Only a Penny: How a Lebanese-American Family Overcame Profound Poverty and Found Prosperity

Can only a penny make a difference in your life?

Maybe not now, but it did for a seven-year-old boy, his young mother, and his five siblings living in Houston, Texas. Only a Penny is the inspiring story of the Abercias-a Lebanese immigrant family who crawled out of profound poverty and into prominence.

God, family, and country formed their foundation. Their goal was to work hard to assimilate into the American culture of freedom and be a part of what this country had to offer. Ralph (the oldest son) and his siblings sold homemade Syrian bread (pita bread), flower bouquets that his mother crafted from their garden, newspapers, and apples-anything they could to make the pennies that sustained them. Relying on each other to survive, they developed a lifelong bond and a strength that carried them through the Great Depression and World War II and propelled them into prosperity as they become a nationally recognized American-Lebanese family, revered by the Lebanese and Eastern Orthodox communities across the United States and Canada.

Authors Sharon Abercia and John Evans tell this family's story, sharing with us the values of the Greatest Generation that serve as a moral compass and a foundation for us all.