Sunday, July 26, 2009

Give A Kid A Chance

The last few days have been very busy for us!!  I have been working with a charity called Give A Kid A Chance for about 6 months and this past Saturday was the big event.  GAKAC is an amazing program that 2 women started in Cherokee County about 4 years ago.  It is a program design to provide Cherokee County children in need with everything they could possible need to start school.  They are provided medical check-ups, hearing and vision checks, haircuts, backpacks with school supplies, clothes, sock and undies and a meal.  Each year the program has grown and last year they had to add a second venue which was His Hands, the church we go to.  So last year I heard about the event and decided to volunteer.  It was an incredibly rewarding experience.  It was awesome to be able to help people, especially children, and see their true joy for everything they were given.  I had such a great time last year that I knew I needed to do it again this year, but I wanted to be even more involved.  Joe wasn't able to volunteer last year, but I left the event telling him how amazing it was and that I was going to be more involved the next year.  I emailed the volunteer coordinator and told them I was interested in being on the organizational team for GAKAC 2009.  

Fast forward 6 months later and they put me in charge of contacting churches in Cherokee County and asking if they would help us make this years event happen.  GAKAC is a non profit organization so we rely solely on churches and businesses to make it happen.  It was a big job, but with all of the volunteers working together, we made it happen!!!  This past Saturday was the big event that we had been preparing so long for and it went great!!  I headed up the backpack area so that is where we (Joe and my mom) stayed ALL DAY!!  The organization served almost 2500 children and their familes and about 1350 children at His Hands.  We had backpacks EVERYWHERE!!  


Just like last year it was another amazing experience!  The children and families were so thankful for their backpacks and supplies.  One mom grabbed a volunteers hand and had tears in her eyes as she said "thank you, thank you so much."




These were just a few of the people on our team.  We met so many great people that really had a heart for these families.  It was so great to see this little girl serving other kids that were in need.  What a great thing to learn at an early age, loving and serving those in need! 


Joe and I have such a passion for helping others in need and we hope to do it more and more.  One thing we hope we can teach our boys is that God has called us to LOVE and help others and we hope they take on that call from God as they grow up.

It was a great experience, but we were exhausted at the end of the day!! We slept good that night!


1 comment:

Amy said...

love the picture of you pointing, no doubt telling people what to do. :) good to see joe too!