“Our standard is giving more than what is expected”
Today was an amazing day! Every day that we are alive is amazing, of course, but today was 2-2-22, and many people had fun with it, including us here at TLC. We launched some promotions and had fun.
I even personally launched a 2-2-22 challenge myself. I was not sure why I had this thought, but earlier in the morning, I decided that maybe I could personally offer myself as a way to raise money for charity. I was unsure how or what to do, but I had this feeling in my gut that I sometimes get that kept telling me to do something.
I kept thinking throughout the day and kept coming up empty. I was asking my coworkers for their opinions and started getting ideas. I decided that if someone was willing to donate $2,222.22 to a charity, I would personally fly out to them, eat lunch or dinner with them, and spend the day with them. That’s all I knew, not many details after that.
I announced the challenge on the daily 2 o’clock show, and I told people to direct message me on my Instagram page, and the first person to do so would be the winner. I figured that 2,222 dollars was a lot of money, and I would probably not get many messages. To my surprise I received many, I could not believe it!
I had a total of 10 messages, with the first one being from a lady named Renee Summers. I read her message, and I realized she had misunderstood my message. She thought that I would donate the money to the charity myself and travel to spend the afternoon with her. She didn’t realize that she would have to be the one that donated the $2222. I politely responded to her and let her know that, unfortunately, she had misunderstood and was not the winner.
I continued through the next nine messages and quickly realized that every person who had sent me a message assumed that I would be personally donating the $2,222. I kept on sending everybody almost the exact same reply. I apologized to them for possibly not being clear enough, and I finally got to the last message and realized nobody had reached out to me to take the initial deal.
My emotions went from high to low all in a few minutes. I just figured it wasn’t meant to be and was at peace with it. Then a new message appeared, and it was from Renee Summers once again. She was letting me know that although she really wanted her church to receive the money, there was no way she and her husband could afford it at this time since they had been trying to save for a wheelchair ramp for herself to be installed in her home.
I was so moved when I read that. I thought to myself, wow, here is someone that actually could use some help herself and is still looking to help others. I whispered to myself as I often do, “The human spirit is alive and well .”Still, this situation did not feel right, and I started to think about how I could make this better.
Then while I was thinking, I received another message from her. She had reached out to the pastor of her church and asked him if there was any way she could set up a payment plan with them to donate the money. He, of course, said yes and was grateful for any help at all, and now all she had to do was ask me if it was okay. Of course, I immediately responded YES!
Congratulations to “We are one Christian Fellowship Church” because of Renee Summers and her husband; you will be receiving funds to continue your good works. I will, of course, do my part and visit Renee soon, and while I am there, I will visit the church too. I look forward to thanking them all for their service on that day!
Our standard is giving more than what is expected. That is one of our core values that we live by here at TLC. It’s not just us here at headquarters though; it’s everyone that belongs to our organization that is willing to give to others. Renee reminded me today that some of the best givers in the world are, most of the time, people who could use a little bit of help themselves.
As I reflected, I realized I could do more and give more, and that’s what I plan to do. Thank you, Renee, for inspiring me, and thank you for inspiring whoever reads this message. When we are in need, sometimes the last thing we can think of is giving to others, but I have found that’s exactly what we need to do.
Thank you for reading, and have an amazing week. Please try to give more this week!
To be continued…
