Mike Fewster, our Chantilly Campus Pastor, recently received the following note from Kari, a New Lifer. He thought her story was so great we wanted to share it with everyone.
Mike,
I hope that you are having a great start to the week, despite the weather. I am writing to tell you that Sarah Moorman, Jen Duncan, myself, girl scout troops 6009 & 1763 along with the DSYS cheer and football league hosted a concession stand/bake sale this past weekend at the Champe High School football field—as part of our annual fundraiser for a woman in the community who is battling breast cancer. To pull this off each year we reach out to local retailers and ask for charitable donations of food items that can be sold at the event, as well as baked goods from community members, and ALL of the items are priced at $1.
Each year a woman in the Dulles South community who has been diagnosed with breast cancer is selected as the recipient of 100% of the proceeds from this sale to help off-set the stress of the holiday season. Traditionally the funds raised are utilized for hiring a house cleaner, help with purchasing food, or to help with bills, etc. This is based entirely on the needs of the family selected. This year we are supporting not only a woman in the community who is battling breast cancer, but whose son was also recently diagnosed with kidney cancer.
The outpouring of support with donations this year, was unlike any we had seen in our 5 years of hosting this event. And I am sure that is why we hit our all-time high in funds raised! Although falling $250 short of our ultimate goal, we were only $50 short of raising $1,000 more than last year. Therefore upon closing down on Saturday night, after 12 long hours, we felt like it was a huge success.
But upon waking Sunday morning, I had a very heavy heart about not meeting our goal and was beating myself up for not trying harder, or figuring out how I could have done a better job. I reached out to Jen and confided my feelings to her. She comforted me—by reminding me—that we were ONLY $50 short of $1,000 more than last year. So, I dusted myself off and got ready for church—as this outpouring of support also resulted in a ton of leftover baked goods, candy and Panera breads that we wanted to donate to the Hospitality team. When I arrived with a huge tub of baked goods, I explained that all the treats were left over from the event we hosted the day before at Champe High School. A woman working Hospitality told me that she saw the event on the South Riding Facebook page and felt bad that she was unable to go to Champe to help out, but asked if she could still make a donation. I gratefully accepted the donation, hugged her and walked away. As I was walking down the hall I glanced at the check and noticed it was for $50! I got goose bumps and started to cry. That was a huge God moment!!! Throughout the service that morning, I was so moved and emotional that God would show me the true meaning of love and grace in such a tangible way.
Since returning home from church yesterday we have had a few more people reach out wanting to make additional donations. I am not sure what the total is at the moment—as the money is still coming in—but I am sure that God played a huge hand in every bit of this event; from the 3rd and 5th grade children who worked so hard to collect donated items (happily working the concession stand for up to 12 straight hours without one complaint); to the loving community members and local retailers who donated items to be sold; to the very hot temperature resulting in the 8 cases of water and 6 cases of Gatorade being sold—and right down to the church member giving me a donation in the EXACT amount that would push us to that $1,000 more than last year’s mark! God truly is amazing!
Most of the leftover bread and bagels have been distributed to other charities, however I have a good deal of candy items still on hand. We were wondering if the church would be able to utilize these items for the movie series that is taking place this month to help offset some costs for the church?
When I sat down to email you, my intention was only to ask if you could utilize the candy, but before I knew it I was typing out the entire story. In the back of my mind I heard your voice saying “don’t forget to tell us your Yay God! stories”. If ever there was one…this would be it! Thank you Mike for reading this email and Thanks be to God for the success of this event. I believe it will make a big impact for the family we are supporting.
I would be happy to stop in this week and drop the candy off if you can utilize it.
Sincerely,
Kari Doffermyre