It all started a year ago in February. Our church, Elevation Church took on the challenge to serve 5,000 hours around the city of Charlotte. We busted the record, giving over 10,000 hours of service. This year for the second annual Love Week they raised the bar big time. Partnering with 25 other churches we pledged to serve at least 25,000 hours across our city. One of the core values of our church is radical generosity and this is a testament to that. Beginning on February 27 we set out for a week of service initiatives and projects. Some projects took place with our outreach partners like Crisis Assistance and some were new projects like cleaning up parks and sending shoes to children in need. Sunday after church Brandon and I participated in our first event. We put together soup bags to be sent to Haiti through Stop Hunger Now. These soup packages were specifically going to be given to children before they go to school so that they can have the energy to learn.
On Tuesday our small group signed up to work with Soccer 945, which is a soccer league for homeless men. We signed up to help cheer on the teams as they played. I got stuck in traffic and was unable to make it in time, but Brandon went straight from work and was able to participate. I was bummed, but there were over 200 volunteers who participated.
Finally, Saturday we signed up to serve at Bright Blessings which is an organization that provides birthday parties for homeless children by partnering with local schools and homeless shelters. This organization is amazing and so inspiring. They provide gifts for the birthday child, a party, a comfort and care package with toiletries, a blanket, and stuffed animals, along with snacks and games. They have a grant with First Book, Inc. and receive new books to give to the children. We mainly worked on assembling the comfort and care packages and organizing the new shipment of books. We had a wonderful time and are hoping to volunteer here on a regular basis with another couple from our small group.
Love Week is a great initiative to go out and love on our city. Total, over 33,000 hours were given in love to our city. How amazing! We should all be reminded that service and radical generosity should be one of our personal core values not just for one week out of the year, but for each and every day. Thank you Elevation for leading the way in generosity!
Wow. That is so amazing. I wish more churches would do things like this! What a way to show that we are truly walking with Christ by loving justice and mercy. Amazing.
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