Love is . . . A Community Serving Others (Week 39)

Thank you to Mia for giving me opportunity to share something near and dear to my heart today in her Love Is . . . series. My name is Alene and I post over at Positively Alene.

Serving others is a passion of mine and I will be taking on the challenge in October to blog about 31 Days of Living with Purpose, which by the way I totally see our purpose as serving others. I hope you’ll stop by and join me on the journey – hey I’ll even encourage you to take the challenge with me.



As God has given me a new look at serving, I’m learning that He truly does work in miraculous ways when His people in community come together to serve others.



I’ve been involved with Head-2-Toe, which is an event where our church and community come together to help others in need. It truly is the one of the best days at the Bay Area Fellowship Westside Campus! This annual event is held in August and blesses children from the community with shoes, shirts, and back-to-school haircuts all for FREE. Partnering with many businesses and community services we are also able to offer free eye exams and connect people to job opportunities.



The first Head-2-Toe was in 2010. It was a huge success with 1800 people being blessed. 2011 was even bigger with a total of 220 volunteers blessing 2000 plus children with free shirts, shoes, haircuts, and eye exams.



I was in charge of the volunteers this year and I can truly say I saw God work in mysterious ways through His people. We had volunteers show up from all over south Texas to serve. We even had people that were homeless or living in shelters serve in the beating down hot Texas sun all day. His love was everywhere, despite any heat index.



When I arrived at 5am to begin getting set up for the event that would kick-off at 7am, I was surprised to see families already in line.



Our volunteers were the best. They worked long hours out in the heat and never complained. They registered people, delivered water, helped give out shoes and shirts, and many other things to make this day a success. As a matter of fact, it was so successful many businesses are already making plans to be a part of this event again next year. Now, that is awesome!



The children of this community were blessed. Many who had never had a brand new pair of shoes, not only left with huge smiles on their faces, but with a NEW pair of shoes in hand, and new haircuts. They were ready for their first day of school.



Now that is what love is all about . . . serving others!