The least of these

On the last day, Jesus will say to those on His right hand, "Come, enter the Kingdom. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was sick and you visited me." Then Jesus will turn to those on His left hand and say, "Depart from me because I was hungry and you did not feed me, I was thirsty and you did not give me to drink, I was sick and you did not visit me." These will ask Him, "When did we see You hungry, or thirsty or sick and did not come to Your help?" And Jesus will answer them, "Whatever you neglected to do unto one of these least of these, you neglected to do unto Me!"

I am overwhelmed. It started with being overwhelmed by the enormous human tragedy. I watched, I cried, I did not know what I could do.

But I decided that I would use the words for the "One Campaign". The power of One.
So I posted.
A friend of ours, made a plea for help, his Church was receiving refugees that needed supplies.
With in minutes e-mails started to pour in.

My friends in the area, wanted to help as well, they sent the information on. With in one day, we had 2000 dollars of supplies, and thousands of dollars of pledged support.

Other bloggers, from all over the country posted the plea for help.
One at a time.
One blogger.
One family.
One Church.
One School.
One neighborhood.

It had been overwhelming.
We are only one, but now it doesn't seem so overwhelming. All things are possible.

Last night my house became a relief package center. The floor, the tables, the counter space was covered in relief supplies.
A group of 12 of us packed 130 relief bags, and had a wonderful time doing so.
This morning we headed to the post office, and with the help of some postal employees got all of the packages out.... And they will all arrive in 2-4 days.

Today someone will be able to brush their teeth, wash their hands, change a diaper, because we are all in this together.
We can make a difference, each one of us. One dollar can buy a bag of ice, one dollar can provide a hot meal.
I've been overwhelmed by those who have written.
Of those who stayed late in my house packing kits,
those who helped bring boxes to the post office.
A target employee who bought 50 dollars in supplies for the effort, just because she saw people from our crew shopping for supplies.
A woman in the post office who broke down in tears because she saw boxes marked "Hurricane relief" . She told us she is from New Orleans, and that her family has lost every thing.
Postal employees who helped us.
The manager of our local post office who told us they are going to use their staff fund for a holiday party to help.
High School students who canceled a beach labor day trip, and spent the money on kits.


Thank you to all of you who helped, you provided a miracle to someone today. I can not put it in any more words.. Because of your help, we were able to send the following:

130 Health Kits
diapers
Baby Wipes
Feminine hygiene Products
Baby Formula
Wash Cloths
T Shirts
underwear
Socks
Towels
Soap
Flashlights
Bug repellent
Sun Block
Toothbrushes
Toothpaste
Hand Sanitizer
Chapstick
Nail Clippers
First Aid Kits
Batteries
Asprine
Digestive medicine
Band Aids
Shaving supplies
deodorant
Shampoo
Non Perishable Snacks
and notes of encouragement.



To the Northern VA folks who helped so much.... all I can say is,
Thank you, you are amazing people.

Please keep doing what you can. And remember because you are one, you can make a world of difference.

If you have a home to offer someone, go here.
If you want to donate money:

A list of resources at ONE
Red Cross
Salvation Army
Spanish Fort United Methodist Church
Methodist Relief efforts
or.....
Offer your home to someone who needs one. (Anywhere in the Country)


To keep up with what is going on at Spanish Fort UMC please visit Marcus' blog.

To see photo's of the relief effort, please go here to check them out.