Money where our mouth is

I have news. The economic situation in this area is hard. I know, it's hard to believe, but it's true and to prove it, one need not go far. Most all of us can demonstrate the difficult situation by simply examining the bottom line of our own finances.

Another fruit of the current economic tree can be seen in our local school budgets. The teachers and administration are doing a great job working within tight budgets to care for and educate our kids and grand-kids and supplies sometimes run short.

It is this need that moved us to 'put our money where our mouth is'. As Rock Bridge Chatsworth continues to move toward our actual launch we have said that we want to make a difference in our community and in the lives of people so one of our members planted the seed that led to a plan to make a difference.

So last week at our Rock Bridge Chatsworth Informational meeting we put our plan in action. Here's what happened:

• Over the last few weeks our middle-school Area Bible Study [ABS] kids made 200 awesome thank-you cards for teachers at Spring Place and Chatsworth Elementary Schools
  
• On the day of our meeting we had some volunteers baking cookies at the Appalachian Community Center all day and some more made cookies at home
  
• At our meeting everyone pitched in to put together nearly 200 packets of these home-made cookies and thank you cards [several packets were also put together by some volunteers at home later]
  
• A print shop in Chatsworth gave us a great deal on 17 cases of copy paper
  
• On Thursday afternoon a team of folks representing Rock Bridge Chatsworth delivered enough paper, cookies and thank you cards for every staff member at Spring Place and Chatsworth elementary schools!

The staff at both schools were incredibly gracious and thankful, it was a very cool event. As we handed a ream of paper to one of the teachers we received my favorite quote of the day, "This is worth even more than gold!"

It was our honor to serve these amazing people that love, care for and educate kids in our community and I am incredibly honored to 'put our money where our mouth is' and serve with the amazing people that God has already assembled at Rock Bridge Chatsworth.

Looking forward to doing more!