Stories to inspire giving generously for hunger relief during Lent (or any time.)
Providing social justice by paying waitstaff generously started with a friend's "Three times the tax is fifteen percent.”
A former waitress said, "I round up to the next ten dollars and tip twenty percent."
My daughter taught me, "Tip the bill," not just a percentage of the bill, but the total amount.
Matching the cost of dinner out in support of local small businesses with a donation to some Hunger ministry (school lunches in partner parish in Tanzania) helps people we may never see as well as people we can see.
Giving the cost of feeding a Tanzanian student for a year in honor of each of the couple's eight well-fed grandchildren was another family's matching idea.
Matching the cost of snacks purchased for a road trip to visit family in another state with a gift in support of the ministry of partner congregations in El Salvador empowers pastors to buy and deliver groceries to parishioners in need. I could give to a hunger ministry the amount I don't spend because I use coupons or receive vendor discounts. I could give to a hunger ministry the amount I spend for what I don't absolutely need but buy for my own pleasure.
Our congregation does "noisy offerings" for specific causes. The children's event includes children carrying small metal buckets through the congregation to receive the offering of coins we have at worship and then returning the buckets to the pastor at the front of the sanctuary. Bills are welcome also, but coins provide noise.
Years ago a fellow congregation member groaned when I suggested matching money spent on recreation with a donation to some church fundraiser. Another fellow member gave to a church fund what she had been using to buy treats from a vending machine at work. She was pleased with the weight loss she experienced, too. I read the story of Hattie Mae Wiatt, a little girl who died and left a gift of 57 cents saved in an old purse. She wrote, "This is to help build the little church bigger so more children can go to Sunday school.” That fund grew when church members bought the coins. Temple University in Philadelphia was one result of such generosity. I decided to give some multiple of Hattie's 57 cents every time I received income.
During the pandemic when I stopped at a drive through coffee shop I started giving double the cost so the server got a big tip at a time when there was not much business. Always a nice surprise for them.
Give to ELCA Hunger to help in the U.S. and worldwide. https://www.elca.org/Our-Work/Relief-and-Development/ELCA-World-Hunger/Ways-to-Give Give $1 or $2/ day during 40 days of Lent for example.
Do you have stories to share with other congregations? Reply to debmartin04@gmail.com to be included in the next shared email. Thank you for your hunger ministry.
