05 Dec Outreach: The Best Gift You Can Give This Holiday Season
The power of outreach
… James was a fifteen-year-old boy who was suffering from drug addiction. It was the only lifestyle he knew and all of his current friends were doing it. His neighbor was in his twenties, a recent college graduate, and on his career path. James looked up to him because he always appeared happy and was kind to others in the neighborhood.
One day, James asked him what he did. The neighbor responded, “What are you doing this Saturday?” James had nothing going on, so the neighbor invited him to come to his work place and he gave him the address to the building he worked at – it was only a few blocks away.
James went to the address on Saturday, and it was a beautiful building. He walked in, and saw that his neighbor was speaking to a group of teenagers. The neighbor was the Community Outreach Coordinator and was helping students with drug addiction. James started to attend the meetings with his neighbor on a weekly basis.
Ten years later… James has lived a drug-free life for those ten years, and now lives in his own community where he is the Community Outreach Coordinator impacting teenagers the same way his neighbor did when he was a teenager.
And that is the power of outreach!
Have you ever had an experience like this where you impacted someone else’s life in a positive way, or someone impacted your life in a positive way? How did it make you feel knowing that you were able to make a difference? How do you think the person you impacted felt as a result of your outreach to them? How did you feel that someone took the time to reach out and help you?
Reaching people who are in need of help is one of the best gifts that you can give to someone this holiday season! Outreach provides the opportunity to impact someone else’s life in a positive way that can create a snowball effect into them doing the same for others in the future. You have the opportunity to be the outstretched arm that can help save someone’s life – that’s a powerful position to be in!
The gift of outreach has the opportunity to affect not only individuals, but our neighborhoods, schools, cities, and states in a positive way. By working together towards a common goal of helping others and instilling hope, communities can grow together in resiliency to help people, one person at a time, to get to the next level.
Spreading the gift of outreach can extend further than the traditional one-on-one interaction. Other ways that you can spread this wonderful gift is by saying a prayer for, or with someone, providing someone with positive words of encouragement and hope, or even handing an individual a brochure about outreach programs that can join. Any of these are great ways to begin the outreach process!
So, this holiday season, if you have a passion for impacting lives in a positive way, live in the Greater Minneapolis, Minnesota region, and want to discover how you can get involved in various outreach programs to help others, Contact Us to see all of the different ways that you can get started making a difference today.