Gratitude Grows to Gifts
In celebration of the new
Sea Change album, Ken Medema Music sent out thank you notes to some of our clients and friends. We attached a crisp $10 bill and asked people to do with it as they wished. They could pass it on, grow it, or take time for themselves because we know how busy everyone is. We told them that if they needed to be reminded how special they were, they just might need a movie or a coffee and to do so with our blessing.
What we received back was some wonderful stories of giving and blessing, for the people who received and the people who gave. We were thrilled and excited to hear the miraculous events that took place.
Here is just a sampling of stories:
An owner of a business decided to give each student in the youth choir in his church $10. Among some of the gifts, one donated to a Christmas charity at school to buy gifts for kids in the community, one made a Christmas shoebox for Guatemalan orphans, and one helped raise money for his government class for vitamins and toothbrushes for the troops.
An author gave the money to a young couple who had to travel by car 50 miles a day to see their premature newborn child still in the hospital.
A retired couple purchased a CD to support their choir recording fund raiser.
The money was given to the Gulf Coast community in helping with the rebuilding projects in New Orleans and Biloxi.
A donation was given to the Foundation that was building a new youth center in New Jersey which was then matched by another donor.
Miraculously, the $10 was given to feed 45 children at a hospital site in the Congo AND provide a chicken for a family's food.
A contribution was made to the Guidepost Foundation to help minister to a world desperate for God's presence.
COBYS family services were the recipient for help with adoptions and aid to single mothers.
The Free the Children organization will use the money in their projects overseas to continue to provide education for children in remote villages.
One woman gave her money to a blind autistic pianist in his teens so he could buy a CD he had been wishing to have.
A couple multiplied the money and sent it to a Christian Agency who serves in the vision of seeing change.
One man used his money to buy stationary and stamps and wrote to his friends asking for donations to a ministry he suggested.
A good friend who had been "retired" from his job said his first inclination was to buy a six-pack, but on second consideration decided to give it to his wife to take along on a mission trip.
A Michigan couple grew the $10 into $400 from their friends and was able to supply heavy sweatshirts and gloves to 25 people who live under the bridge in Grand Rapids, Michigan to provide warmth through the winter months and respite from the cold.
A choir director took an offering to buy coffee for the coffee house for homeless people in Memphis. His $10 grew to over $200 to provide good hot coffee to people who come for clean clothes and a shower each week.
As you can see, the ideas are many and diverse. The joy of giving is not limited to fancy TV shows and big game competitions. The act of sharing what we have with people who need is an exhilarating and moving experience that will hopefully change all of us.
Beverly Vander Molen, March 2008
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