Tim Lukas has learned many lasting life lessons from his mom, including – even the smallest gesture, can make a big difference.
Tim grew up in Mount Prospect playing football, but now spends his time now playing overseas and exploring the world.
He happened to be in Morocco visiting a close friend when the earthquake hit.
“I was in Tangier,” he said. “Luckily I was sleeping. We did not feel it. People started waking up and saying, ‘hey, we don’t have power.”’
Tim would soon learn what was happening in and around Marrakesh, the country’s fourth largest city. As casualties continued to rise, he and his friend Yassine turned their attention to others.
They bought bread, water, can food and cookies, filled a car with those items, then drove to a small village near the epicenter of the earthquake.
“If felt like the right thing to do, but it was nerve-wracking at the time,” he said. “It was about four-and-a-half hour trip total to get down there. We saw some other trucks. They said, ‘Hey, if you really want to make an impact and really want to make a difference, follow us into the villages where the people really need this help.'”
It was just chaos, he said.
“But not in like aggravated or violent way it was just you know, people with trucks coming in with food supplies and different people yelling directing traffic. I mean, the roads like I said are not very great out there,” he said.
In between all the work, Tim also found time to make children smile.
“To try to bring that light to them and kind of you know, work with them and get their mind off of it for a second,” he said.
The pair was so busy helping others Sunday that they forgot to eat. On top of that, Tim forgot to call his mom and tell her that he was okay.
“I just sent her some pictures and videos and said’ hey, I’m alright,” he said. “You know, It felt really great to give back like that and just kind of told her about the impact that we were able to make…I get my wholesomeness from my mom. I knew it would make her proud and smile a little bit inside, knowing that I did this.”