The Joy of Giving

A few weeks ago, we hosted a fundraiser at church during Thanksgiving.  Our hopes was to raise enough money to sponsor someone for Christmas.  I wanted things to be “easy” so I ordered Thanksgiving meals from our local grocer for a lunch benefit at church.  When I went to pick them up, they couldn’t find them and when they did, they were not cooked!  Thank God the turkeys were at-least thawed out otherwise we would have been in some serious trouble.  So Scott, my mom and I stayed up until 2am cooking our hearts out for the Thanksgiving lunch Fundraiser the next day.  It turned out fantastic.  We had over 30 in attendance and we all shared a very special meal together.  It was great fellowship along with knowing there was a benefit to someone in the future.  And you can tell after we go home how tired we all were :)     This past Monday we had the special privilege of our hard work coming to fruition.  We sponsored a group home at Penny Lane.  There were 45 teenage girls that had nothing for Christmas.  Kara and I enjoyed shopping with the personalized wish lists of these girls. Instead of just buying 45 presents, we wanted to surprise them with individualized gifts according to their dreams, goals and interests.  Kara, Shelby and I wrapped for a long time while the three of us plus Pastor Katherine wrote personalized cards to each girl.  Monday night we filled our truck (the back and the seats) with all the gifts and headed to Penny Lane to deliver them.  

All the gifts laid out: A full truck of giftsPassing out the gifts   Myself, Pastor Katherine and Kara   Even better news is that we have enough funds left over to sponsor another family for Christmas.  We found a local family of 5 that need basic necessities.  We are excited that everyone at church contributed and made all of this possible.  It is such a rewarding experience (and humbling).  Thank you to all for all of your help!