Black Friday Fundraising: Sprinkle A Little Salt and Let Your Love Light Shine
It’s the morning after Thanksgiving. We’ve all had our fill of turkey and pie. Perhaps we watched our favorite team toss the pigskin around the night before.
We’ve set our alarms to an hour when even the roosters wouldn’t dare crow.
Sleepy-eyed and coffee-fueled, with tennis shoes tied and visions of amazing deals in our heads, we mount our SUV steeds and brave the suburban wilds hoping to capture coveted prizes hand-picked from catalogs. Many of us secure our bounty and return home with booty in tow before the sun shines its first beam of light.
Oh, I have been there. On both sides of the aisle.
In my late teens and early twenties, I was the cashier helping shoppers procure purchases of fancy.
In my late twenties and early thirties, I switched sides and joined the fray, competing for fantastic deals on flat screens amongst many other things.
But when I scan through the dossier of memories in my mind, I cannot recall with any significance a single sale or acquisition that made the annual sojourn worthwhile.
Perhaps it is my personality.
I am not a fan of crowds. Traffic, in particular, brings out my inner Hyde. I also loathe shopping in general.
On the flip side, I understand how important this one day of the year is to many businesses to help them stay afloat. To the shoppers who soldier on and jovially join the jamboree, I salute you. Your contribution puts food on tables, roofs over heads, and keeps the lights on.
My Method To Manage the Madness
While these days I prefer to sleep in for as long as my young son and his doorstep-age cousins will allow, I am by no means condemning Black Friday Revelers.
It was not so long ago that I was stampeding right along beside you.
For some, it is the thrill of the hunt. For others, the only means by which hardworking parents are able to fulfill sugar plum dreams.
In difficult economies such as the one we find ourselves in now, I know all too well how hard-earned dollars are being asked to stretch further than a pair of ’80s legwarmers.
Rather, I am offering a suggestion. A new twist on an old tradition. Part compromise, yet a total win for all.
The Heart of the Matter
Whether you are working, lounging at home (like me), or shopping, I would like to formally extend an invitation for your family to join my family in instituting a new tradition.
In our house, we have titled it Black Friday Fundraising.
It’s simple to do. No permits are required.
You can participate as little or as much as you want!
It is completely informal and opportunities to participate are limited only by your imagination.
The premise is heart work, not hard work.
In our house, we call it “sprinkling a little salt and letting our love light shine.”
Salt & Light
As Believers, we are instructed to be “salt and light.” Essentially, this means living our lives in a manner so that others can see Christ’s love through our words and deeds.
Here at It’s Only Homeschooling, we have a heart for outreach, service, stewardship, and volunteerism. Our resources are free. We devote blog posts and podcast series to these topics.
This Black Friday we invite you to join us in making service a healthy habit.
Ways To Serve
Fundraising does not have to be rocket science. Keep it simple. There are many ways to serve. Here are a few ideas:
- Tithe Your Time. Spend time helping at a homeless shelter, a soup kitchen, a food pantry, or helping host a fundraiser for a local charity.
- Steward Your Savings. Black Friday is a time filled with some pretty awesome deals. Split the difference! Why not take the extra money you would have paid for even one full-price item (no matter how little) and donate it to a cause in need? Even a little can go a long way.
- Pay It Forward. Have you ever caught yourself in line at Chick-fil-A when they’re having one of their pay-it-forward moments? It goes a little something like this. The car in front of you pays for your meal and you do the same for the next car in line and so on and so forth. It’s one-part game show, one-part teamwork, and a whole lot of fun. Try it!
- Round It Up. Offer to round up the change on your purchases to support a charity when the opportunity presents itself. Your change can change someone’s life.
- Feed A Family. This one is a fave in our house. Each year when I make the grocery run before preparing a big holiday meal there are often pre-packaged bags of items with all the trimmings for a holiday meal near the checkout. Typically, you can purchase these meal kits in a variety of sizes depending on what your budget allows. In my mind, as the cashier helps me finish my purchase, I imagine the family enjoying the meal and I pray over them.
This list is by no means exhaustive. It is a starting point. A gentle nudge to all of us to share what we have, no matter how little, with those who are less fortunate. After all, it’s all His anyway.
The Lord sends poverty and wealth;
I Samuel 2:7
he humbles and he exalts.
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Blessings,
Kimberly
IOH Mom
You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 5:13-16
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