John 1:14, “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, generous and kind inside and out, true from start to finish.” (MSG)
We find ourselves continually befuddled, as we remark, ‘Wow, that was kind!’ and ‘How kind!’ and ‘Goodness! that is so kind of you!’ For this reason, we believe the above statement is our calling, and what we are hoping to model every day at Kindness. I recently read that “Kindness is God’s compassion reflected to others,” and I thought, how profound. In a world where kindness is often mistaken for tolerance, as Christians, we must set the bar that much higher. Humanity is coming apart at its seams, and too often, the people we rub shoulders with are awed by someone just being decent and kind. We shouldn’t be confused, stunned or astounded by kindness—it should be our benchmark, but unfortunately today, it isn’t the norm. For us, at Kindness, we strive to be set apart and desire to reflect His image…ridiculously kind.
We’d like you to meet Casey…Casey wandered into Kindness one afternoon when we and some volunteers were organizing and pricing items in the Closet. Casey looked rough around the edges and was in need of assistance. He was grateful to be sober and was heading to a sober living house where another organization was going to help him with housing and his sobriety. What Casey needed was clothes, food, Jesus. All he had to his name literally was the clothing on his back and a small backpack that was empty. And no money.
At Kindness, we have created some containers of FREE items for folk who have no funds, but very little in our boxes would accommodate Casey. So, we gathered a package of several shirts and some pants, socks, underwear and a jacket, and gave the items to Casey to put in his backpack. We shared with him what Kindness and our outreach ministry, Connections, exists for, and Who Jesus is to us and Who Jesus desires to be for Casey, and then sent him on his way, with some tacos and prayer. I hope we see Casey again. I hope he will return to find out more about Jesus and just spend some time with people who care about him and his progress.
Why do I tell you about this? Because the “Casey’s” of this world need Jesus, most of all, and Kindness and us, and we need you! There isn’t any way we are going to ever send Casey or anyone like him back out to the streets empty-handed and hungry when their bodies and their souls need care and nourishment. However, if Kindness Café and Closet gave everything away, we would have no ability to keep our doors open and our lights on, due to the overhead. We are already prepared for the frequency with which we believe we will be visited by others just like Casey, so we ask humbly, would you consider joining our S.O.C.K program at Kindness which will enable us to feed and clothe men and women just like Casey when they have no resources to do so themselves?
S.O.C.K is an acronym for Sponsors Of Compassion & Kindness. Why is it called S.O.C.K.? Do you recall Preston’s story? (If you haven’t read it, Preston’s story is told in the enclosed brochure.) He is the young man whose needs were so great, yet simple—things many of us take for granted every day, like a pair of socks so the blisters on his feet could heal—causing us to seek God’s heart for the direction He was calling Connections to journey toward.
Joining the S.O.C.K program is simple. All S.O.C.K funds received will go into a separate account to be used only for the S.O.C.K program. This Kindness Currency is a financial means for providing resources to clothe and/or feed an individual who has nothing while helping keep their dignity intact. Each package will be tailormade for its recipient, whether several outfits, or outerwear and footwear, and/or food, as well as toiletries if necessary*. If you choose to donate any funds to this form of Kindness Currency, please designate as such, and know that you will be helping clothe and feed the homeless and/or underprivileged in our city.
*We believe providing those who qualify for this type of assistance with a hot meal from the Kindness Café and preparing a bag filled with clothing will meet some substantial and individual specific needs. If you have any questions about how we intend to have this work, please do not hesitate to ask. A suggested donation for each S.O.C.K. sponsorship is $35, which covers a $10 meal, and pants, shirt, socks and outerwear.
