Last night, four of my Bible study girls from American Chinese Fellowship came home with me for a summer fun sleepover and service project. It was a joy to have them in our home, investing in their lives in a personal way.For our service project, we made care packages for poor and/or homeless children who go to the Star of Hope Mission with their families seeking shelter and aid. These care packages are designed to be special gift bags welcoming the children to the mission and providing them with basic items they need or would enjoy.
We started out by shopping at the dollar store with a set budget in mind. Each girl brought money to purchase their items and were very deliberate in their shopping process. I got such a kick out of watching them meander the aisles, each with a basket in hand, looking for just the right items they thought "their" girl would like, and making sure they stayed within their budget. It reminded me of the days when I would play pretend shopping at the Children's Museum grocery store --- only this time it was for real!
Here are the items that went into my care package: bubble bath, hair clips, pencils, stickers, toothbrush/toothpaste, socks, and hard candy.
After shopping for the package contents, we returned home and set to work decorating the bags. Then, each girl made a card with a sweet message inside for the recipient of their care package.
Here are a couple examples of the notes they composed all on their own:
Dear Princess,
You are not alone. God is always with us and loves us. Do not forget that. May God bless and lead in your young life.
Dear Friend,
I hope that all the things that I have given you will help you in some way. I just want you to know that you are a very special person and God loves you. I encourage you to go to Star of Hope's Sunday services. Remember, you are very special and God loves you. I hope you will accept Him as your Savior. He will always be there for you if you do. God bless you, my friend. And may your life be full of love, joy, and peace.
Finally, we stuffed the bags, and they were ready to go!
Excited to bless the poor and needy...what a joy to see!
2 comments:
Nice Blog! Thanks so much for what you are doing for Houston's homeless. Do you mind is I repost some your care package post in my blog for Star of Hope? http://blog.sohmission.org/blog/caring-for-the-homeless.
Hello Scott! Thank you for your encouragement of our service project! That would be just fine if you would like to repost from this blog to yours. Thank you for checking with me!
Post a Comment