It’s Show & Tell Tuesday!
Today, we’re all linking up with Andrea and sharing service and mission ideas with you.
I’m really excited about this post because I need ideas! I can’t wait to read through everyone’s posts and get ideas for my family.
As for my family, here are a few things we’ve done and do as service projects.
Just this last weekend, we went to the store and bought our items to fill our shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child. This is something Andrew and I have been doing since the first year we’ve been married and continue to do each year. This year, we filled boxes for one little boy and two little girls. After my kids selected the items, we came home and filled the boxes and then prayed over the kids who would receive them. Last fall, when Erika and I went to Dot Mom, one of the speakers was a young woman from Eastern Europe who had received a box when she was a little girl and her testimony about how much that box meant to her was just so moving. At the end, she held up this little toy that she still had after all of these years that came from her box. I mean…I was in tears. To find out more about Operation Christmas Child, click here.
From time to time, our Sunday school class takes all of our kiddos to a local retirement home to sing for the residents. The residents LOVE it and so do our kids! Last October, we took the kids in their Halloween costumes (my kids are Mulan and the Ninja Turtle) and sang songs plus handed out pictures that the kids had all colored for them that afternoon.
Andrew and I have been sponsoring a child through Compassion International since May of 2005. Our little boy’s name is Midadi and when we started sponsoring him, he was one and now, he’s 11! My favorite part about Compassion International is that you and your child get to write letters back and forth. At first, Midadi would just send us pictures and someone else would write the letter but now, he writes us the sweetest letters and gives us the most detailed drawings at least once a month. I have watched this boy grow up and it just fills my heart so much. Compassion International is AMAZING! The work they do for children is unbelievable. To learn more about this organization, click here.
Mission Regan is one of our favorite charities founded by two of our dear friends.
Mission Regan distributes medical supplies both locally, nationally and internationally. Just the other weekend, we sorted medical supplies in their warehouse as a church. It was great to see all of our kids excited about helping.
Every year, our church puts out an Angel Tree with the names and info of kids in our area. We love taking our kids shopping for these precious kiddos.
Every December, I host a Recipe Exchange Party and on the invites, I ask my guests to bring canned food for our local food pantry. I make it a contest and the person who brings the most cans gets a prize. This is not only super fun (because, we like to win!), but it’s a great way to make a donation. The day after the party, my kids help me drop off all of the canned food at our food pantry and it always sparks great conversation.
So, these are a few of the things we do around here…like I said, I can’t wait to see what everyone else’s ideas and suggestions are!
Next time on Show & Tell Tuesdays, we’re sharing our Christmas decorations!!
I am SO PUMPED for this one! I love peeking inside your homes at Christmas time!
And to see posts from the past…
(I was in China for the first two, so I wasn’t able to participate.)
And on my foodie blog today, I’m sharing a Thanksgiving leftover idea…
Yum.
xo
Jeanette Garofola says
I'm so glad you mentioned Operation Christmas Child. My family had been involved with this great organization for years and this year we filled twenty boxes to send off. It makes my heart happy knowing the joy this box might bring to a child. I hope many get involved in this wonderful cause after reading your post. 🙂 And if anyone does choose to get involved, this week is the drop off week.)
Christene Demers- Rowland says
I love this post. I think it's wonderful that you teaching your sweet kids to give back.
The Langer Family says
Operation Christmas child is one of our favorites as well!
Christi says
We also fill shoeboxes every year – this year we did 10 (5 boys & 5 girls). We've really enjoyed following @OperationChristmasChild Instagram feed this season as periodically they're sharing stories from adults who received boxes as children.
Thanks for sharing your ideas! We have more to add to our list!
Molly Gionet says
Just started to follow OCC on IG! Love reading the stories of shoebox receivers! Thanks for sharing that 🙂
Erika Slaughter says
I'd completely forgotten about hearing that girl speak. Her testimony was amazing. To know that she was being prayed for by people on the other side of the world-such a cool story!
Emily Mann says
I started sponsoring a Compassion child this year! Do you have any suggestions as to how you wrote letters when he was young? I'm sponsoring a 5 year old little girl and I'm struggling to connect and find things to talk about. Thanks!!
Angela Banae says
Shay, I love your heart!! Thank you for sharing how you give back to our world in need! You are such a light that shines for Jesus in this world!!! Our boys love to pick stockings up for our Angel Tree at our church and fill them for two kiddos in need. Then, our church has a brunch for these families and the children get to open their gifts and stockings. Our church gives gift cards to the family member as well. Such an honor to serve for the Lord!
Ashley Weeks says
My mops group just packed 62 boxes for little kiddos yesterday. Operation Christmas child makes my heart so happy! We also sponsor a child through compassion international, my girls can't wait to get hee letters & love drawing pictures for her. Another organization we support is Show Hope. It's founded by Steven Curtis Chapman & funds adoptions for people.
Loni "The Healthie Foodie" says
Best post yet!! Teaching your kiddos the most important things in life!
Narci says
Love all of these special organizations!! So wonderful!! Also, I love that you have been sponsoring hat sweet boy for so long!! What a great experience!!
Sheaffer {Pinterest Told Me To} says
All great ideas!!!!!
Leanne Heern says
I host a Ladies Bonfire every year…and invite our church ladies and my homeschool mom connections… the men do childcare in the basement…the ladies chat and toast marshmallows and drink hot cocoa…and everyone brings a donation of warm clothing items for our local homeless shelter… we also frequently do our church's nursing home ministry!
Valerie says
Our two girls just filled and turned in their first ever shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child this past weekend, and they had a lot of fun picking out the items to put in them. We also adopt a child from the Angel tree and buy a full dinner for a family through our church's food pantry. This year, I plan to donate to Back2Basics ministry. They serve teens who are in foster care, homeless, in mental institutions, etc. They promote God in their ministry as well as provide the role as a spiritual mom/dad/family to these teens. http://b2bministry.com/about/
Jesenia Martinez says
Operation Christmas Child is so awesome! My church does it every year! We try to send at least 200 boxes out!
Tara G. says
W e were living in Eastern Europe and had the opportunity to be present when a group of orphans got their boxes….I'll never forget their faces as they saw the last box pulled from the shipping carton and then the relief when they realized there were indeed more in another box.
We leave the gift catalogs out from various ministries at Christmas and our kids love to look through them. They've worked extra chores or charged ticket money for shows to earn money to donate chicks, blankets, milk, etc. My oldest painted bookmarks this past summer and sold enough to pay for the medical care of 3 babies during their first year. My son raised money for Bibles for India a while back after we read a report from a missionary we support there.
We also just make it a discipline to give ourselves consistent margin so we can be alert to needs of those around us and have the time and resources to act.
Amanda Taylor says
Love Operation Christmas Child! I encourage people to not just fill for small children but also look for the older children as they are frequently overlooked.
kmorgan1514 says
Our Church currently has a RACK Board (Random Acts of Kindness). There are several random acts on there and every Sunday you are supposed to pick a couple to do that week and then when you come back the next Sunday you put a rock (a rock for every random act you did) into the jar and once it it filled we are having a party as a church. There is a section on the board for kids to do that are based on their level. It is full to see how the jar fills up each week and to pick new random acts to do.
Kjlb37 says
We sponsor a Compassion Child and make boxes for Operation Christmas Child as well. It's such a fun and relatively easy way to get your children involved in serving others. I love the idea of bringing canned goods for your recipe exchange, thanks for sharing!!
Ashley Praytor says
I love this post. It's also so sweet that these efforts have become traditions for you and your family. We are starting some more of our own traditions now that we have a young family.
We just started doing operation Christmas child this year and are so excited about it. Our church just became one of the regional drop off points.
I also usually call our local YWCA every year and ask for some of their needs. It is a facility for battered and abused women and their children and they have local houses around the country to rehabilitate these women, heal them and help them get jobs. They usually need things to stock their houses like canned food along with clothing for the women and babies.
Finally, my work participates in Trees for Troops so I asked my sons school last year if they would like to create paper ornaments for the trees that go to these troops. Since they are shipped oversees the organization needs ornaments that are lightweight and not breakable. The school did it again this year and it melts my heart to see some of the ornaments the kids create and to know that a military family or deployed military personnel will receive these.
Can't wait to see what everyone else does with their families!
Victoria says
I'm in the UK and organise donation drives at work for our local domestic abuse shelters. As I've worked with them for a while, this year I'm going into the refuges to run Christmas craft sessions to cheer things up a bit. If you enjoy sewing or upcycling but run out of space at home, your local shelters would be delighted with homemade homewares!
Britton @ Southern Wife French Twist says
We have ideas on how we want to incorporate service into daily life for our little man future kiddos. Right now we sponsor a boy from Ghana through Compassion. Eventually I would like for our kiddos to each pick something from the Heifer International catalog and have that be one of their Christmas gifts each year. We need more ideas for sure!
Angela Ellingson says
Such wonderful ideas! My hubby and I just volunteered at Kids Against Hunger and I've helped out at Feeding South Dakota, but I love the idea of getting our little kiddos involved.
Leigh (Balancing By Faith) says
First, I love that service is in the heart of your family. All of these things are not time consuming or overwhelming to manage – but the way you involve your friends and family is a great example.
Second – I had a sandwich this weekend that we need you to recreate!! 🙂 Your recipe above reminded me of it, but it was a pimento cheese and raspberry sauce grilled cheese. SO VERY GOOD!!
emily says
thanks for sharing. my church is also doing operation christmas child this year and i plan to donate. and i have been thinking about compassion for a few years and i feel like seeing it again in your post today was another conviction that i need to just do it!
emily says
thanks for sharing all of these great ideas. my church is also doing operation christmas child and i'm going to put together a box. and i have been thinking about sponsoring a child thru compassion international and your post was another conviction that i need to just do it and quit stalling! thanks!
Tricia Cole says
Today, togetherrising.org, is hosting her "Holiday Hands." There will be hundreds of listings of people in need this holiday season.
This was taken directly off the blog…
Because what we’re really doing here is alleviating the poverty of loneliness and disconnection by learning how to give and receive gracefully. We’re responding to God’s invitation… to join the beautiful cycle of loving and being loved. It’s not about the gift. It’s about what the gift represents. It’s about Love.
I've participated in the past and it was a wonderful experience!
Melissa Tyler says
I volunteer as a CASA ( Court Appointed Special Advocate ) in my area. We help advocate for abused and neglected children so that they don't get lost in the system. Sometimes CASAs are the only constant person in a child's life. http://www.casaforchildren.org
I also work and volunteer with my local Family Promise. Family Promise has a great program for homeless families. A major part of the program includes local churches housing families within their church walls for 30-90 days. http://www.familypromise.org
Barrett Hadican says
We support Reece's Rainbow – an organization that helps fund international adoptions for children with special needs. If not adopted, many children are placed in institutions for the remainder of their lives. Reece's Rainbow funds an angle tree each Christmas with the hopes of raising at least $1,000 for each child on their waiting list. The funds are put towards the children's adoption grants. http://www.reecesrainbow.org
Katie Shira says
We participate in 'Christmas for the least of these'. Our community puts toys on an Amazon wish list that foster kids in our area want for Christmas. And we encourage every family in our community to purchase 1 toy for a family with a little foster. We are foster parents ourselves so we are really passionate about everything related to foster care!
We also love animal rescue & we go buy cheap blankets / dog beds from Walmart and take them to our local animal shelter for the cold months!
Cara Shibley says
This is a great post! I can't wait to begin Operation Christmas Child with my 4 year old.
Chelsea says
So many lovely ideas here. Many children's hospitals are also always looking for people to help bring the holidays to families who have sick children. Not just donating toys for kids, but things for the entire family (generally, there are more basic needs like socks, coats, pajamas, bath towels, etc.). It is a bigger commitment, but would be awesome for a couple of families to do together!
Emily says
I go to Senegal every year, and this past year I was able to give out the operation Christmas Child boxes. The look of joy on these children's faces was imprinted in to my heart forever. They were so excited about receiving just the box, before they even realized there was anything in them. Such a great organization!
Jenny says
We sponsor a young man through Compassion, but I love all of these other ideas as well.
Amy McNamara says
We also usually participate in operation Christmas child. This year, we are purchasing Christmas gifts for the children who have recently been removed from an abusive or neglectful home and are living in a temporary shelter until they are placed in foster care. We live in a small-ish town and last time we did this there were only about 12 kids, but this year they have 14 or more so far, 6 or so of whom are toddlers. My heart goes out to these kids, especially those who have to spend the holidays in a shelter away from the only home they ever knew.
Kerry Dorman says
This year in our shoeboxes we included a hat exactly like the ones my boys wear on their t-ball team. We included a picture of the boys and a picture of the team in dugout. They were really excited to tell the boys that will get their boxes about how now they can be an honorary member of their team. Sometimes kids have the best ideas!
Some ladies from our church are going to try and go to the warehouse where the shoeboxes are checked next year.
I loved reading about all of these ideas.
Lindsay at Lindsay'sSweetWorld says
I love reading all of these service posts! We do a few little things throughout the year, but you ladies are inspiring me to want to do more. It's so easy to get caught up in our day to day lives and forget that there's more to life than just what's in our little bubble.
Brigid Hamilton says
I ordered the light up Christmas sweater you have and it just came but it won't light up.. 🙁 I've tried the little switch a bunch of times. I'm wondering if maybe the battery in the one I got isn't working. Was there anything you needed to do before yours would light up?? Thanks Shay!
Mix and Match Mama says
That's so weird??? I just flipped my switch and off it went!
Brigid Hamilton says
I'm not sure what I was doing wrong at first but it works great now, I love it!! I think my closet is starting to consist mostly of items I ordered after reading Friday Favorites 🙂
JDeffenbaugh says
You shared so many great ideas, thank you! Now that my son is getting a little older, we will definitely be incorporating some of these! Random question- I commented on one of Sheaffer's posts asking if she could recommend a basic tee to wear under cardigans. She replied and said you swear by the Caslon tees but she hasn't tried them. Are those good for wearing layered under cardigans? Do you have a link to the kind you like by any chance? Thanks for your help!! 🙂
Mix and Match Mama says
It's actually this Halogen tee right here: http://shop.nordstrom.com/s/halogen-relaxed-slub-knit-u-neck-tee-regular-petite/3379377?origin=category-personalizedsort&contextualcategoryid=0&fashionColor=Beige+Rainy+Day&resultback=0 Perfect for layering!!
JDeffenbaugh says
Awesome! Thanks so much!
meghan holton says
Thank you for this post. The sponsorship of a child has been something I've thought about for awhile and feel that now is the time to start sponsoring. I will definitely be looking into the Compassion organization. Thank you for pushing me to keep doing more research and helping a child 🙂
Laura says
I just visited a Compassion site in Uganda to meet a friends sponsor child. We were very impressed with how the site was run and hey were very clear about where the money sent to each child goes. We were able to meet the child and his family and it was amazing to hear stories about how compassion has changed their lives!
Keisha Dawson says
This year, a group of friends and our littles are doing Operation Christmas Child boxes for 20 little girls. I'm so excited to participate in this one this year. We have done Dave Ramsey's children's program with our boys this year, and they have both been saving their give money. They used their money this past weekend to buy bicycles for a local organization that gives Christmas gifts to kiddos. It was such a neat experience to get to watch them use their money to buy something for someone else!
Julie D says
I have to share my sister's story because her and her husband are truly living out a life of service. In January they are moving from California to Haiti where they will be the house parents of 8 special needs orphans who are very unlikely to get adopted (https://ifthislifeilose.wordpress.com/) The kiddos have a range of disabilities and my sister and brother-in-law truly believe they are called to parent these kiddos, as difficult as that will be in the days and years ahead. So since I'm not called to live in Haiti I do my part here and help raise support and needed supplies as my way of giving
Aubrey says
Love these! I try to work little service activities into the holiday season as often as possible too! Our kids are lucky to have us as moms. 😉
MommyLu says
LOVE that you mentioned Compassion. We sponsor 5 kiddos with them – 3 are teens now! They really are an amazing organization. We send an extra family gift to each of them at Christmas and Easter. One of our little girls' families bought building supplies each time they got a family gift and earlier this year we got a picture of the house that they completed. They built a house! It's probably only 1 large room, but still. So crazy wonderful. Our daughters, who are 7 and 9, have asked to send some of their own money this year to each child. I think that's a testament to the great work that they've been seeing Compassion do through the years.
Beautifully Seaside // Formerly Chic Coastal Living says
Those are great service missions! I'm involved in a place called, The Glory House of Miami. Their goal is to provide a safe home where rescued trafficking victims can be healed and fully restored back into society. My mother-in-law is on the board and I help by donating money and attending fundraising events. I'm sure in the near future I'll be doing much more. I also help raise awareness by telling everyone I know about it, because Miami is 3rd in human trafficking. It's so sad what happens to these girls. If you get a chance read the book Stolen: The True Story of a Sex Trafficking Survivor. She has a amazing story and eventually went to school and now has her PhD. I just heard her speak at one of the events and she helps girls get out of trafficking. Here is the website if you would like to check out what The Glory House of Miami is about. http://www.gloryhouseofmiami.org/
Hope you have a lovely week Shay! XOXO
Kaylee Jinks says
I love the Recipe Swap party! This is the first year we're doing Operation Christmas Child at our house. I am so excited to finally get to do it with my husband and sons. We're also starting a tradition to serve in some capacity whether at a soup kitchen or our local children's home. We have one year old twin boys but we want to start teaching them the gift of giving especially around Christmas time before they think about receiving. I'm excited to see how the years play out.
Jen R says
such a great idea! getting your friends and your family involved!
Sarah Tharp says
Love this post! It is so awesome that your kids are learning the importance of serving others at such a young age. My favorite organization is Free Wheelchair Mission (www.freewheelchairmission.org). It is a faith-based organization that, for less than $80, is able to provide a sustainable wheelchair to one of the estimated 100 million people around the world who are in need of mobility. There are so many fun ways for kids to raise money (bake sale, anyone?). Donations are matched several times a year, which is great as well!
Erin Navarro says
I wanted to share a beautiful blog post about Operation Christmas Child with you. My dear friends Kim and Adam recently adopted a brother and sister ages 12 and 16 from Ukraine into their family after hosting them last summer. They have two little girls with whom they have always shared this holiday service tradition of Operation Christmas Child. with this being their first Christmas as a family of six they are now introducing traditions to those that have had none–and that has been so special. Kim writes about how she never realized just how powerful her little box was until her own son and daughter shared their experience of receiving one. I am so touched by their story. It is truly amazing. http://mylifeuncommon.blogspot.com/2015/11/christmas-child.html?spref=fb&m=1
Bernadine says
beautiful family with the kindest hearts!
Megan says
You have the best heart!!! I've had several people asked me if I know you lately. Ha!! Clearly I know a celebrity. But I always tell them how sweet an kind you are in real life!!!
clan mcmillen says
Shay I love your blog. I have to ask, do you remember the toy that the young lady showed at the Dot Mom conference? My dear friend from church is a spokes person for OCC, she grew up in Romania and received box as a young girl. If you say it was a snow globe, I'll cry. That's what my friend received and it was God's answer to her prayer for snow. I was catching up on blogs today and thought how crazy it would be if my early morning blog reading and my everyday life collided!