(Volunteers for Toys for Joy Initiative. Photo: The Christian Post)
Rock Church in San Diego, California has donated boxes filled with groceries and toys to families in need this festive period. They made this possible through the Toys for Joy initiative.
The church had partnered with 30 agencies, 1,091 community members and 55 schools in the town to cater for 2,857 families which were beneficiaries of this initiative. The volunteers also took out time to share the gospel with the families and also pray with them.
Tarlease Jones, a volunteer who has been a part of the initiative for the past ten years said, "I really try to teach that this is the time of forgiveness. This is the time to heal wounds. This is the time to make amends. This is our time to tell our God thank you and be thankful for the things that we do have.”
Jones added that the donation helped her in 2010 in catering for her children. After that year, she showed interest in giving back as a volunteer. A decade later, she said that she is grateful to God for being a vessel to serve her community. She also made reference to the teaching of Paul the Apostle.
“Paul the Apostle teaches us about that contentment in all circumstances and situations [and] there are thousands of families who can’t afford to get a gift; not for themselves, not for their children, not for their family members, their coworkers, or their grocery store clerk.
“And so instead of us falling into humanity’s nature of feeling like a failure of feeling less than, it’s a great moment to tell God thank you and really look at what He has for you, being able to have a sense of connection with people and always connecting back to Him,” Jones said.
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