This past Friday the youth group that my husband and I lead in a little dinky rural town of 900 people, we had a fundraiser. It was a mystery dinner. Let me explain. We had a chef prepare some amazing food, but we made the menu names very mysterious and a tad bit risky. Diners at our restaurant had to order every detail of thier menu from cutlery to dessert. We had elders in our church eating spaghetti with a skewer and a soup ladel. It was absolutely hilarious.
We did this as a fundraiser to go to an up-comming youth conference in our area. Our goal was to raise $1000.00, which we thought was a bit high, but we really wanted to make a dent in our expenses. To make a long story short…we quadrupled our goal!
We worked really hard to prepare for this dinner, and the youth did a tremenous job of serving, hosting, cooking and cleaning up afterward. But the one thing that stuck out in my head when the night was over was “WOW, People are generous!”
Some of the people who came have never stepped foot in a church before…but they gave. Some people were born in that church….and they gave. Some people just sold a multi million dollar company…they gave. And some people smiled as they gave the last small change in thier wallet.
Why?
Was it the cause that people got excited about supporting? Was it the kids? Did people need a quick tax write-off? Were some people tired of being asked to help, so they decided to do thier good deed by donating?
I refuse to believe that anyone there gave out of guilt, pity or through gritted teeth. Each person left with a smile 4x the size they walked in with and no one was clutching their wallet as they ducked out the doors. The were truely cheerful givers.
That impresses me.
So, I guess my challange now is “how do we pay it forward?”
Any idea’s?
