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Volunteer Stories

RUSH Initiative paired families from their programs with "Champions" from Birmingham congregations to provide Christmas gifts and groceries for nearly 100 famlies in Walker and Jefferson Counties

We heard that one grandfather, struggling to raise his two teenaged grandsons, became emotional when he saw what one of our Champion families had carefully purchased. A single mom, staring in disbelief at the two gleaming bicycles sitting in front of a carton which could barely contain all of the stuff for her family, turned away so we couldn’t see her face. Grasping the bag of groceries given to all of the families, she said over and over again, thank you, thank you.

A woman who had signed up to “Champion” a family for our Holiday Gift Program, called. “I’m at Target with my two teenaged sons. Can you answer a question they have? They can’t believe that any kid would ask for a pair of sneakers for Christmas. Would you check the listing, please?

We knew their family, who were desperately struggling. The kids wore hand-me-down clothes. Their sneakers were raggedy, and for adolescents, that constituted the cardinal sin of un-coolness. Yes they certainly had requested new shoes.

The mother relayed this to her boys. As we listened, she said thanks, and hung up. A couple of weeks ago, we ran into her. She said that this shopping experience was the most telling statement of the difference between her affluent children and their understanding of the world of the poor. She told us that for the rest of the afternoon, the boys took a personal interest in kids who lived a life wholly removed from their own. Not only did they buy the shoes, they also took their own savings and bought some hot electronics for the kids too. It was, she said, the best view her family could get into what it means not to have.

Another Champion confided to us that participating in the Holiday Gift Program was the single most powerful volunteer experience he and his family had ever had. It was for him and his family, giving made personal.