ThanksGIVING Project
Purpose & Description: To encourage a stewardship culture at Community by going outside the church walls to impact people through generous giving.
Some Examples of Ways to Give (There may be many – be creative):
1. Time – Rake leaves for a neighbor, babysit for parents to free up their time, volunteer, etc.
2. Talent – Cook a meal for a family in tough times, play music at a nursing home or assisted living, etc.
3. Treasure – Donate clothes, furniture, money, other belongings, give a grocery card or gift card, pay for a meal, etc.
We have printed church business cards with an email address. If you participate in the project, we encourage you to share your experience and send a note to the email address on the card.
We also ask you to hand a business card to whomever you give to so they can potentially share their experience in receiving the gift. We will post all responses on Community’s website without the names for anonymity.
“Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace” (1 Peter 4:10)
-The BRIDGE Team
Share Your Stories/Feedback: info@communityrc.org
Here are some of the results that we’ve heard about thus far:
Giver: I chose to give financial help to a young, single mom whose father is in hospice with cancer. I tried to give it anonymously but she found me out. It was such a great experience! She told me that she had just been talking the night before that they had no money for Thanksgiving dinner and for some bills that need to be paid. She was SO grateful to be able to plan a special Thanksgiving dinner with her dad, and have some left to pay some bills. The business” card was great, cause she went to the website and is considering visiting us some Sunday when she doesn’t need to be with her dad. It IS better to give than to receive! Praise God!
Receiver: I had quite a surprise waiting on my desk for me this morning. It was proof that there are still wonderful people in the world. This morning I cried cuz of reflief and gratitude instead of sadness. It couldn’t have come in a more time of need that now. 
This what I had written on my Facebook page on 11/17. My father had recently been placed in a hospice house and I was missing hours at work to spend as much time with him as I could. There is only myself and my son living in our home so not getting a full paycheck was quite a strain on the finances. I cannot express enough how touched I was by this.
Giver: We contacted the principal of one of our cities elementary schools and asked if him to give a grocery store gift card to a needy family in that school. We purchased a gift card from a smaller grocery store in the neighborhood of that school. The principal gave the gift card to a needy family.
Another project we participated in was to partner with some other people to sponsor a child through World Vision.
Giver: There is a great lady we know who’s whole family has a history of heart issues…we’ll call her Jen. Every one of Jen’s siblings has had heart trouble with blockage in the same place, but Jen has not yet gotten this test because she didn’t feel she could afford the test or the procedures that may follow. We couldn’t afford to pay it all for sure, but we sent what we could anonymously with a note “you have a great heart – let’s keep it that way!” and instructions it was to be used for heart checks or procedures. We did not send the business card because it would give us away, but the person who is anonymously delivering our “gift” knows about our giving challenge/project and praises God for what this project is doing. We’ll quietly pass along any response we hear. Hopefully this can help her get the testing she likely needs
Giver: Hi! We had fun with our first experience with this project. As a young family our budget is pretty tight but we wanted to give a tangible gift to a stranger. So when we got groceries we cut out some of the convenience foods and treats to save some money. That allowed us to buy a hyvee gift card at the checkout. We left it with a white community card at the check stand telling the checker to give it to someone who looked like they were having a bad day. We will probably do this a few more times and if we plan ahead we might just buy the hyvee cards at church. Maybe the best part was how excited the young lady working at hyvee was at being able to share that card with someone. It was really fun to see her smile. So we are grateful for this great reminder to share. Thanks!