February 17 is Random Acts of Kindness Day—a day that celebrates the power of kindness and our opportunity to positively impact the world with one act of kindness at a time.
According to the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation, kindness scientifically increases our optimism, energy, and happiness while decreasing our stress, anxiety, and depression. Being kind not only benefits other people and the world we live in but can positively affect our personal mental and physical health.
In addition to these positive impacts, showing kindness to others is a biblical mandate.
“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” Ephesians 4:32 (NIV)
“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” Galatians 5:22-23 (NLT)
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.” 1 Corinthians 13:4 (NIV)
In honor of Random Acts of Kindness Day, we are highlighting three actions steps you can take to spread kindness through One More Child: serving with a Foster Crew, volunteering at one of our locations, or making tangible or monetary gifts.
Serving with a Foster Crew
One More Child seeks to serve foster children, providing them with love, resources, and a stable home. We accomplish this largely through licensing foster parents to welcome children in need into their home, but we also have other opportunities to serve foster children, including through Foster Crews.
Foster Crews are a creative and resourceful way for churches to wrap around foster families with love and support. One More Child will train a group of volunteers from local churches to manage their Foster Crew, connecting the skills and gifts of people in the church with the needs of local foster families. Roles within a Foster Crew could include a super sitter, household helper, meal maker, prayer partner, and event planner. As a three-way partnership with One More Child, a local church, and a local foster family, Foster Crews provide valuable and practical help and care to vulnerable children.
Foster parents care for the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of children within their care, almost all of whom have experienced some form a trauma related to entering foster care or being separated from their biological family. Being a foster parent is often challenging, and while many foster parents need help and support, they don’t always ask for it. This is where Foster Crews step in. By having an established ministry to meet the needs of foster families, the situation changes from foster parents wondering, “Can anyone help me?” to the church family asking, “HOW can we help you?”
Volunteering
For our entire 120-year history, volunteers have fueled the mission of One More Child. Volunteers don’t just assist us in helping others—they are vital to our mission of serving one more and making an impact.
Ray Allen, Executive Director of Engagement, recalled an instance when a volunteer asked him, “How do you know God is answering prayers here at One More Child?” Ray pondered the question for a moment and then answered, “I know that God is answering prayers when you all walk through the door. Because we can’t do this work by ourselves, and to watch a group of individuals walk through that door with smiles, ready to jump in and to help us to impact the lives of children and families. Yeah, I know God’s answering prayers every time.”
We offer an abundance of volunteering opportunities that vary depending on location, such as assembling boxes of food, sorting donations, greeting families at our front desk, mentoring single moms, making deliveries to ministry partners, and more. There are options for individuals or group volunteering.
Giving
One More Child is primarily funded through philanthropic giving, and we depend on the generous supporters who want to join our mission. When you give to One More Child, you are giving to vulnerable children and struggling families.
At One More Child, we commit ourselves to being good and faithful stewards of all the resources and gifts God provides. We are accountable for how we use funds and resources to our donors, the children and families we serve, and, most importantly, to God. We are grateful for all of you who entrust One More Child with your tangible or monetary gifts, and we are dedicated to ensuring these resources are used effectively to serve vulnerable children and families in need.
You can donate tangible goods, including food, supplies, and clothing to one of locations across Florida. You can also give a financial gift to fund our mission across the country and around the world.
A Special Kind of Kindness
The “kind of kindness” God calls his followers to can be boiled down to this idea: to see and serve those in need as an outpouring of the kindness God has lavished on us.
The kindness that embodies a Christian’s life undoubtedly will include, but also extend beyond random acts of kindness. Our kindness should always be rooted in the heart of God, which is to serve the vulnerable. When we exhibit the fruit of the spirit, with Christ-like kindness, we ultimately point to the One who first loved us.
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:6-7 (ESV)