This week Forbes released a list of the 25 most generous people in the United States.

I love reading articles like these as they are positive and show the good that people can do for their communities. So I was extra pleased to see a couple from Houston make this list.

John and Laura Arnold gave away $170 million in 2022, meaning they have now given $1.63 billion to various organizations over their lifetime.

Let's take a quick look at their story.

The Houston billionaire

John Arnold was born in Dallas in 1974.

After graduating from Vanderbilt University in 1995, he worked at Enron in Houston as an energy trader. His skills saw him reportedly earn $750 million for the business in one year.

When Enron collapsed, Arnold started his own hedge fund, Centaurus Advisors. He has also invested in solar farms and deepwater oil developments in the Gulf of Mexico.

The success of his business ventures has seen him build a net worth of $3.3 billion. And has already given almost half of this away.

John and his wife Laura are well-known philanthropists who donate large sums to their family foundation, which they established in 2010. They believe "philanthropy should be transformational and should seek through innovation to solve persistent problems in society."

One of their first significant donations was in 2008 when they gave $10 million to create forty-two public charter schools in Houston.

The Arnolds were the first billionaires to sign on to the advocacy organization Global Citizen's "Give While You Live" campaign.

This campaign asks billionaires to give at least 5% of their wealth every year to a cause. They have also signed the Giving Pledge, a commitment developed by Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett to get the worlds richest to give away most of their wealth during their lifetimes.

We are blessed to embark on this critical endeavor at a relatively early stage in our lives and with a great sense of urgency. We will devote the majority of our wealth, time and resources to philanthropy in the coming years, and we fully intend to achieve transformative results during our lifetime. There is no more worthwhile work and no greater mission. And there is no reason for delay in making a difference. John and Laura Arnold

A few of their donations in 2022 included

Of course, these are just a few from a very long list. The Arnolds are certainly keeping to their promise of giving their fortune away.

What do you think of the generosity of the Arnolds? What other organizations in Houston would you like to see John and Laura support?

Please leave a comment below and share this article with others so they can join the conversation.

When the first quick response feeding unit (QRU) was acquired by Southern Baptists of Texas Convention Disaster Relief five years ago, director Scottie Stice knew it was something special. All he needed was a pair of volunteers to pioneer the effort.

He found that team in Ronnie and Connie Roark. The couple has since been joined by others, and the SBTC QRU fleet has grown to four units.

The QRU — whether in trailer or vehicle form — is a small, highly mobile food truck that can be rapidly deployed in emergency situations. Mass feeding units require considerable setup and staff, but the QRU can be in place preparing meals within hours with only two volunteers.

“The key to the QRU’s success is flexibility,” Stice said.

SBTC QRUs deployed more times in 2022 than similar units from all state Baptist DR teams combined, Stice noted, adding, “We look for opportunities to serve [using the QRUs] and ask, ‘Why not?’”

The QRU can be a rapid response godsend. It has been called on to prepare 50 meals per day for first responders battling wildfires in West Texas one moment, and the next, to churn out its maximum of 700 meals per day for hurricane survivors in Southeast Texas.

Called to feed others

The Roarks, who live southeast of San Antonio and attend Salem Sayers Baptist Church, became involved with SBTC Disaster Relief in 2017 during Hurricane Harvey recovery efforts.

“We knew we wanted to do something to help but did not know how we could. We visited with our preacher, Brother Bret Edwards, and he told us about SBTC DR,” Ronnie recalled. The Roarks attended an SBTC DR mass feeding training session the following week in San Antonio and signed on.

“The following Monday we were at Champion Forest Baptist Church in Houston, cooking for our support volunteers, and we’ve been cooking since,” Connie said.

The couple, who met and married in Abilene in 1974, moved to the San Antonio area in 2015 to be near family, joining Salem Sayers the following year. Ronnie had retired from a 34-year career with an electrical power company and Connie — who formerly worked in banking — had operated a home-based business until 2006.

As they attended training in the wake of Harvey, they felt called to the feeding ministry.

While deployed at Champion Forest, they met Stice. Ronnie suggested adding a small supply trailer to alleviate the need for daily restocking trips for the large mass-feeding kitchen.

“Scottie told us about a new ministry he had been thinking of starting with a small team running a cooking trailer,” Connie recalled. “His problem was that he did not have a team to run the new QRU.”

“You do now,” the Roarks exclaimed.

And the rest is history.

In addition to the unit maintained by Salem Sayers Baptist, SBTC DR has two other food trailer QRUs: one in Pampa, maintained by the Top O’ Texas Baptist Association, and the newest addition at Hillcrest Baptist Church in Jasper. Lake Athens Baptist Church operates a food truck donated by Houston’s First Baptist. This regional system makes quick deployment possible, more so than if the equipment was stored in a central warehouse.

A mobile refrigerated/freezer unit was also added in 2022 and has the capacity to carry food and supplies to prepare 3,000 meals. Ronnie noted, “This unit was used in our recent deployment to Fort Myers, Florida, and proved its value.” In Florida, the QRU — manned by the Roarks and other volunteers who relieved them — cranked out an average of 120 meals per day for 46 days to serve volunteers, first responders and survivors of Hurricane Ian last October.

No town ‘forgotten’

As for the Roarks’ most memorable deployments, the couple recalls being sent to the Rio Grande Valley in June 2019 to respond to flooding. As the pair were en route, the national relief agency that had contacted SBTC DR offices for assistance canceled the request.

“You’re on the road. Keep going. We’ll figure out where you will set up and what our mission will be while you’re driving,” Stice told the Roarks.

With a team also consisting of Pastor Edwards and his daughter, the Roarks drove to Raymondville and parked in a grocery store parking lot at the floodwater’s edge. As they waited, two women approached to inquire about the unit.

“It’s just what we need,” one of the women said. With permission, the team proceeded to First Methodist Raymondville, where the church operated a clinic, and within three hours were serving 300 hamburgers.

“We remained onsite for around five days,” Ronnie said. “When we left, our recovery teams set up at the church. Lesson learned? You may not know the plan, but God always does.”

City and county officials are almost always grateful for the work of the QRU and other DR units. The Roarks recalled deploying to the Lake Charles, Louisiana, area — specifically the hamlet of Lake Arthur — following Hurricane Delta in 2020. There they worked in support of the Texas Salvation Army.

The Lake Arthur mayor, police chief, fire chief and city manager assisted in the distribution of food. The mayor told the Roarks Lake Arthur was often the “forgotten town” when storms hit and that they appreciated the assistance. When the Roarks passed on the sentiments to Salvation Army coordinator Kathy Clark, relief crews worked with determination to ensure that the town was by no means forgotten.

“God’s message of hope was shared in this community,” Ronnie said. “Many felt the touch of God that week.”

Like the song made famous by Johnny Cash, the Roarks have “been everywhere.”

‘We go where the Lord directs’

“QRUs have been very active since their beginning in 2018. We have responded to hurricanes, structural fires, forest fires, tornadoes, floods, and mass shootings. Along with providing support during disasters, we also helped in feeding the homeless in Austin and later fed the volunteers supporting the Houston Food Bank while distributing supplies during COVID. Not only have we served across Texas, but also in New Mexico, Louisiana, Florida and Nebraska,” Ronnie said.

“Round wheels are on our QRUs so they can roll to wherever they’re needed to provide a hot meal and the hope of Jesus,” Stice said, adding, “Our volunteers energize the system. We go where the Lord directs.”

EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Jane Rodgers and originally published by the Southern Baptist Texan.

DALLAS, TX (KSLA) - An East Texas woman who delivered quintuplets earlier this week says she and her husband were not expecting five when she got pregnant.

"We thought maybe twins could come from it but never five," Michelle Seals of Maud, TX said at a press conference Thursday. "We knew early on there would be multiples. Every time we had a sonogram, they would find more."

Seals has had several miscarriages in the past and had a problem keeping pregnancies. Though she gets pregnant very easily, she said doctors felt that she wasn't producing good, mature eggs.

But the babies are here: Mia (2 lbs., 10 oz.), Tessa (2 lbs. 14 oz.), Brant (3 lbs. 6 oz.), Gracie (2 lbs. 7 oz.) and Rayleigh (2 lbs. 8 oz.) made their world debut via cesarean section Tuesday at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas.

She said they wanted to keep the babies' names special and family oriented.

"There was a 2 percent chance of having twins, hah! What a surprise," Steven Seals, 32, said.

He's looking at the financial impact of having 50 new toes and 50 new little fingers in their home, along with son Brady, who is 2 years old.

"We're not sure if Michelle will be able to return to work or not when we get home," he said.

Michelle Seals, 33, had taken very low dosages of fertility drugs, but no procedures done to elicit pregnancies.

For now, the babies will remain in the hospital. All but Rayleigh have been on breathing machines, though their lungs all seem to be reasonably mature, said Dr. Vijay Nama, director of neonatology at Baylor.

And mom, who is recovering, has two arms full of security bracelets, which link babies to their parents. She is also still at Baylor for now.

"They say Rayleigh is pretty feisty," she said, adding that mom and dad haven't yet been able to hold the babies. "I can't wait to get my hands on them."

The quintuplets will probably stay in the hospital for 6 to 7 weeks, Nama said. He would like for them to first start eating two feedings per day, and later on to breastfeed and drink from bottles.

She said twins or triplets may be easier than five, but the more the merrier.

"I really believe the more you get, the more you're blessed," she said. "God won't give you anything that you can't handle. Just lean on God. We had lots of prayer to get us through this."

But there are no more children in sight for the Texas couple.

"This is it, no more!" Michelle Seals said. "Half a dozen is plenty for us."

Copyright 2014 KSLA. All rights reserved.

The couple announced their "bittersweet" decision in a blog post Tuesday, saying they want to focus on other areas of their life. It has nothing to do with any bogus skincare line or anything similar that's out there, the couple said.

"This is just us recognizing that we need to catch our breath for a moment. Our plan is to take this time to shore up and strengthen the spots that are weak, rest the places that are tired and give lots of love and attention to both our family and our businesses." (For more information on the "Fixer Upper" and other Waco stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

The remark appears to be a reference to Joanna Gaines' Instagram post in July in which she said speculation that she was leaving to launch her own cosmetics line was unfounded.

There have been rumors floating around about me leaving the show to start a skincare/makeup line. I wanted to take a minute to let y'all know that it's simply not true. This is a SCAM! We have nothing to do with it and have been trying to stop it for some time. You can help! Please spread the word by sharing, re-posting, and/or re-tweeting this post and send any information regarding the fake news websites or sponsored ads to reporting@magnoliamarket.com. #dontbuythecream #seasonfiveiscoming A post shared by Joanna Stevens Gaines (@joannagaines) on Jul 21, 2017 at 2:02pm PDT

The couple said their family is healthy and their marriage "has honestly never been stronger."

Launched in 2013, "Fixer Upper" follows the couple as they redo houses near their Waco home. Its final season premieres in November.

The blog post said that even though the show is ending, the couple will continue rehabbing homes and designing other house enhancers.

"Our family has grown up alongside yours, and we have felt you rooting us on from the other side of the screen," the blog post said. "How bittersweet to say goodbye to the very thing that introduced us all in the first place."

What a ride...BUT #season5IScoming #onelasthoorah [Watch the full video here: https://t.co/f5qIt4XUVO] pic.twitter.com/y9Dww6YSoW— Chip Gaines (@chippergaines) September 26, 2017

Photo credit: Brian Ach/Invision/AP

To kick off 2023, I have been writing about people and organizations giving back to the community.

Readers enjoy seeing uplifting, positive stories. One couple who continues to give back to their community is Brian and Adria Sheth. The Sheths have donated millions to worthy organizations in Austin and across the country.

Let's take a quick look at their story.

From our perspective it starts with animals, it starts with the plants and it starts with the land. Brian Sheth

Brian Sheth was born in Massachusetts in 1975.

His father was an Indian immigrant who worked in finance and marketing, and this was an industry that Brian was interested in. So he started investing early and earned a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

After college, he joined Goldman Sachs, where he met Robert Smith. Smith left to found Vista Equity Partners in Austin and invited Sheth to join him. Together the two built the business into one of the world's leading technology investment firms with over $25 billion of equity capital under management.

By 2016 when he was just 39, Sheth had an estimated personal net worth of more than $1.1 billion. In 2020, Sheth resigned from Vista Equity Partners.

Although he was a billionaire, Sheth's major passion was philanthropy and, in particular, conservation.

In 2011, Brian and Adria founded the Sangreal Foundation, which supports educational and environmental initiatives as varied as saving Colombian birds, helping Indian orphans, and funding the Grammy museum.

He also started Global Wildlife Conservation to protect threatened species, and each year Sheth gives the foundation between $1 million and $2 million.

The couple is also avid supporters of the Austin Statesman Season for Caring campaign, which supports a range of local non-profits in Austin.

The Sheths donated $100,000 to the campaign in 2016, 2017, and 2018. They increased this to $250,000 in 2019 and in 2021 donated $500,000.

"2021 has seen a number of challenges to our Austin community. Watching our community support one another throughout the year, matching each challenge with renewed support for our neighbors, has been the most uplifting inspiration for our family. This year has proven we are strongest when we work together as a community to protect our most vulnerable neighbors, and we are deeply indebted to the Statesman for enabling our family to be a small part of this joint effort." Brian Sheth

This past Christmas, the Sheths once again participated in the Austin- American Statesman's Season for Caring program and agreed to match $500,000 in donations. This ensured not only were they contributing $500,000 but that others in Austin would also agree to support the cause.

"We want to encourage every member of the Austin family who can give to participate, as our community is strongest when we all work together." Brian and Adria Sheth

Organizations supported by this campaign include Family Eldercare, Hospice Austin, and Interfaith Action of Central Texas.

What do you think of the charitable efforts of Brian and Adria Sheth? What other Austin organizations would you like to see them support?

Please leave share your thoughts in the comments below and share this article with others so they can join the conversation.