Easter Give Back 2017

07/17/2017

"I turned 2 $10 envelopes into 100 and sent it to Home & Community Options in Winona, MN. Their mission is to provide support and residential services for people with developmental disabiliites. My husband, Terry, along with 2--3 other men started volunteering in this program by finding and acquiring residential homes and services. HCO is now large and in 2016 HCO provided 436,336 hours of care. Jerry did volunteer work in several areas in Winona starting 1991 one month after retiring. Retirement was a waste of time for him." --Barb Groth

06/27/2017

Tanner Ignaszewski had 2 envelopes with $10. He took each to Woodbury Middle school and invited teachers to donate. He raised $200 and he bought 2 $100 giftcards and gave them to the counselor at school to give to 2 families in need.

06/25/2017

Shared anonymously: "I hosted a young mother (who very recently lost her oldest child, who was 7, to neuromuscular disease) and her surviving children (one of whom is in cancer remission) for a day of fun. We went out to eat, to Lookout Ridge, visited the library, picked up cupcakes, and made another play date for next month at Madison's Place. Because mom is a new seeker, I am working on growing our relationship as she looks to learn more about Jesus Christ -- and so I also gave her a mom's Bible. We finished with a stop at a local grocery store deli and picked up dinner for her to take home so she could end the day "stress free.""

06/24/2017

Shared anonymously: "$1000 given to team world vision"

06/17/2017

Shared Anonymously: "We multiplied our funds by 25 and shared them with Josh and Hannah Zook in Ecuador."

06/17/2017

Shared Anonymously: "We multiplied our funds by 10 and shared the funds with a single mom in need."

06/17/2017

Shared anonymously: "We multiplied our funds and shared them with the Christian Cupboard."

05/31/2017

Today a huge pallet that contained new tables and chairs was delivered to the Woodbury Lutheran preschool. They were purchased with someone's multiplied $10! The generous donor, donated $1000.

05/31/2017

Our kiddos decided to use their money to support kids and their families, within South Washington County, that need food for the summer.
The boys sold things at our garage sale a few weeks ago to increase the money they were given. They then went shopping together to pick out some of the needed items on the list to donate.
We went as a family to the donation spot at Jerry's Foods deliver the donations. Each one of them helped to bring in things and place them in the bin!
Thank you for this great opportunity to help them understand just how blessed we are, that there are kids in need right here in our community and that they can be the hands and feet of Jesus!

05/30/2017

shared anonymously: " I carried around my two envelopes of $10 for a couple of weeks waiting for something to strike me as to how the Holy Spirit wanted me to multiply and share. And then it hit me when I was unprepared to multiply the amount but I just knew the timing was right. I was in the checkout line at cub and overheard a conversation between my cashier and a young cashier next to her. The young cashier was sharing that she was extremely hungry but had no money for lunch. I instantly remembered the envelopes in my purse. I shared the $20 with the young cashier and told her to have a nice lunch. The look on her face was priceless and she could not have been more shocked and thankful. It would seem that giving money to a stranger would be an easy thing to do but I will admit that as I thought about my delivery I had to step outside of my comfort zone. I left cub with a ton of groceries feeling very thankful and grateful for all that I have."

05/30/2017

Shared Anonymously: "Alicia lost her baby last year. Just before that, her husband’s sister Katie and her husband Ivan lost their baby after going full term. They found out when then went to the hospital for the delivery when she started contractions. It was devastating to them.

In honor of their baby, Ivan Joshua, they created a non-profit organization called Until We Hold You Again Inc. with the goal of reaching out to grieving parents who have experienced miscarriage, stillbirth or infant loss. Their team of volunteers assemble and deliver gift baskets to these families in need. As grieving parents to a stillborn son, they know the complete and utter devastation that comes with the words “there is no heartbeat.” Here is their website if you are interested in looking at it: https://untilweholdyouagain.com/ .

This started very small but has grown so dramatically. They received over 100 requests in one month and have gotten requests for a number of different countries all over the world. The baskets include books and information to help the parents through their grieving process as well as scripture verses. They received so many requests that they had to turn off the ability for parents to request baskets until they can catch up to the requests.

We took that $10 dollars and multiplied it by donating $300 to their organization. This will pay for 4 baskets. We pray that God will use these baskets to share his love and comfort to those parents in need, especially those that may not know Him yet."

Providing Comfort and Support to Grieving Parents

05/29/2017

Shared anonymously: "I've been praying a lot about this envelope. I brought it with me everywhere after I multiplied it once cause that's what I was feeling led to at the moment and all I could do but still didn't know who it was supposed to go to. For weeks now I've been praying over this envelope and person/people it would go to, I've brought it on runs even in the downpouring rain, to church, to work, where I went it went. The envelope over the past month became tattered and worn (wish I had a picture) so I put a note in it explaining, just this morning, that it's been prayed over a lot, brought many places and that's why it wasn't pretty. On Memorial Day I spend a lot of time at memorials or cemeteries just like 1000's of people. As I walked the hallowed ground of Fort Snelling National Cemetery praying for those that lost their loved ones who served and remembering those I've lost along the way that served & gave their lives for me. Embracing the reason my freedom isn't free. I saw faces, I saw pain, I saw hurt and people curled up next to tombstones but also honor, respect and so much more... I wished in that moment that I could give each family just $10 to show them they aren't alone and hug and pray with them. Obviously that was not humanly possible. In that process I came across a woman standing alone by a fresh grave. The stone wasn't even there yet while that's because the ashes were put in the ground 2 days before. She told stories of Gene (if I remember the tag properly) and of his service to this country having fought in Vietnam. She talked about how he had watched his friends be shot down around my age. A war that not everyone got welcomed back home from (welcome home Gene welcome home). I was going to keep going like I did many other times but I knew the tattered envelope in my pocket needed to come out as it was raining and go to her even though I didn't know why. I didn't have words to explain to her what was happening. I was just overcome by the freedom I have and amount of grace I've been given and love I have in my heart for all our service men & women and their families got a little overwhelming. Luckily one other individual from WLC that accompanied me explained the point behind the envelope since we realized the blue paper wasn't in the envelope but the money was :) The women it was given to essentially said she was going to pay it forward. So wherever that envelope is off to now I pray God uses it to His glory. It was a total God thing to be blessed to get to give that tattered envelope away on Memorial Day, it is a hard day for so many and rocks my world all the time. Thankful for the opportunity to give a very tattered prayed over and even sweated on envelope to a stranger of a loved one who served and fought so that I can be free...
Humbled and grateful and amazed by our God..."