Over 50 students came to serve the Fort Worth Community through Beautiful Feet Ministries December 11th. This is a GPA tradition.
Christmas Challenge: Students accept challenge to serve our community
Challenges can have their ups and downs, but this “Christmas Challenge” should find reward.
The Mane Post Staff and The Business Club issued our high school students a “Christmas Challenge” asking them to do something kind or generous for another person to show compassion. This act of kindness could be anything from helping a younger student carry their books, or paying for somebody’s meal at McDonald’s.
Senior Jacob Shipley paid it forward for a random person in line behind him at Starbucks.
Shipley explains, “I wrote a note telling the cashier to pay for the next person in line and put the change in the tip jar, and then I set the twenty dollar bill on the counter . I had to leave, so I did not get the chance to see the next customer’s reaction, but I hope it inspired them to continue the chain.”
One simple act of kindness towards another person can go a long way and can truly affect society and culture.
Another person that accepted the challenge was Freshman Kenzie Parks. A family friend of hers has health issues, and has 2 children, ages 5 and 7. Parks went out of her way to buy the kids a board game for them to get their minds off of the negative, and to help them to bond with each other through a difficult time.
“I felt really relieved and happy after I gave the gift because I knew it would help them feel better in a tough time,” said Parks.
Derrick Kinney, parent and sponsor of the GPA Business Club also helped us in our challenge, by giving his club members $20 each to do something kind for another person and to learn about what it can do for our society.
Even I accepted the challenge. I decided to pay for an elderly woman’s groceries at Kroger’s. I felt very good and accomplished afterwards because I could just tell how happy it made her and how much she appreciated it.
It definitely made her day, and mine, and it spread joy to the cashier too.
The cashier thanked me for what I did and said she wished there were more people out there like me, yet I was blessed to give the money, and it wasn’t about me.
Fifty GPA high school students went to Beautiful Feet Ministries Friday to help give gifts, which our school collected to Fort Worth residents. This big way of meeting our Christmas challenge paid off.
Their main goal was to ask to pray with each family they gave a gift to. Most residents were very eager to pray with us, and received the gifts with pure joy. Some even chased our trailers hoping we hadn’t forgotten to stop at their house.
Please do not think that giving should only occur once a year. This can be done anytime and it should be done a lot.
Your acts of kindness can spread throughout the world. It may not seem like it, but you are changing the world. This is the best way to let our light shine before men, and to beat the bad in our world back with love.
