Giving Tuesday

GT_baby1_2014-e1403115003540We all know what Black Friday and Cyber Monday are. They’re days when we scramble for good deals on holiday gifts (byTavi is having some GREAT deals this year, btw!). But have you heard about a new movement called Giving Tuesday? This is a day when we hit pause on the flurry of shopping and focus on the simple act of giving. Why? Because its good for the ones we give to, and its good for our own hearts.

So how does Giving Tuesday work? On December 2nd, CGI will join with the nation in letting our resources flow freely to those in need.

In our case, we will direct our funds to a very specific need: 12 at-risk girls in Cambodia who are preparing to enter the Culinary Training Center in Battambang. Our goal is to raise $54,000 to fully train this class of girls and gift them with a skill nobody can take away. Can you help?

We’re asking for $12 in honor of the 12 at-risk students. Just $12. Of course, larger donations are wonderful as well, but if we’re all willing to give a little, the end result can be a lot.

Join the #unselfie movement and plan to GIVE with all your hearts on Giving Tuesday, December 2nd!

The Princess Club

IMG_0750Most of you are familiar with our Culinary Training Center (CTC) and our resident culinary instructor, Ryana DeArmond. Not only does Ryana train our CTC students vocationally, but she is also a wonderful friend and mentor to them as well. Her roommate is also involved with the students in a super cool avenue called the Princess Club. The Princess Club is a wonderful program that teaches girls their worth as daughters of Christ, and our CTC students are getting another opportunity to hear the beautiful truth about their lives and the hope they have as Kingdom daughters.

Recently, the Princess Club met to have their photos taken. Often, Cambodians will dress to the nines and have “glamour shots” taken, and the students were able to participate in a fun-filled photo shoot. We’re thankful they had a chance to see how beautiful they are, but more importantly, the truth they’re learning about the beautiful way their Creator sees them.

 

God’s Good Timing

IMG_0697Recently, Storm Chiropractic did an awesome thing: they hosted a Kids Wellness Day at their clinic and donated the proceeds to CGI Kids! What an amazing and creative way to use their business as a way to give back.

Fast forward to this week, when our Executive Director received an email from Cambodia. The email was from Seiha, the director of our Kien Svay Kids program in a very poor province in Cambodia. The children have flourished in this program and their grades in school have improved, they’ve developed greater confidence and have the opportunity to learn about Jesus. It’s a fantastic program that helps us to pour into the young Cambodian population and is a vital piece of our mission, which is to protect the vulnerable.

The letter from the director of Kien Svay Kids was an update about the children in the program, and some of their immediate needs. These needs ranged from sand to protect their facility from flooding during the upcoming rainy season, to small gifts the children will receive for doing great in school, to funding a Christmas party for the kids and their siblings and friends.

The requests totaled almost exactly the amount that Storm Chiropractic was able to donate. They were thrilled to learn their gift was able to be used to grant the requests of schoolchildren half a world away.

This was a beautiful illustration of God’s good timing. If you’ve been dreaming of a way to use your passions, skills or business to help others in need, don’t push those ideas away. Act on them! They may be the answer to someone else’s prayers.