Special delivery

In a world hungry for giant plasma TVs and supersized mansions, Jim and Terry Orcutt have chosen the other extreme. They live in a modest rented apartment. They drive old cars. And their furniture is, by their own estimation, not as nice as the furniture they deliver daily to area families in need.

"But, you know what?" says Jim Orcutt. "When I get up, I hear the heat come on.... I have electricity. I have milk and bread in the refrigerator." Says Terry Orcutt: "We have everything we need."

The Orcutts embrace their spare, spiritual life -- and in doing so, they are receiving national attention from those who share their devotion and want to shed light on how others can follow the same path to kindness.

Nearly 20 years ago, the Easton couple founded My Brother's Keeper, delivering food and furniture to people in need. The nonprofit organization -- which has grown over the years -- is the subject of a new DVD produced by Family Theater Productions of Hollywood. Entitled "The Luminous Mysteries: Compassion to Service," it is the latest in a series that explores the rosary and how to turn beliefs into action. It will air on Catholic TV's cable network.

The Orcutts -- he is 67, she 62 -- last year made 5,000 deliveries of food and furniture from their sizable warehouse. Clients include the elderly deciding between buying fuel oil or prescriptions, single mothers working minimum-wage jobs, and fathers who have lost their jobs, but not their hope to provide the best they can for their families.

"People tend to stereotype the poor. They think people are stupid and in a situation because of their own fault," said Jim Orcutt. But most of the people the organization helps are working but still struggling, he said.

The Orcutts are quick to say that they are not just delivering bread and beds; they are delivering hope. They also say they are not so special, that anyone can choose to be their brother's keeper.

"We have this inherent part of our soul... that says help others. But we also want to be successful," said Jim Orcutt. "We need to find the difference between that point when we have enough... and having it all."

For them, that point hit home one night in 1988 while they were watching a made-for-TV movie, "God Bless the Child " starring Mare Winningham. Terry had made popcorn. Jim sat in his recliner, expecting to drop off to sleep long before the movie ended. Instead, the movie was an awakening.

"This was a very powerful movie," said Jim Orcutt, who, like his wife, is a devout Catholic. "It had a profound effect on us."

In the movie, Winningham's character ends up homeless with her young daughter, struggling to survive and in constant fear. When the struggle becomes too great, the mother makes a heartwrenching decision to give up her daughter to state care so that the girl will have what she needs.

To this day, Terry Orcutt still tears up when she recalls the end of the movie and the fact that if mother and daughter had just the bare necessities of life, they would have made it together. "That story is an example of what people go through," she said.

"For us," said Jim Orcutt, "this movie was our moment of grace.... We felt we had to do something, we were called to do something."

The Orcutts, who have three grown children, were empty-nesters at the time. They had full-time jobs at a school for the mentally challenged when they vowed to spend the rest of their lives spreading love and hope.

They printed fliers saying that they collected things for people in need. A nephew lent him roof racks to put on the car to collect the items, and people began to call with donations. "After a couple of weeks, we broke down laughing," said Jim Orcutt. "We had all this stuff but we didn't know one person in need." So they looked in the phone book and began to contact shelters.

Word spread -- so much so that people started talking about how nice the Orcutts were. That bothered them. They didn't want to be the focus. They wanted the true source of the gifts to be the focus. So, with each delivery, the couple began to give recipients crucifixes; to date they have given away more than 14,000 to people of all faiths.

"Occasionally we present this as a gift and someone will say, no thanks, I'm Jewish," said Jim Orcutt. "We say, 'No problem. Whoever your God is, that is who sent you the furniture.' "

The walls of My Brother's Keeper give testament to how much they have grown, persevered, and touched lives of people in the area. A photo of Terry Orcutt stacking items in the basement of the Taunton house where this all began. A photo of the old truck used for deliveries being jump-started, again, to make a delivery. Rows of letters of appreciation, plaques, and awards of recognition, including from the Sisters of St. Joseph of Boston, the MainSpring Coalition for the Homeless, and the South Shore AIDS Project.

"I've been here 11 years. And in all the years I've known them, they have been very supportive," including bringing food to the shelter once a week, said Thomas Washington, deputy director of the MainSpring Coalition for the Homeless in Brockton. "There are many families in our organization that don't have anything. These guys really step up to the plate."

A Brockton woman, who 17 years ago became the caretaker of her daughter's three children, has over the years turned to My Brother's Keeper for help. And, she says, they have always responded -- from providing beds and cribs for the children to, more recently, helping keep the house warm. "A couple of years ago, I was short on oil and they came and filled my tank," she said. "Even now, they never forget us.... All I have to do is pick up the phone and there is someone there."

My Brother's Keeper's began with the help of friends, who saved returnable cans and bottles for the Orcutts to cash in for gas money, and the organization still depends on that kindness. It is fully funded by private donations and thrives on volunteers. In December, 1,500 people came in to help. The Congregation of Holy Cross, which founded Stonehill College, owns the land on which My Brother's Keeper's 15,000 -square-foot office and warehouse sits. (The nonprofit has a 50-year lease for $10 a year).

The Orcutts don't get paid to head My Brother's Keeper. They work part time running Catholic retreats at the Holy Cross retreat house. And they don't ask for federal or state funds because they don't want any strings attached to what they give away. Anyone who calls they answer. No questions asked. There are no financial prerequisites.

"They live out their faith every single hour of the day," said Milton resident Jean Powers, who has volunteered with the organization since September. "We all should do that, in my humble opinion."

Stonehill College senior Margaret Bouffard has seen the commitment with her own eyes. The Danbury, Conn., resident has been volunteering with My Brother's Keeper for four semesters and recently rode along in the van with Jim Orcutt to deliver a crib. "I didn't have much interaction with poor people before volunteering here," she said. "The people we serve are just like us and it could be any one of us. It changed the way I think."

With each delivery, Jim goes in knowing how hard it is for those who are receiving. He was the youngest of eight children raised on welfare by a single mother.

"It gave me the ability to understand how people feel so that when I go into the home carrying a food box for a man who lost his job and he has kids, I know how he feels. The humility.... When I go into the home of a single mother, I know how difficult it is to ask for help."

For more information on My Brother's Keepers, go to mybrotherskeeper.org.

Sandy Coleman can be reached at sbcoleman@globe.com