SPEND A PENNY

I generally encourage people in stretching a dollar, not spending extra money. Today is different though.

Here's the deal. There are kids in our church (and other churches too, so keep reading even if you go to another church) who aren't able to attend events simply due to lack of money. Some are the kids of single parents. Others have a dad who has been laid off of his job. Some have multiple kids who are the right age for attending events and the cost adds up quickly. I know some of these kids. You may know some. Maybe your kid is one of the ones who can't afford to attend stuff.

Our church is awesome and does what they can to help out, but they can't give free rides to every kid living in a home with tight finances and not all parents would ask for the help in the first place. It's pretty humbling to say you can't afford to send your kid to an event!

My challenge to you is to sponsor a kid or two (or more) - grade school, junior high, or high school. Events range from $5.00 to over $100.00, so most people could afford to help a kid out in some way. Here are some ways you could do it, depending on your budget.

- Give a one time gift to the church to anonymously send a certain kid to a specific event that you can afford to pay for.
- Pool money among your friends and anonymously sponsor someone through a whole year (or however long you can) of events.
- Cut some money out of your own entertainment fund and use the cash to sponsor a kid.
- Encourage your kids, if you have them, to sponsor someone.
- Talk to the person in charge of whatever age group you want to help and ask if they know of a kid who could use a sponsor, then give the money without knowing who it goes to.
- Pay for one kid to go to an expensive event (like camp) or several kids to attend an inexpensive one (like water wars or game nights)
- Have your home group or weekly Bible study group pool money to sponsor a kid.

You may already know about events because your own kids go or you help out. If you aren't in the loop, then talk the person in charge at your church. If you go to Athey, then check the calendar every week or two.

Last year we had an event that we couldn't afford to send Silas to and someone paid his way. Total blessing! This year we pulled a year's supply of event money out of our tax refund, then had it all stolen right before camp. Someone then paid for Silas' trip to camp, but we got some of the stolen money back soon after his camp was financed. Silas chose to pay the blessing forward and sponsored another kid at church.

As a sidenote, let me encourage any of you who are parents to teach your kids how to bless others, to be generous. It's so important!! We live in a culture that is incredibly materialistic and selfish, so it's pretty cool to see your kids be cheerful givers.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. Though we're set for events this year, we've been on both ends of the sponsoring. It's a huge blessing to receive the sponsorship when you're broke, to know that someone wanted your kid to have some fun and was willing to pay for it. It's also a total blessing to bless another family by giving their kid an opportunity to do something they wouldn't otherwise be able to do.

Before I wrap this up, let me also say that it's awesome to sponsor adults too - whether someone in the college group or an older adult. My focus is on kids, simply because it's usually harder to accept that your broke when you're a kid than when you're an adult.

Just pray about it and see who the Lord puts on your heart to help out. I guaranteed that it will be a blessing to you and the person, regardless of who it is and how much you are able to give.