I wasn't quite sure what to do, I had a few ideas but today...I knew.....I took
my 5.00 dollars added another 5 dollars ...went to Mcdonalds ....and purchased 2
5.00 dollar gift cards....
I gave them to a single mom with 2 children....I know sometimes its hard to make
ends meet and to be able to surprise the children with a reward or just because
you love them is not always easy....
So I wanted her to be the one who gives to them....so she can say" Hey lets go
have an ice cream " when things are tight and she just needs to spend some time
with her chldren or go buy them a happy meal.....
Everyone deserves a break and a little boost even if it is only 5 dollars it is a
mothers love they will remember. I told her it was hers to give so they would
know it came from their Mom.

It was funny how this idea just popped in my head at that very moment....God
knows our hearts....and I think at times he wants us to know our hearts and what
is felt inside when you just do something because. Love its all Gods Love.

 

I have lived in my neighborhood for 9 years and everyday of those 9 years an
older gentleman in his 60's pushes a freezer on wheels selling ice cream by my
house everyday..... you know ...you have seen him.As I was deciding what to do
with the 5 dollars this man popped into my thoughts.....I went out to my car to
get something and guess who came around the corner at that time.....

The older gentleman pushing his ice cream cart... Was that a sign or what!! I grabbed the envelope out of my glove box and stopped him. He opened the lid to get me an ice
cream and I said no ..This is for you....he didnt speak english so I had to use
hand gestures for him to understand I didnt want an ice cream...he took the 5.00
dollars and said "God Bless You" in spanish....It gave me goose bumps all the way
back into my house.

I gave my $5.00 to a senior citizen waitress who is on a limited budget. This
was over and above my regular 15% tip.

Back in July 2007 my brother-in-law had a seizure on the way home from the
movies. Luckily my sister was driving home that day. When she realized that he
was having trouble she pulled the car over less than a block from there
house. My sister, who was 7 months pregnant at the time, got out of the car and
ran over to try to help him. During everything that was going on, their son JT,
who was only 5 years old at the time got out of the car, drop to his knees and
starting praying for his daddy. They found out that he had a malignant tumor in
the left ventricle. The doctors decided to surgically remove the tumor and they
were able to remove everything. They were also able to put him on avast in.

The treatment gave him one year longer to live than he would have if he did not
get the treatment in time. It was just long enough for my sister to give birth
to their daughter Liliana and to give Chris some time with her. In August 2008
my brother-in-law passed away from the cancer that had only started coming back
in April. Between April and August the cancer had grown in two different
spots. While Chris was having a seizure my sister was trying to be strong of
Chris. She wanted him to fight a prayed everyday for God to heal him. They
share something really special. I have never heard them argue or get angry with
one another. Anytime they struggled with anything they would always pray
together. In a way I look up to the love they shared for one another. Now, she
is a widow at the age of 32. She has to raise two children on her own and just
the other day she came home from the grocery store and ran inside to ask Chris to
help her unload the car. We sent the money from our envelopes to my sister and
did not put a forwarding address on them.

I purchased three cold snapple drinks to give out to hot and
thirsty people. My intention was to give them randomly to people I did not
know whom I might see while I was driving back to work. It seems like I usually
see someone in need but not on this day. I drove back to work and put them in the
refrigerator. Three of our patients walked in and were so hot due to no air
conditioner in their car that they drank several glasses of water each. Before
they left I gave them the cold snapples for the way home. I guess I had been
looking too hard....cause they came to me.

On the way home from church we stopped to have lunch at a
restaurant we had not been to in awhile. The waiter said he hadn't seen us for
awhile and asked how we had been. He was very nice and so I gave him a nice tip
to help him have a great day.

My wife and I combined our $5 but had not decided how to use the money. Today as
I was about to pay for lunch, the owner of Sadie's Place Deli on Crowell Street,
informed me that she had underbilled me by $3. She asked me to put the $3 as a
tip. Since I was planning on tipping her $1 anyway I wrote down $4 on the credit
card bill. And that's when it came to me...as I was doing that, I said to her.
"How about if I do this?" I added a 1 in front of the 4, making it a $14 tip.
She asked why I was doing that. I proceeded to tell her about Project Impact.

See, I have known for awhile that they are facing financial strain and are
actually selling the business. The owner got very emotional and came from out
behind the counter and crying gave me a hug and thanked me for what I was doing.
I said to her, "See, you have to pay it forward now." She responded that she
loved that idea. Praise the Lord for sending this idea our way. Many
times it is not so much about the amount of the gesture, but the gesture itself
that touches people's hearts in the name of the Lord.

 

It was a great idea to give to the community.

I ran a few errands after church. I gave the envelope to an employee in one of
the stores, he didn't look like he was having the best day, and I asked him to
open it. I said my church said to give this to someone this week. There could
be five dollars or one hundred dollars in the envelope. He smiled and opened the
envelope. He had a smile on his face after that..

Thank you. It is truly a blessing to give to others.

My husband and I were thinking and praying about what to do with the money we
were given, we each had $5.00 in our envelopes. Recently, we have been moving
our grandparents into an assisted living facility and we have had the elderly on
our minds. So many elderly are facing such huge responsibilities on their own
and have little support or non at all. Also many are alone without family or
friends to be with them or visit. We thought to pull our money together and add
some of our own to buy flowers to give to an elderly person. A lady who lives
next door to our parents came to mind. She is taking care of her ill husband as
well as looking after herself.

So we did just that, we bought some flowers and took them by her house. She was so surprised to see us and the flowers. She started to cry and said that this had been the worst day of her week. She, herself is getting over bronchitis and her husband cannot take care of himself, so she does everything for him. She also had the electricity go off on her home and she had no power part of the day, so no airconditioning. She got her power fixed but to say the least it had been a really tough day. She was so thankful
for our visit and knew that this was from God and just what she needed. We
prayed with her and gave hugs. Even our young children got to give her love and
see God working. The neat part was that she had been a florist for most of her
life, so flowers mean so much to her. Thanks God for blessing her and us with
just $10.00.

I drive by a park on my way to work where a few homeless men hang out. One day
they were working on their bicycles, so my wife and I combined our amount ($5 and
$10) and purchased five $10 gift certificates to the local bike shop in Turlock.
We handed them out to this group of men.

 

This is soooooo much fun!!!

What a great thing to have the church do!! All week I have been imagining all
these ripples of kindness spreading throughout our area!!!! :)

I received 5.00 from the bucket. I had lots of ideas, but they were all with people I already knew (and I would already do them).... I wanted this to be with a complete stranger!!

So one day I was driving along and it popped into my head! The greeter at
Walmart!!

I purchased a 5.00 Starbuck's gift card and wrote in a card telling him how much
he was appreciated!! That his smile and friendly, "hello" had brightened many
people's days!! I told him that I hoped today he would be blessed as much as he
has blessed others!!

When I walked into Walmart, it was all I could do to contain my excitement!! :)
I watched him as he greeted others, he had such a genuine smile!!

I proceeded to do my shopping and then when I was heading out of the garden
department I saw him laughing and encouraging a couple he was talking to. It was
not merely a "Hello. Welcome to Walmart!" You could tell he was for real!!

As I started to exit, he again looked me right in the eyes and said, "I hope you
have a great day!" I started to push my cart out the doorway and then reached
back around and said, "Here's a little note for you. Thank you for all you do!"

I was gone in a flash!! Totally giggling in my heart!! The joy was bursting
from my insides!! This is SOOOO FUN!! I wished I could do this full time!!

But you know the truth of it?! I can.... okay maybe not with money.... my
husband may not appreciate that... but I can spread little ripples of kindness
every where I go!!! And it's the most fun to do it with people I don't even
know!!!

Thanks for all YOU do!!!
We are so blessed as a church!!

Last Sunday we were blessed to be part of Project inpact. My Husband took the $5.00
and spent it on treats for friends at the convalesent home in Newman. He took it
to them along with a few of your Bibles that he picked up. He prayed with them
and had a wonderful time with them. Thank you

Today, Friday, I have been praying that God would bring the one person in my path
that he wanted me to bless with the $5.00 that he gave me. This was truly Gods
perfect plan. After work as I was getting into my car and a friend (single
mother) stopped and came over to my car to introduce her son Andrew to me. He is
attending college and I new at that moment that he was the one. I told him it was
a gift from our Lord and Savior to him and that God wanted me to bless him with
the money. God blessed me by being able to give this young man 10 times the
amount. Thank you and I was blessed to be part of this project.