Food for Thought

I often look in from time to time, thanks to social media, on groups I have belong to or Churches I was a member just to see what they are now doing. Sometimes its to glimpse the face of an old friend and say hi. One of the most memorable
events I was honored to be a part of was called Winterfest. It's purpose was to be an outreach to the community. In the early years it started as providing a day of

fun including a man made snow hill that kids could fly down on plastic saucers. Some of the kids in that town had never experienced snow. It wasn't really snow, it was pounds and pounds of chipped ice, but it was VERY COOL! To go with it, the event offered other "Wintery things" like snowcones, photo ops with snow scenes, a chili cook off contest, drinks, hot dogs, face painting, bouncy houses, one year even a rock climbing wall. Every year it grew and grew. The community came by the thousands and for many of these families it was a dream come true because everything was FREE! Absolutely FREE! 

It was a lot of work and took LOTS of donations, volunteers and a few sponsors, but at the end of the day we all experienced that phenomenon of being blessed because it was such a blessing to others. There were many occasions I experienced that touched my heart like over hearing a child say, "daddy daddy can we get a hotdog?" in which the dad replied, "no honey daddy doesn't have any money". I stepped over and told him everything was free. The look of disbelief took me back, I continued, "seriously its all free, see the banner over the road, it says FREE." A bit misty eyed he sad, "well kids I guess this is our lucky day!" Although he felt that way, there was no luck about it. It was an intentional act of love extended to the community and God made sure this family was there to enjoy it. 

A bit later I saw them again and handed him a church brochure, telling him, "we have a really great free afternoon program for kids on Weds". A month or so later he signed them up for Wonderful Wednesday. Many families came to this church because they were first introduced via community outreach.  In 2021 Winterfest did not happen. Many community events didn't happen due to Covid, but I noticed they did have a 2022 Winterfest Community Outreach in a different format.

Having no budget the committee sought donations and received roughly $14,500. What they did with it warmed my heart so much. Here is what was reported during their worship service:

At a local Family Dollar Store & Gas station, 180 families received $25 gift cards, they paid for 123 breakfasts at a local deli, they paid the laundry fees for 15 families, they paid the water company $4,250 to help pay family water bills in the red, they gave $500 to the local Library for overdue book fees, they gave the town's Park & Rec dept $2,000, so they could offer scholarships to kids that wanted to play sports but didn't have the money and they took 104 pizzas & 1,600 cookies to the Elementary school and fed 830 children and school staff. Now that was a divine inspired community outreach. At a time folks are struggling to make ends meet, feed their families and pay their bills, Winterfest came through for them.

During that same service one of the Pastors described meeting people that day and hearing story after story of how the programs at this same church shaped the lives of these people now in their 20's. Never underestimate the effect of the things you do today.

Be a Blessing and Be Blessed!