Smiley Face Fundraiser

During the month of July the YOUth and Children's Departments put on the smilingest fundraiser ever.

Two Smiley Families came to visit us from Como United Methodist Church and stayed for a month to help us raise funds for our YOUth and Children's Departments. Many thanks go to Como UMC and our own Cynthia Sample for helping us

Each night we placed one of our two 20 member Smiley Families in someone's yard -
and for a donation that family got to choose who would be blessed by the Smiley Family the next evening.

These aren't any old ordinary Smiley Faces though. Each one has a different scripture on the back and the faces are
drawn to match the scripture.

Starting with a silent auction to see who would have the privilege of choosing the first homes
for our two "families" we ventured out each evening after dark

We got busted at this house - and there was one VERY excited little boy
that came out to see what was going on

a few of the homes that we "hit"

We were blessed by many of the responses from the homes that received the "Families". The most moving one
was from a family with a member who holds an elected position in a local political body.

On returning home from an especially contentious meeting they found their driveway lined with a contingent of yellow, smiling faces. They came by the church office to thank us and share their story, which ran in the Messenger on July 26

The Best Response Yet! There have been a variety of responses with the Smiley faces, one has stood out. Someone from another denomination received the smileys. The mother arrived home after a particularly difficult meeting and found the smileys lining her driveway, they made her laugh! That is not the unusual response, what stands out is, the next day she came by the office to thank the church and said that her daughter had written down all the scriptures she found on the back of the smileys, then she took time to look them up in her Bible! Now that is ministry! Shalom, Susan

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