Johnny Dunbar, the 69-year-old pastor of a small congregation in Kentucky, was the only person in the church office when the phone rang on a Friday morning two weeks ago. He picked up, having no idea his next conversation would be replayed millions of times across the internet.

“I have a 2-month-old baby,” said a young woman on the other end of the line. “And I ran out of formula last night. I was wanting to see if y’all could help with formula.”

Dunbar had been wondering how families in his Appalachian community would fare as some lost their food assistance because of the federal government shutdown; he had seconds to decide how to respond. He grabbed a pen and paper, asked how much formula she needed and offered to deliver it himself if he couldn’t send someone else.

It was the first

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