April's BIG GIVE

I received $50 in my envelope for April's Big Give which I have to admit I was a little intimidated about. I kept praying for the right opportunity and even asked coworkers and the office worker in my subdivision for ideas in the hope of helping someone who really needs it, but the one thing I couldn't get out of my mind was the children at Give Kids the World Village. The Walmart I work at regularly raises money to donate to this charity and I had hoped to deliver some surprise gifts for the children in the form of ball hats and autograph books to take to the parks when I volunteered to serve breakfast there with some coworkers last Saturday, April 19. Unfortunately, owing to the fact that I am not used to getting up at 4am, I forgot to take the gifts with me to that event and had to settle for giving them to a GKTW representative at a different event, but I am happy to have participated in that breakfast anyway. The one thing I noticed the most is that I went to the park with the intent of serving and blessing the children in some way, but they blessed me so much more. The biggest thing I observed about those children was that even though they have all known more pain and fear because of their illnesses than some adults, not one of them looked worried or sad. Every child there had big smiles on their faces and looked forward to going to the parks. I'm disappointed that I ended up delivering the gifts through a middle man and can only hope that I used the money in the way it was intended, but I'm truly grateful that April's Big Give got me to go their even once and I hope I can learn that same child-like faith.

Posted by Joel Johns at 6:41 AM