You know it’s coming. The frenzy of holiday shopping that seems to begin earlier and earlier each year. For all we know, lines are already forming as you read this post – finish reading quickly or you might miss your spot! OK, that might be stretching it a little, but you get the point. Americans are great at finding the deal to end all deals, even waiting in line totally unreasonable lengths of time to be “first”. Now, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to save money by getting a good deal. But how many times do we rush to be first to give, whether it’s our money, time, or talents?
Black Friday and Cyber Monday are now firmly established in American culture. They are holidays of spending and, often, rampant consumerism. I’m not here to tell you to quit shopping for Christmas gifts, but to challenge you to get involved on another day – Giving Tuesday.
Started in 2012 as a way for people to give back to their communities, Giving Tuesday is an international awareness campaign encouraging generosity where you live. Alamance County has its own Giving Tuesday chapter, and on December 1st, we hope you will take the opportunity to give to Feed the Hunger and help support our mission of feeding the spiritual and physical hunger in the needy.
You probably already know that Feed the Hunger provides spiritual and physical nourishment to children in need around the world. What you might not know is that we also provide an increasing number of meals to the hungry in America, even in Alamance County, through our Christian partners. Everything donated to Feed the Hunger on Giving Tuesday will go towards our local Christmas Packathon at Holly Hill Mall and be used to help children and families who may not know where their next meal will come from.
According to 2014 census estimates, there are approximately 120,000 adults living in Alamance County. Last year, Giving Tuesday Alamance received over $27,000 in monetary donations. That equals 22.5 cents per person if everyone over 18 gave. From our perspective, if that amount were increased just to one dollar we could produce 3.5 servings of our beans and rice mix. At $100, we would be able to produce 357 meals – enough to feed a child for nearly the entire year! Think about how much you plan on spending this year on Christmas gifts that will be used for a while, then discarded. If, as a result of your giving, someone whose physical need is met by our food also has their spiritual need met for eternity in Jesus, wouldn’t that be worth the cost?
So how can you help?
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Visit our donation page on December 1st (or before!) and designate your gift #GivingTuesday in the dropdown menu.
• Sign up for the Christmas Packathon and participate directly in helping feed your neighbors in need by producing beans and rice meal packets.
• Donate high-quality items to be featured in our silent auction taking place December 12th from 5:00-6:00 PM at our Holly Hill Mall Packathon station. Contact Jim Gurley or Matthew Byrd for more information.
• Finally, tell others how they can help spread the Gospel by supporting our mission of feeding spiritual and physical hunger.
Matthew Byrd | Ministry Advancement Team