Thursday, February 19, 2009

A New Family Tradition



This past Christmas, we were invited to participate in a wonderful humanitarian service project providing wheel chairs for people around the world who are crippled.

First, we were asked to watch this incredibly touching video. (Take the opportunity to watch it...it's very moving and well-worth your time.)



We were then asked to prayerfully consider what our little family might be able to contribute to add with the donations of my siblings, their families and our parents. The money collected would be pooled together and sent to LDS Philanthropies for the purchase of wheel chairs to be distributed to those in need.

As an adult, I appreciated the significance of the cause and was excited to have a reason to focus on something more meaningful than stocking stuffers. At the time I committed our family to join forces with the rest of my family, I had no idea the impact it would have on my children.

Jacob and Kaylee were so touched by the video and the idea that they could help make a difference in the lives of the individuals pictured in the video that they immediately emptied their life savings, literally every penny, nickel and dime to donate to the cause. They were so thrilled to donate their "widow's mite" to the family effort. They also requested additional jobs to earn more money for donating.

The experience was so powerful for our children that as a grand Price family, we have decided to focus on some sort of humanitarian project each year at Christmas time so that our hearts can be turned to the true meaning of the season. We are already thinking about ideas for next years' project. If you are aware of any special causes, please leave us a comment.

I've included a few pictures of our children helping Nana and Papa to roll the change that was donated to the cause (a good portion of which came from Jacob, Kaylee and Nicholas's piggy banks).





2 comments:

Chris and Mari Spiker said...

That is really sweet. This past Christmas Chris & I gave Steve a donation for his Christmas present--since he is difficult to buy for, we figured a donation in his name would be a great gift. We donated $ for mosquito nets in Africa. Chris researched it, and its one of the few charities where almost all the $ donated actually goes to the cause. That is also a great gift idea :)

Rebecca Pierce said...

What a great cause! We pick a new cause every year with our lifelong friends, and instead of giving each other gifts, we each donate a set amount to one cause together. We'll have to do this together next year. I loved that video. Thanks for sharing!