A NEW YEAR'S GIVE-AWAY AND A PENNY CHALLENGE!

                "Not what we have, but what we enjoy, constitutes our abundance."  Epicurus

So I decided to kick off the New Year with a ... NEW YEAR'S GIVE AWAY! Details will be coming next week! Watch for it!

This year our small group Bible Study that meets at our home decided to surprise someone with a little "extra" for Christmas. So we spent a few weeks collecting our pennies and ended up with $115! Actually, pennies were hard to come by. But we just wanted to make a point to ourselves that just saving pennies can make a difference. We were inspired by a video we saw of someone who started a Penny Drive asking everyone to donate their pennies only and they saved over a million dollars. So he started giving away money to organizations that needed it. The penny collecting continues and they continue to give away millions!

Many people actually throw pennies away thinking they are insignificant. You can find pennies on the street! My husband saves his change, but pennies he throws around the house as if they don't matter.

 
 Now all our group members already support organizations, missionaries, and Church on our own. And because $115 is not a large amount for an organization, we wanted to give it to some unsuspecting person that might think it was a great Christmas Gift. So we decided to order Pizza at one of our gatherings at Christmas time and give the money as a tip to the pizza delivery guy. 

 When the pizza guy came my husband brought him into the living room and began to give him his tip. He handed him a five dollar bill. The guy said "thanks". Then he handed him another five and he said "OH Thanks!" and then another five. The guy looked surprised but took the five, smiled and said "thanks" again. Then my husband said, "Oh wait, there's another bill here", and then handed him a one hundred dollar bill. The guy didn't know what to say. Wish I had thought to take a photo. He said, once again, "thank you!, this time a bit more emphatically. He seemed surprised and speechless at the time, but I'm sure  he probably was "woot, wooten!" when he got back to his car.

Next time, when we do it again, I'm going to ask the person his/her name, ask him/her a bit about themselves, and take a photo. You know, make a big deal out of it!

So here's a challenge for you: This year in 2017, start saving YOUR pennies. Find a jug and start throwing them in. You'll never miss them but they will add up. Keep an eye out for them on the street! Invite some friends to join you. Then at Christmas time, have a Pizza Party and surprise some lucky Pizza Delivery Guy or Gal! It's a fun and painless way to give but the recipient will love it!

At the end of the year, let's post photos of the lucky Pizza Person on a blog post. I'll remind you when it gets closer to Christmas. Wouldn't it be fun to have several blog posts and photos of Happy Pizza Delivery People getting a little Christmas Gift?