By: Deserea Reville
Have you ever volunteered? Or done something for someone randomly kind, and unexpected? Or better yet… have you been on the receiving end of a random act of kindness? Well if you have, then you know the incredible feeling you get from the experience, all the way around – and the people of Hope Community Church, in Hudson have surely been refreshed from their FAITH IN ACTION days.
Hope Community Church’s mission is to “Know Christ & to make Christ known” and they live out their mission in many ways, including regularly scheduled Faith In Action days. They have showered their community with love in a variety of ways throughout the years; during the summer, volunteers handed out cold water bottles to park adventure-goers on a hot Sunday afternoon. You’d have to admit… receiving a refreshing, cold (unexpected) water bottle while playing/trekking/biking/jogging/hiking/enjoying the park would be a pleasant surprise! Others went into the community and showered strangers with love and quarters for the afternoon – blitzing through laundromats all around. Volunteers visited nursing homes around the holidays to do some crafts, decorate cookies and socialize with the wisest of our generation. While visiting, one volunteer said she saw a resident tear up while hugging one of the youngest volunteers… who knows the last time that nursing home resident gave a child a hug (and we all know how magical a child’s hug can be). Crafts and cookies were passed out to bed-bound residents too. At Christmas time, the congregation donated delicious goodies and assembled “Appreciation Trays” for some teachers in the community that were full of treats, cookies and completed with a handwritten Thank You card too (when’s the last time you wrote, or received, a “random” thank you card?). Most recently, on Saturday – “Super Bowl Eve”, volunteers donated an array of Super Bowl snacks and put together 18 “Super Bowl Snack Boxes” to deliver to our local community heroes. A dozen or so Hope volunteers gathered and filled these boxes full of chips, salsa, soda and snacks galore. Once these boxes were decorated and packed to the brim, they were delivered to the local heroes of our communities who most likely wouldn’t be able to watch the Super Bowl because of their work at fire departments, police departments, safety departments, and Emergency Rooms. I had the privilege of serving with my family on this adventure and you know what? When we delivered the Super Bowl Snack Boxes to the Northfield Center Fire Dept., they were so gracious and kind to offer my daughter a tour of the fire engine and EMT truck! Kindness is contagious… and it feels really good!
After participating in Hope’s Faith In Action days, I am inspired, refreshed and encouraged to continue serving with my family. Blessings beyond understanding happen when we serve selflessly – everyone involved can be impacted! AND… did you know that NATIONAL RANDOM ACT OF KINDNESS DAY is coming up? February 17th is the kind day, and a perfect opportunity to bless someone’s life… randomly. There are countless ways to brighten someone’s day and sprinkle kindness along the way, such as; write a “random” Thinking of You Card for your neighbor, offer to load someone’s groceries, bring a box of donuts to YOUR hard working community heroes, pay for the person behind you, kindly deliver coffee to a local office or church (or better yet, church office…I’ll be working at Hope Community Church from 8:30a – 3:30p that day ), get involved with a group/cause that you’re passionate about; elderly, animals, service men and women, the sick, impaired… there surely is no limit to whose life you can bless and brighten with just a single random act of kindness! Just think about all the hope and love we’d be perpetuating if each one of us took some time to regularly, randomly bless someone(s) in our lives. If you decide to take up this challenge, we’d love to hear from you! Visit our Facebook page, at www.facebook.com/HopeCMA and share what you did, or plan to do for Random Act of Kindness Day (or any other day year around). Love propels love and kindness… let’s see what ripples we can make in our community!
