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There is a new place downtown here in Helena that allows game enthusiasts to play video games in the store by the hour. It's already very popular. Our family pooled our four dollars (four of us) and anonymously rented $20 in gaming time for two gamers.
We asked the store employees to pass on a note we put together that briefly explains why we gave away the free rentals. We hope both the gamers and the store employees are blessed by this.
I attached a note to my dollar explaining what it represents and added to it a $20.00. Put them both in an envelope and handed it to a homeless man standing on a street corner.
I took my dollar and added $24.00 to give $25.00 to a family whose son had just come home from the hospital in Seattle to help with their medical bills.
The way I used my dollar was small, but I hopefully made someone's day. I am a snowboard instructor at Great Divide. All week we are having a group of about 75 kids (5th graders) come up for skiing/snowboarding and lessons.
As I came down the mountain and into the lodge with a group of awesome kids I was teaching, one of them discovered that their lunch was missing. I helped him look for it but to no avail, so I decided that I would use my dollar to buy him another lunch (because lunch is so important to those little kids).
My daughters and I went to the VA to visit a new found friend, which is a wonderful story in itself but that is not where we gave the dollar. We were leaving the hospital and I told the girls that this would be a great place to give a dollar. We sat down in the front lobby and looked around.
Outside on a bench, in old clothing, was a older gentleman smoking a cigarette by himself and looked pretty lonely. When I approached him he originally said he did not want our dollar but I told him it was for a project and that we really wanted him to have it. He looked up and smiled taking the dollar.
My girls moved closer and I asked him if he was visiting someone or was here to see a doctor. His response was "I'm through". I asked him what he meant and he pulled up his sweat pants to reveal very dark, almost black ankles. I asked him if he was a diabetic, he said yes and that he would soon be having his feet amputated.
I told him that we would pray for him and that we would keep him in his thoughts. It appeared that we lifted his spirits. As we drove away he appeared to be praying. In hindsight, we should have prayed with him right then and there.
My daughters seemed really jazzed by the event and I felt they seemed to understand that those different than ourselves are not "weird" or scary. Thank you for the challenge.
I got to help with Intermountain Children's Home Easter service. I saw what a blessing this is to the kids. I wanted to give my dollar to Intermountain's chapel program because I knew it was going to make an eternal difference. I also matched it with a dollar from my allowance.
I have given my dollar to the Pregnancy Resource Center (PRC) of Helena. I am helping this non-profit Christian ministry get started and will be helping with education and some counseling. We do not generate funds from those we serve, but depend on month-to-month and special donations from the generosity of the Helena community. If you do not know how to use the dollar you were "Given" to be a blessing, consider PRC [contact Hannaford for more].
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