Welcome to December’s series on 31 Days of Giving on a Budget. In this series, I’ll be sharing inspiring stories from my readers and posts with practical ways to give — even on a limited income.
If you have a Giving on a Budget story to share of a way you or your family has given to others this year or this holiday season, please email me your story (or a link to your post on your blog) and a picture to go along with it, if possible. I’d love to hear it and possibly share it during this series!
Last year, I shared with you how my daughter Kathrynne taught me about giving through her Operation Christmas Child Project. This fall, as we were considering what giving project we wanted to do as a family this Christmas, our daughters challenged us to think big.
Once again, we’re touched, blessed, and challenged by my children and their giving hearts. I think you will be, too. Head on over to Keeper of the Home to read about our family’s Christmas Giving Project this year.
Here’s a snippet from the post:
“…We’ve sought to model giving before our children, encouraging them from a young age to earn money so they can pay cash for things they want, as well as have money to give to our local church, to those in need, and to bless others with gifts.
We weren’t sure if all of our teaching was really sinking in until last year when we were blown away when our then six-year-old daughter said she wanted to invest all of her savings to put together 10 Operation Christmas Child boxes. It was such a joy to see her find so much fulfillment in giving her money away to bless others. And her selfless spirit challenged and convicted us!
This fall, as we were discussing the possibility of what giving project we wanted to do as a family, my daughters hatched a plan — all on their own — to fund a project through Samaritan’s Purse. They looked through the Samaritan’s Purse Gift Catalog and debated which of the giving opportunities would have the most lasting impact.
After some discussion and number-crunching, they came to us and presented their idea for our family to fund a…”
Read the full post over on Keeper of the Home.
Please let your children know they have inspired my children to use money in their envelopes that they have been saving all year to donate this Christmas. We are looking into our choices now but they are very excited to be able to help others. All it took was seeing other kids do it to get them thinking about it, so thank you!
I will definitely share that with them today. Hearing this blessed me so much this morning!
That is so beautiful. My daughter has a bank with save, spend and give divisions in it but I’m not sure how to start her with giving, if she should just give it in the church offering or help with Operation Christmas Child boxes or what would be meaningful to help her (3 yrs old).
This is wonderful! My son went on a Samaritan’s Purse mission last year as a college freshman to Bolivia. He paid for part of his trip by carefully setting aside a portion of his summer earnings. As part of that trip, they helped put it several new water wells for villages, vaccinated llamas and worked on a tree farm. It was a life changing trip. This year (also with summer earnings and some grant money) he is going to Ecuador to work directly with communities and families that receive gifts like your family has provided.
How wonderful! What an amazing son you’ve raised!
I know you recommended it, but I wanted to mention Day 1 of A Hioly Experience Blog by Ann Voskamp- puts giving into poetry!!! Thanks so much for introducing me to her! Ginger
You are such an amazing person and an inspiration to us all! I hope to one day be a mom as great as you are! Keep up the great work…we need people in this world like yourself, your husband and your children. They WILL make the difference the world needs!
Thank you so much for your kind encouragement! Let’s all band together to do what we can to make a difference in the world!