Go 08, Pictures, Status, & Stories

Final Numbers of Go 08

1. 60 work projects
2. 15 towns
3. 5 school districts
4. 1400 volunteers
5. 9,912 cookies delivered to hospitals and nursing homes.
6. 6300 hour man hours given
7. $63000 worth of labor donated to our communities
8. 1720 boxes of food given to 5 area food banks

Life Changing Stories :

1.Our family participated in the community impact day by picking up trash along state route 39 going from the church into Sugarcreek. It was a dirty job to say the least but we felt good doing something that most people wouldn't think of doing because we were serving the community and God. Our son got a pretty nasty cut on his leg and he had to go to the First Care facility down in Dover for a tetanus shot. They had received cookies from our church and were so thankful and had such nice things to say to us. The doctor told our son that he was proud of him for doing the good thing even if it didn't have the greatest outcome for him personally and that he hoped our son wouldn't let the bad dissuade him from doing things like that in the future. All in all it was a tough, dirty, sweaty job but we did it as a family and we are thankful for the opportunity and experience.

2. We chose to go to Schoenbrunn Nursing Home in New Phila, hoping to bless and put a smile on at least 1 person. It turned out we were the ones that were blessed. We met and spoke with some wonderful people who really get you thinking about your own life and to enjoy every minute of every day, and not to take anything for granted because you never know what is in the future. As we were leaving my youngest son Jonathan said "Mom that was a lot of fun, can we do that every day?" I wanted to say thanks for having this special day, It really made me go out of my comfort zone, and I really enjoyed it. THANK YOU!

3. I prayed about how I could impact people. My health issues limit what I can do, but I really wanted to participate. I decided I could make floral arrangements that could be passed out to encourage people. So I made 25 to 30 floral arrangements that people delivered to hospice families and others.

4. I helped prepare & box up the meals for elderly/cancer patients. It was heart warming to see all the food that was prepared & donated. It was so much more than just one meal!

5. Our family was so blessed by our serving opportunity. We picked up trash along State Route 39. The best part was that our sons were able to see us being the church- rather than sitting in church. As parents we also realized that more is caught than taught. We are sure that our sons will not litter in the future!!! It felt so good to serve God in this capacity!!!

6. Several of our small group members gathered to do mowing and trimming. The husband has lung cancer and has a difficult time taking care of their land. We all worked together well. One woman said "this work is such a pain, but it makes you feel so good, it's so rewarding!" As we all were trimming a weed filled bank, we definitely agreed! We felt such a sense of being a blessing, and being in the exact place God wanted us to be. Another woman that came along to help our group asked "I wonder if Dwight will ever do this again? It's really a blessing".
We also had one member of our group go through the McDonalds drive through after we were finished, and the girl working at the drive through asked her about the yellow shirts, and mentioned that there had been a lot of people wearing those shirts come through the drive through. When she told her what it was all about she was really impressed and excited. She thought it was a wonderful thing that was happening. It was a lot of work, but well worth it. God is truly doing something in the hearts of our group.

Nothing like a great story.