LIFE Group Story
I work temporary office assignments through Office Team and several weeks ago I had a 3-day assignment as a receptionist for ReStart in Reno. ReStart is a resource center for homeless and mentally ill. Their clients, after filling out the appropriate paperwork and becoming a client, can have their social security checks sent to ReStart, and the case managers will help them with a budget to help them manage their money. They can also make appointments to come in to do their laundry, to take a shower, for clothing vouchers at the thrift store, visit the food pantry, and for bus passes. My job, while I’m there, is to make these appointments and distribute clothing vouchers and bus passes. I was totally surprised that Reno has such a resource center for homeless, and absolutely loved the assignment–I met the most incredible people, and the case managers are amazing.
The only downside to the assignment was that they were out of bus passes. This one woman, without adequate outdoor clothing or proper footwear, was told she had to GO to the social security office to fill out the paperwork, they couldn’t do it there at ReStart. It was 3 miles from where we were! No bus pass, no money, so she had to hoof it–and she did, but you can imagine the time a 6-mile round can take!
I was troubled and inquired about bus passes and where they come from and was told that they are donated, usually by organizations (appparently bus passes are about $4 for one pass), but they just didn’t have any left and none had been donated recently. Hmpf. This will not do, I told myself, and sat down and zipped off an email message to Art Cena, explaining the situation and asking if Summit, which so encourages all of us to serve, would ever consider making a donation of bus passes to ReStart. Doesn’t hurt to ask, right?
Then I go to thinking: hey, tonight is my women’s LIFE Group — maybe they would be willing to pass the hat and donate some cash so we can donate some bus passes. Again, doesn’t hurt to ask, right? So that evening, I told them about my experience and said that this is a perfect opportunity for us, as a group, to serve the needy, and would they go home, pray about it, and if so led, when we meet again next week, we’ll pass the hat and I’ll get bus passes to donate to ReStart. Even if we each only chipped in $4, 12 people would have access to a bus pass.
I guess I don’t have to tell you that the response was overwhelming. Some of our women gave me money that night, saying they didn’t need to pray about it, and by our next LIFE Group meeting, we had collected — get this — $220! There are 12 people in our group! I was blown away by their generosity! If I’d been wearing a button-down shirt, the buttons would’ve burst!
Not only that–but I heard back from Art via email, he asked for more information and details about cost of a pass, etc., and when I told him what our LIFE Group is doing, Art said that Summit would match it! Whoa! How cool is THAT? $440 to go towards bus passes for the ReStart center! Very cool!
We bought a variety of passes, some 10-day disabled passes, some 7-day passes, some 10-ride passes, some 24-hr passes. We got a nice thank you letter from them (I had sent a cover letter with the passes, and all of our WOMEN (that’s the name of our LIFE Group, it’s an acronym for Women Of Might Encouragement Nurter) signed it at the bottom.
Anyway, that’s the story of the WOMEN and the Bus Passes. Funny thing is, even though I know ReStart and their clients were blessed by our generosity, we all were blessed, too, knowing that we made a difference.
Other Stories
My family attended for the first time today. I was a little hesitant due to having a 5 month old and a 4 year old. BaseCamp was great!!!! Leaving my infant was easy due to the paging system and friendliness, my 4 year old happily told me that she had a snack, learned God was her best friend and then colored. My husband and I enjoyed the sermon and were relaxed knowing that our kids were in good hands. Thank you
My LIFE Group is refreshing, God-centered, and Christ-honoring. The work on our testimonies was very powerful as we shared our lives before Christ and our lives today with Christ. We are all so transformed and blessed! God is good! And so are his trusted servants!
We have been attending Summit for almost three years now. I can’t begin to tell you all the blessings that God has bestowed on our family through the Summit family. Since we have been at Summit God has healed my marriage, brought my husband into his role as spiritual leader of our home, delivered one of my son’s from same-sex attraction and so much more. Words cannot express how grateful I am that the Lord led us to Summit.
Thank You for our Podcast! We had to take our daughter to Stanford for emergency surgery. We had to travel down on Sunday and her surgery was scheduled for Wednesday. On Tuesday of that week, we were able to sit in our hotel room and listen to the Podcast. My heart became overwhelmed with Joy and I told my mom, “I’m so excited we can still be a part even when we’re out of town!”
One of our LIFE Group members broke down after we prayed for her and her family because she said no one has ever prayed for them before – ever in her lifetime.
This series is having a real positive impact on the people in the group. It’s exciting to see people looking for God’s leading in their lives. We wound up going a little bit deeper in the study, which led to a deeper understanding of God’s love for us. Why wouldn’t anyone want to get in on this? (about LIFE Groups)
