How We Can Help

Our family has hosted an end-of-school-year, kick-off-the-summer service project for the past two years. We do our best to involve friends to make a bigger impact. We have been talking and praying about what we can do this year, as the end of the school year is right around the corner.

Yesterday afternoon, I joined hands with my nine-year-old son and prayed for God to place the burden on our hearts for where to serve.

Later that afternoon, I heard of the natural disaster in Oklahoma.

This morning, we sat in front of the television watching, through glossy lens, the devastation that hit this area. Yet hope abounds. In those moments, it was apparent to everyone of us in the room that we could be a part of their hope.

Our nearly seven-year-old daughter jumped up and ran off to her room to come back with a few items she wanted to donate to the children who lost everything.

That is the heart we all need.

And it seemed to be the need at hand and the burden placed on our hearts to serve.

So how can we help?

Relevant Magazine lists 5 ways to get involved, with money being the most practical, at this point.

How can we raise money?

The other day I received fifteen dollars from a man who has been paralyzed for twenty years. The paralysis only allows him the use of his right hand. The only company he tolerates is tobacco. He told me, " I have stopped smoking for a week. I'm sending you the money I've saved from not buying cigarettes." It must have been a horrible sacrifice for him. I bought bread with his money, and I gave it to those who were hungry. So both the giver and those who received experienced joy. ~Mother Teresa, No Greater Love

What are we willing to sacrifice in order to set a few dollars-a-day aside for the families in Moore, Oklahoma, who have lost everything?

How can we be a part of their hope?

Our family is still in deliberation over how we will engage our friends and community in raising money for Oklahoma. In the mean time, there are several ways to donate.

Ways to donate:

Donate to Samaritan's Purse.
Donate to the Red Cross.
Donate to the Salvation Army.

Want to start a campaign? Find out how here and here.
For more ways to help, go here.

'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.' Matthew 25:40

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