The fantastic factor about volunteering at a soup kitchen or a food pantry may be the proximity to those you will be helping. My Mom Marie Bilodeau, who ran the food pantry at our church, returned house every week with private stories concerning the men and women she helped. Her experiences normally reminded me about a book I read in college named Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne. The book had a profound impact on my view in the notion of philanthropy because it named to job any program of charity that necessarily insulates the gift-give from the receiver.

That isn’t to say that we don’t need checks written or canned goods dropped off by persons who never meet these whom they support. And I’m not labeling the attending of a dinner advantage aimed at raising cash for the poor “a bad thing”. Rather it is actually to say that we ought to generally no less than try and lower the distance between us and these we assistance. It's far more comfortable to attend a charity banquet than to help bathe the homeless like did Mother Teresa. The vision for which I am arguing is, therefore, one particular that injects a ministry not only of items but of individuals, namely a ministry of presence.

So I’d like to get started a project known as The Gift Card Project, where the gift is not as significantly the monetary donation but the particular person himself, namely YOU. I’d like to challenge folks (myself included) to carry with you all the time a number of $5 or $10 gift cards for neighborhood restaurants like McDonald’s or Burger King and retain your eyes open for those who need to have aid. It is wonderful how several people today around us are actively soliciting assistance throughout your weekly walk into Walmart or when leaving the gas station.

The challenge of The Gift Card Project would be the string attached to the gift card - to possess a actual conversation with all the individual to whom that you are providing the gift card. Ask them how they are performing, what has brought them there. Your ministry of presence is worth more than the money itself.

My long term target should be to perform with restaurants like McDonald’s and Burger King to make custom gift cards that, when cashed in by an individual who is homeless, allow the particular person to return later that day for a further meal.

The Gift Card Project aids the homeless inside a practical way even though also reminding them of their own dignity, which can be not depleted because of their existing state. Pivoting out of poverty 1st needs a person to think in that dignity. Which is the real purpose of The Gift Card Project.

Let’s encourage and study from each other. And I’m curious about your experience with this challenge. Please let me know What has been your experience though partaking in “The Gift Card Project”?