The City Rescue Mission of Lansing is a faith ministry. What that means is that we do not have any "steady" sources of revenue, i.e. grants, federal/state funds, etc. All our services are provided solely by donations. Bottom line: people choose to give.
What this also means is that sometimes we come pretty close to scraping the bottom of the barrel, but we never have. As our executive director likes to say, "We make people aware of our needs, and if they feel God desires them to give, they do."
A few weeks ago, Roger, our director of operations needed to go make a run to one of our supporting churches. This church keeps one of our yellow "Mission barrels" in their lobby. There are a few churches and organizations in the area who host these food collection barrels for us. Volunteer drivers or our director of operations will make a run out to empty them as the need arises (see our website homepage, www.lcrm.org, for video).
This day, Roger happened to notice, as he was picking up the bags from the barrel, a bottle of vanilla was laying all by itself. He tucked it into a bag, and as he left the building to continue his errands, he thought about that bottle of vanilla. It's not a usual donation; most items we get are boxed or canned goods. He wondered just how they were going to use that solitary bottle of vanilla.
As he arrived back at the Mission and began unloading, Kevin, one of the cooks, walked past from the kitchen.
"I'm heading out to the store, Roger," he said, "I need to pick up a bottle of vanilla."
Imagine his surprise when Roger reached into a bag and handed him the vanilla. Such a small, ordinary thing that symbolizes the amazing experience of relying every day on the Lord's provision. Whoever gave that bottle could hardly imagine it would arrive at the perfect time. But that's what God's timing always is, perfect.
Showing posts with label giving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label giving. Show all posts
Friday, April 16, 2010
Friday, December 11, 2009
A Can of Pringles
I hope I never stop being surprised by life. Or overcome by generosity. Caught up in joy.
Today, a little girl arrived with her mom. Clutched in her hand was a Pringles can. But the jingle inside wasn't from chips. For the whole of this year, Makayla had collected part of her allowance in that Pringles can. "For the homeless," were the words carefully printed on yellow paper and taped to the side. She was so excited.
"Some of the bills are a little crushed," her mother explained, and the words brought to mind the image of an eight year old carefully counting and re-counting every dollar and every coin, for a whole year.
Earlier this week, another girl named Emily had stopped by to donate money raised from cards she and her sister handmade. A sweet smile on her face, she proudly posed for her picture.
What a blessing to be able to experience their joy and excitement and that innocent pleasure that comes from giving to someone else in need. We are grateful for both these girls, their hard work and sacrifice, and also for their parents, who are teaching them already the lesson of compassion.
Today, a little girl arrived with her mom. Clutched in her hand was a Pringles can. But the jingle inside wasn't from chips. For the whole of this year, Makayla had collected part of her allowance in that Pringles can. "For the homeless," were the words carefully printed on yellow paper and taped to the side. She was so excited.
"Some of the bills are a little crushed," her mother explained, and the words brought to mind the image of an eight year old carefully counting and re-counting every dollar and every coin, for a whole year.
Earlier this week, another girl named Emily had stopped by to donate money raised from cards she and her sister handmade. A sweet smile on her face, she proudly posed for her picture.
What a blessing to be able to experience their joy and excitement and that innocent pleasure that comes from giving to someone else in need. We are grateful for both these girls, their hard work and sacrifice, and also for their parents, who are teaching them already the lesson of compassion.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
The Emptiness of our Hands
Working at the City Rescue Mission is, at one time, both highly rewarding and incredibly humbling. I wish I could find words capable of fully transmitting the feeling of opening a courtesy reply envelope and seeing a check and a note, "I wish I could give more, but I'm currently laid off from my job." Or how many people express a desire to give more or the regret that they can't give at this time.
I have an app on my desktop that allows me to receive internet headlines for the day, and one of those linked to a map showing the economic climate of every state during this "recession." I highlight that word because I noticed something as I scrolled over the fifty states. The earliest any other state began to fall into a recession was listed as October 2007, that I could find. Michigan was listed at April of 2006.
It amazes me, living in Michigan and seeing the state of our economy firsthand, how much our citizens still manage to give, even from limited incomes. D. L. Moody once said that character is what you are in the dark. When things are down. When it doesn't seem to matter any more. When no one is looking.
But we have so many who give, without recognition and in spite of personal sacrifices. So that is our good news for the day. The need is great, but through God's providence, compassion is greater.
I have an app on my desktop that allows me to receive internet headlines for the day, and one of those linked to a map showing the economic climate of every state during this "recession." I highlight that word because I noticed something as I scrolled over the fifty states. The earliest any other state began to fall into a recession was listed as October 2007, that I could find. Michigan was listed at April of 2006.
It amazes me, living in Michigan and seeing the state of our economy firsthand, how much our citizens still manage to give, even from limited incomes. D. L. Moody once said that character is what you are in the dark. When things are down. When it doesn't seem to matter any more. When no one is looking.
But we have so many who give, without recognition and in spite of personal sacrifices. So that is our good news for the day. The need is great, but through God's providence, compassion is greater.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Merry Christmas To All
Yesterday, the Mission distributed baskets of food and gifts for Christmas to over 200 families. What a blessing to be able to help those in need during the holiday, but even more of a blessing was how the gifts arrived, in the hands of the compassionate members of our community. One organization, especially, donated toys and time to prepare the bags for those who'd come on the giveaway day. Below is an email we received from someone from this organization... Last night I was at Wal-mart finishing up the shopping for the Christmas gift bags. I came out of the check out lanes with two carts loaded with gifts. As I was trying to man-handle the two carts a woman comes up to me and asks me if I need help. I graciously accepted the offer and explained to her what I was up to. She got the cart to my car and wished me a Merry Christmas. As I was leaving the parking lot, I was fumbling around for my phone to call home. Since I couldn't find it, I pulled off to a lighted area in the parking lot. This woman drove up beside me and said that she would like to help out. She gave me $20!! Now how many people do you know that would out of the blue give a complete stranger $20 and trust that the money would make it's way to the City Rescue Mission.
This woman touched my heart yesterday. There is still much kindness in this world.
This story was echoed in the many people who gave to help the City Rescue Missi
on, with either food, toys, or money. A few weeks ago, Cheryl, our Office Manager, drove the Mission van to Walmart and filled it with toys. Instead of red velvet and white fur, she wore a burgundy polo with a "Jesus Saves" logo. Instead of a sleigh, a powder blue passenger van. It was your gifts that helped fill that van, and 8 shopping carts, to provide Christmas to over 300 children. Thank you for helping us help others.
on, with either food, toys, or money. A few weeks ago, Cheryl, our Office Manager, drove the Mission van to Walmart and filled it with toys. Instead of red velvet and white fur, she wore a burgundy polo with a "Jesus Saves" logo. Instead of a sleigh, a powder blue passenger van. It was your gifts that helped fill that van, and 8 shopping carts, to provide Christmas to over 300 children. Thank you for helping us help others.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)