Bill Hutson works on a wheelchair ramp that took four days to complete. An effort of his charity volunteer organization, Table Talk Ministries, the project cost $900, with only $500 in donations. Hutson usually pays for costs not donated, and he spent more than $40,000 out-of-pocket last year.

Leaky roofs, sinking floors and malfunctioning toilets are common household problems that can be repaired with a little work and money. But when someone lives below the poverty line, those small problems can turn into nightmares as contractors demand more than the family can pay. That’s where Bill Hutson comes in.

The Greencastle, Ind.-based National Freight driver grew up visiting residents in a nursing home where his mother worked as a cook. “I developed a passion for the elderly and needy early,” Hutson says.

Today, he hauls high-dollar grocery merchandise for Trader Joe’s between Indianapolis and Atlanta, but he got his start in trucking 27 years ago with a produce hauler recommended by another driver. Before that, Hutson worked for a construction company whose owner encouraged him to help elderly people in need.

“He told me, ‘To the world you might be one person, but to one person you might be the world,’” Hutson says of his former boss.

In 2002, Hutson decided to start doing volunteer work on his own. A woman at his church needed major work done on her trailer, so Hutson started Table Talk Ministries as a non-profit to make repairs on the homes of needy families. The staff for Table Talk Ministries is made up of several volunteers, including an electrician, church members and some Indiana state troopers.