As some of you know, 
I had the surprise of my life this year when I received a phone call from a PR company in New York telling me I had won the grand prize in the Sister Schubert’s Memorable Moments contest (http://www.sisterschuberts.com/). To be honest, I remember entering the essay in November, but promptly forgot with the holidays approaching and the end of school whirlwind in December. Needless to say, once I realized the message wasn’t a joke or about a time share, I got really excited! Flash forward to March and the process of winning this gift continues. Not only was it a gentle nudge, I believe, from God encouraging me in my writing dreams, but I get a trip for four to the Mexican Riviera at an all inclusive that I am so looking forward to sharing with my mom and sister in laws. We never get to spend time together without a little (or big) boy interrupting our conversations with crying, tattling, needing a ride somewhere or help finding something in the refrigerator. We love our boys, but even five minutes of uninterrupted silence is a gift, so five days of this will be heaven!
But there was another part to the prize that I found just as exciting. The founder of Sister Schubert’s rolls, who is named Sister Schubert surprisingly enough and is not a nun, is coming to Atlanta to meet me and present a check for five thousand dollars to a local food bank as well as an additional thousand to Share Our Strength (http://strength.org/) a national organization focused on ending child hunger. Five thousand dollars is a lot of money (to me) and I thought about how expensive groceries had become over the past year. Groceries, just for my little family of three, costs at least a hundred and fifty dollars a week at Publix. Although I live in an area that has a large upper income population, there are pockets of poverty here as well. Where there is poverty, there is hunger, a terrible marriage of circumstance if there ever was one. The economy has created a whole new class of working poor, folks who put in forty hours, but after taxes and keeping a roof over their family’s head, there just isn’t enough left over for necessities like food or gasoline. I got to choose the group to receive the donation and I immediately thought of North Fulton Community Charities( http://nfcchelp.org/ ), a group I have worked with and my church has supported over the years.
I cannot begin to imagine how it would feel to be a parent who cannot feed their child. As a single mom, I know firsthand that juggling a budget can be tricky. Sister Schubert was also a single mom at one time and I wonder if that is where her compassion for helping prevent hunger in communities came from. I sure wish that other large companies, particularly in the food business, would use their money to help others too. I know there are children in my school that probably go to bed hungry at least a few nights a week and you probably have this same situation in your local elementary school as well. The five thousand dollar gift will go a long way in our local community, but honestly it is a drop in the ocean of need. So I have a challenge for you to make this gift grow into a bigger impact. Can you help me raise another 5,000 for NFCC by summertime? https://www.nfcchelp.org/donateForm/donation.php I know times are tight right now for everyone, so if you can’t donate money, how about time or talent? Volunteer to help out at one of their many events or if you have a business or gift (like art or PR) that you can share, that is equally as valuable!! (If you don’t live in the Atlanta area, donate to your local foodbank). Please consider donating to Share our Strength as well: https://secure2.convio.net/sos/site/Donation2?df_id=3322&3322.donation=form1&s_subsrc=strengthorgtopnav&utm_source=strengthorgtopnav&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=2010&__utma=1.852544013.1263174553.1268840168.1268842253.13&__utmb=1.1.10.1268842253&__utmc=1&__utmx=-&__utmz=1.1268840168.12.2.utmcsr=yahoo|utmccn=(organic)|utmcmd=organic|utmctr=share%20our%20strength%20blog&__utmv=-&__utmk=261842573 I would love to hear your stories!!
Colossians 3:12
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
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