And it happens every day, thanks to people like your sister.
But this story I read yesterday really blew my mind. If somebody gave you $500 and told you to go out and do something good with it, what would you do?
Churchgoers grumble that they always get hit with pleas for money. But congregants at a Chicago church this month got a surprise - they each received a check for $500, with instructions to go out and do something good with it.
"I was just in disbelief," said Valency Hastings, 42, when she got her check from the non-denominational LaSalle Street Church on the city's near north side. "The enormity of the responsibility of it has begun to sink in."
The money was the result of a real estate windfall - back in the 1970s, LaSalle Street and three other local churches had helped support a multiethnic, multi-income housing development.
The development was sold in June in what is now a pricey neighborhood, and LaSalle Street got $1.6 million. Senior Pastor Laura Truax and church elders decided to take a tenth of that money and give it to 320 members and regular attendees. The church as a whole will decide what to do with the rest of the money.
. . .
People who received checks have started sharing their thoughts about using them on an "idea wall" in the church basement. A group of doctors suggested sending the money to an Ebola clinic in Sierra Leone. Others plan to support CeaseFire, an anti-violence group.
Truax said congregants vary from the wealthy to the homeless, so if someone wants to use the money for rent, that is OK, too.
Hastings, a freelance graphic designer who is planning her wedding, said she is "in debt up to my eyeballs" but hopes to overcome the temptation to use the money for bills. She is thinking about using it to aid homeless gay and lesbian youth.
http://my.chicagotribune.com/#section/545/article/p2p-81465109/
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