mich. area, Kimberly McGuiness, a Cave Spring, Ga. education champion for the deaf, Jorge Mufioz, a New York City advocate for the hungry, Lisa Nigro, who delivers coffee and sandwiches from a wagon to those living on the streets in Chicago, MaryAnn Phillips who volunteers to care for wounded soldiers at Landstuhl Air Force Base in Germany, Elizabeth Cushman Titus Putnam, of Shaftsbury, Vt., who has inspired thousands of young people to protect natural resources, Myrtle Fay Rumph, of Inglewood, Calif., an anti-gang violence activist and George J. Weiss, Jr., a WWII veteran who organizes volunteers to provide military honors for deceased veterans.
Photo by Aaron Logan via Wikimedia Commons.