Giving is a Two-way Street

My favorite charitable cause is filing and handing out gift bags those living on the streets of downtown San Diego and living in low cost independent senior living facilities.

Our Pastor’s wife and a group of men and women make hats and collect clothing, blankets and toiletries throughout the year so that we can place them in gift bags and hand them out a week before Christmas.

Throughout the year we give out produce each week and cooked meals once a week. I love giving, but I enjoy the camaraderie while we prepare the gifts and conversing with the people we hand them out to. Some are more interested in the interaction than the gift and others are happy to get another supply of washcloths, soap, shampoo and other things we may take for granted.

Being introverted and feeling very anxious in crowds, for a few years I chose to help by attending the packing parties where we would spend hours assembling the gift bags, but I wouldn’t join the group when they handed them out to the homeless and independent living senior centers.

The first year I chose to go I was blessed beyond words. The spirit, hope and zest for life I witnessed in these people inspired me to do some soul searching of my own. You can’t help but receive wisdom and a better understanding of man’s potential inner strength when talking to a person who has been through more than you can imagine and still wakes up looking forward to what life may bring.

Hand-to-hand giving and ministry is my favorite charitable cause because as much as you give, you receive even more.

St. Stephen's Cathedral Church of God in Christ has served the Southeast San Diego community for over 50 years. They have organized many different types of ministries with the purpose of giving.

Whether it is handing out food and clothing or holding Fireside chats that are an open mic for questions from the young and answers from the more experienced, like many churches its people love to serve.

How can you not fall in love with a God whose people get excited because they get to serve Him by giving?