“You afraid of heights?” my dad asked, as I climbed up the seemingly ________ ladder to the second-story rooftop. I was up there to help him fix our TV ________. “Not yet,” I replied, as he climbed up after me with tools in hand. I didn’t have much to do up there on the roof — mostly I just held the antenna still and handed my dad ________ — so I began to talk to him as he worked, which put me ________. I could always talk to my dad. Most of my peers would be embarrassed to have their dad ________ them, but not me; in fact, I took great pride in him.

After he finished working on the antenna, we went inside. As I ________ my room, I saw my dad working ________ at his computer in his study, which was adjacent (邻近的) to my bedroom. As I watched him, I had the most incredible ________ to just poke my head in and tell him that I loved him. ________, I quickly brushed that urge away and continued on into my room. I couldn’t possibly say to him “I love you”, but I really ________ to.

The next day seemed like any other. After school, my mom ________ me at the front door, with her face streaming with ________. She told me, in the ________ voice she could manage, the worst news of my life. “Dad’s dead.” I just stood there as she hugged me, unable to move or ________.

I never really told my dad I loved him. I ________ I had. I miss him very much.

My husband and I embraced (拥抱) and sobbed when we learned our home had been destroyed in the fire. The ________ of ours along with generations of irreplaceable items no longer existed in our life.

Several weeks later, we were allowed into where our home once stood. The drive there was ________. Some vehicles had been ________ on the side of the road. I had ________ online what was wouldn’t be destroyed by fire and was ________ to find as many as possible while digging through the ________. Tears streamed down my face as I dug. Every item I found was a(n) ________ to me.

After hours, we loaded the precious items we had ________ into our vehicle. I stood in the driveway and looked at what was once our home, ________ where we would find another home and how we could start over. Feeling empty, I questioned my ________ to survive the oncoming ________?

An afternoon breeze started and ________ burned pages from buried books. I thought about the books I had lost and the ________ they had given me. As I turned to leave, I noticed a piece of paper stuck to my boot. I pulled it off and read the printed ________. If life is difficult, pause and ________ on the fortune sometimes hidden within every circumstance.

With ________ faith and courage, I began again. I kept that piece of paper ________ and put it in every hotel and motel room we stayed in during the coming months. The message now sits on a shelf in the home we ________ into after the fire. It ________ me during that time and helped me through the long ________ recovery process.

Each morning at 6 a.m., Kamaljeet Singh, 57, is up and out of the house. He starts by spending three hours helping ________ food to nearly two dozen drop-off locations across Delhi, India, then ________ the numerous facilities run by the volunteer organization he leads with his brother, Premjit. The organization, Veerji Ka Dera, was founded in 1989 by their father, Trilokchan Singh.

“He was a very ________ man,” says Kamaljeet of his father, who died in 2010. In the 1980s, Trilokchan began organizing volunteers to help him clean temples. Then they began ________one of India’s most underserved groups (弱势群体): the migrant workers who came to Delhi from rural areas. It started with a free breakfast, and eventually the group was also providing basic first aid for minor, often job-related,________.

After his death, Kamaljeet and Premjit, inspired by their father’s lifetime of service, ________ the organization. “We are continuing helping the poor,” says Premjit, 61, “Our aim is that no one goes hungry and ________for in Delhi.”

Veerji Ka Dera now ________ about 2,500 daily wage workers and homeless people a day, in addition to offering basic medical care to as many as 500 people. It’s all made________ by the roughly 250 families who ________ their time to cook, drive, nurse, farm and clean. During the Covid-19 pandemic, with special ________ from the government, it ________ down to feed 5,000 people a day and offer medical care to those ________.

In 2023, the award — the Real Heroes of Rising India — was ________ to them by India’s Health Minister for their ________ act.