Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Caring Basket Day

What an awesome day as 120 kids and tons of volunteers and parents delivered baskets of goodies to three nursing homes and about a dozen senior adults. Several of you said that you had a story for the blog, so click on "add comments" and share it with us! My favorite moment was one of our third grade boys walking by and telling me, "It rocked giving that stuff away!" What a great day of living on mission.

1 comment:

Stu said...

God’s timing is perfect!! Sunday while our kids were delivering baskets, not only did they bring cheer to the residents, they also touched someone else with their visit. I had the opportunity to speak with a gentleman from another state who was visiting his sister-in-law. First statement from the gentleman revolved around the fact that this was a great thing we were doing, I replied that we have a great bunch of kids that are delivering the baskets. He repeated again how great this was and at that point added, “This would never happen where I live”. Think about the polar opposites that statement reveals, the kindness of the baskets being delivered and the sadness of this not occurring somewhere else.

The gentleman and I continued to talk while the kids were inside. He spoke about how we are to serve others. We talked about the kids. The gentleman revealed that he was/is a Pastor (not real sure of his current status) and that this was something his brother really needs to see. The story here, his brother’s wife is a resident at the facility and probably will be for the rest of her life, she is in her thirties. The man told me that his brother is really struggling and having a hard time with dealing with the situation. This gentleman spoke about his brother not being in church and that he has spoken with and prays for his brother, but his brother has rejected the conversations. He told me about how his brother needed a church home. This gentleman mentioned again how great this was that our kids were delivering baskets. Well, his brother came outside before our kids and immediately spoke to me about what a good thing these kids had done and that “today,” he needed that. The gentleman told his brother that Westwood would love for him to visit with us, but you see, brother lives in another city and the Pastor thought he might reject driving to Alabaster, well, I happen to know a church in his hometown as well and that was served up.

The Westwood kids are an awesome bunch. They gave of themselves on Sunday so that people they do not know would have a little something and would get a visitor for a few minutes. They touched a person that needed to see kindness. They came back disappointed that they did not have more baskets to give out. They appreciated giving and not receiving.

Parents, leaders, and all that volunteered to make this day happen, THANK YOU.

And, oh by the way, Mr. Brian, you are awesome!!! I got to listen to you talk with the kids on the ride over and listen to the praise and encouragement you gave them on the ride back.