There is a lot wrong with the world. But the good news is there are a lot of people doing the best they can to make it a better place.
Unfortunately, there are not enough of those people … nor are most of us helping those people to the extent we could be.
One reason for the mindless, unsustainable growth of government (and in particular, the rise of the dependency state) is that Americans have forgotten their obligation to the less fortunate among them – i.e. the “least of these” who are trying to better their lot in life.
Government’s hostilities toward giving (and toward the church) have not helped … but at the end of the day, it is on all of us to look past the rotting, results-challenged edifices of institutional “welfare” and do our part to help those in need around us.
Like our friend Bakari Sellers showed us earlier this week …
Looking for an opportunity? If you live along the Grand Strand, there is a one awaiting you. According to reporter Conner Ingalls of WPDE TV 15 (ABC – Florence/ Myrtle Beach, S.C.), a food bank in Surfside Beach, S.C. that serves nearly a thousand people each month is running dangerously low on provisions.
In fact its shelves are “the emptiest they’ve ever been,” according to its director.
(Click to view)
(Via: South Strand Helping Hand)
“One can of food makes a difference if we have a thousand people a month giving us a can,” the group’s director told Ingalls. “So it’s not big … grandiose donations you have to make. Just one little can every time you go shopping will make all the difference in a person’s life.”
South Strand Helping Hand isn’t the only Palmetto State food bank that is struggling right now … and as we approach the most active period of the 2019 hurricane season it is important to replenish these provisions before a big storm hits.
Look, we get that times are tight right now for a lot of people – and they could be getting tighter depending on what happens with the economy. But there are plenty of people in this state who could underwrite the existence of groups like this for years and never even notice (or at least never feel) the financial impact on their bottom line.
Seriously, it would be a rounding error … or a fractional percentage of the interest they are accruing in their bank accounts.
Does this mean these well-to-do, politically connected people should be compelled to such generosity? Or guilted into it? No … and no.
(Click to view)
(Via: South Strand Helping Hand)
We should give generously because we are compelled to do so by something inside of us … something originating from the creator who gave us our lives, our talents and our possessions. And we should always give remembering that it is not how much we give that matters, but rather how we give.
Recall the parable of the widow’s mite from the Gospel of Mark, in which Jesus Christ recalls a poor widow who put two bronze mites (or Greek lepta) into the church coffers.
“Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury,” he said. “For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”
Real need is everywhere, people. And each one of us has been given something with which we can help address it. So … what are each of us doing based on what we have been given?
Anyway, for those of you looking to lend a hand to South Strand its address is 812 S Poplar Drive, Surfside Beach, S.C. 29575.
–FITSNews
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