Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Gifts that Give Back - Continued

My mom posted something on her blog yesterday about Gifts that Give Back and had some great responses with more ideas. So I've added them to my list as well.

To find the whole list check out the post Gifts that Give Back.

"Love Your Neighbor As Yourself"

Our high school students experienced this on Sunday. We had a night called "As Yourself" based on the scripture mandate to love your neighbor as yourself. We had our students bring in any amount of money they could. Students brought in everything from pennies to $20 or more. In total...our 25 high school students gave around $500 of their own money.

We then split them up into 5 groups, gave each group $100, then sent them out into the community to bless people as they felt led. What an awesome night! Here are some highlights:
  • One group bought a woman's groceries, turns out she just lost her job and cares for an elderly friend.
  • One group bought a disabled woman's groceries and Christmas gifts for her family. She was actually putting things back onto the shelves from her cart because she couldn't afford it all. Then, our group stepped in to bless her.
  • One group went to the Cancer Center Hotel and was able to help pay for a man's stay while he was receiving a consultation for his cancer. Turns out he only had to pay $33 for 3 nights...$11 per night! While they were helping him out, two adults started chatting with a woman in the lobby and it turns out she's there because she had breast cancer. So they were able to pray with her and encourage her.
  • One group paid for a man's gas.
  • One group was able to help out several people with their groceries.
It was such an awesome night to see our students give of themselves and have the opportunity to bless others. As an adult, it was hard at first not to step in and push our students one way or another as they tried to figure out what to do or even drum up the courage to approach someone. But watching them actually step out of their comfort zone was a blessing to us!

Read a follow-up with a cool God story from our "As Yourself" night here.

4 comments:

  1. Anne...this post made me cry. I love the concept of "as yourself"!

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  2. This is one of the coolest things I have have EVER heard of. I LOVE the concept of "As Yourself". I'm totally tweeting a link to this post :)

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  3. Wow, what a great idea!! And the kids were extremely creative and took time to see the needs around them! I sent an email to our pastors who work with the youth with this info. Thanks!

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