We all want our children to grow up and achieve great things. To say that Irena Sendler’s father is proud of her is an understatement. Irena, who was born in Warsaw, Poland, in 1910, would go on to become a hero to many. But as a youngster, she clung to one of her father’s lessons: always assist people in need. Irena’s father died while she was just seven years old. His influence, though, would guide her for the rest of her life.

Irena, like her father, grew up to be a nurse because her father was a doctor. She understood that was one of the most effective ways she could assist people in need. She then became a social worker at the Warsaw Social Welfare Department, where she was able to assist families in need by giving food and clothes. Jewish families were being pursued, apprehended, tortured, and executed, and one of the major concentration camps was located near Irena’s city of Warsaw.

The Warsaw Ghetto housed an estimated 400,000 Jews at its height. Irena, a devoted Catholic, took the risky choice to sacrifice her own life to rescue Jews in the sake of aiding the poor. She became a member of an underground resistance movement dedicated to rescuing oppressed Jews in German-occupied Poland. She worked diligently to facilitate Jewish children’s escape from the Warsaw Ghetto. The escape meant that Jewish families would have to hand up their children to a total stranger.

But remaining in the camp was a bad idea. She would often pretend that the children were ill and transport them to hospitals outside the Ghetto. However, due to heavy Nazi monitoring, Irena was forced to be innovative in her escape tactics later on. She’d conceal them in everything she could get her hands on, including rubbish bags, luggage, and even coffins. Ironically, the caskets that normally held the deceased became safe havens for thousands of people.

Despite her anxieties, Irena bravely rescued hundreds of infants, some of them were just months old. She made a list of those she spared and buried it in cans in her neighbor’s garden. “My anger for the German invaders outweighed my anxiety.” Furthermore, my father had taught me that if you see a guy drowning, you must attempt to help him even if you are unable to swim. “At the time, Poland was drowning,” Irena said.

Her work was flawless—until she was discovered one day. The Nazis imprisoned Irena after learning what she was doing inside the confines of the Warsaw Ghetto. The Gestapo tortured, assaulted, and shattered Irena, but she refused to tell them anything about the Jewish children or families she’d aided. She was given the death penalty. But, before destiny intervened, some of Irena’s coworkers were able to bribe a Nazi jail soldier, allowing her to flee.

Irena spent the remainder of her long and complete life under a fake name and identity. She married, had three children, and spent the rest of her life doing what she’d always done: assisting others. Years later, when the war ended, Irena sent all of her data on the families and children to an organization that assisted in the reunification of Jewish families.

“The reason I saved children was because of how I was raised.” “I was raised to think that a drowning person should be saved regardless of religion or ethnicity,” Irena stated. Irena, a hero to many, was honored on several occasions for her courage and devotion. She was awarded the Israeli honorary title of “Polish Righteous Among the Nations” in 1964, and she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997.

Irena lived to be 98 years old, but her work will live on through the lives she touched for generations to come.We are called to be the Lord’s hands and feet—to serve others as the body of Christ. Irena’s life was a beautiful reflection of just that. “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for his friends.” John 15:13