A friend alerted me to a Craigslist ad that's offering free holiday meals to struggling Milwaukee families. Here's the post:

"I am offering a free home-cooked Christmas Dinner to a family in need. All you have to do is tell me why I should choose your family or a family you know that would benefit. Dinner will include a ham, mac 'n' cheese, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, rolls and two pumpkin pies (with Cool Whip, of course) and drinks.

"Please write to me and tell me why I should choose your family or a family you know to receive this dinner. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not feel ashamed to write me ... I am the MOST non-judgmental human being there is so please, reach out!

"I will be delivering the meal on Christmas Eve around dinner time. There are NO strings attached. All I ask is that you pay it forward in any way that you can. No matter how 'in need' you are, you can always pay it forward somehow."

I contacted the poster to find out more, and although she did not want her name revealed, she did explain more of the details behind this offer.

"I wish to remain annoymous because I am not doing this for praise. I feel like if I use my name then perhaps I would be asking for acknowledgement. The only reason I am agreeing to do this story is in hopes of motivating others to pay it forward, help where they can, when they can," reads her e-mail.

The woman says that six months ago, she and her husband were out of work and almost homeless. When her husband was offered a job in Wisconsin, the two packed their few belongings and moved here from a city eight hours away.

"I know what it is like to be on hard times. Now that we are able to pay for a roof over our head, keep my utilities on and pay for groceries, I want to pay it forward and help with Christmas dinner. It is the least I can do," she says.

Within three hours of posting the ad, she received a few requests for the dinner, but hundreds of e-mails from people praising her effort or offering to help.

The woman, who lives in Port Washington, says she will make multiple meals for as many families as she has the time and money to provide for. She -- along with her husband and their 5-year-old son -- will deliver the meals together on Christmas Eve.

"There is a saying that I really like and although I do not know it's original author, I think it's fitting: 'To the world you are just one person, but to one person you may be the world.'"