The Jubilee Helps More Individuals

Our family has decided to break our money into smaller amounts. To this point we have used 300 of it and are still deciding how we are going to spend our last 200. We recently saw an add posted on Craiglist.com where a man said he needed work and would do just about anything to get money. The next day we called him up and asked him if we could meet him somewhere. He was wondering if we needed work but we told him we just wanted to help him out. During our meeting he told us how he was recently laid off from his job out of town and had 400 dollars to his name and that money was going to his rent. He told us how he had screwed up in the past but had figured out his life and had a young daughter and wife at home. He told us he was so desperate for a job that he even went to McDonalds to apply to be the guy that holds up a sign outside of the restaurant. After talking to this guy for 15 minutes or so we handed him the money and explained our story at Hillcrest. He told us how he grew up going to church on and off and would like to get involved again. At that point he took my number and said he would like to go with us some time. About an hour ago I received an ecstatic phone call and he told me he had received 3 job offers in one day. One that was willing to pay him 14 dollars an hour. He said that he had previously worked at this place and a few days prior he went in again to see if they would hire him. They claimed they couldn’t due to the economy but today they called him back and said they would hire him. The best part about it was that he told me he didn’t have to work on Sunday’s and he would let me know about coming with us to church some time. It was such a great feeling for our family to meet with this guy.

Another day we were driving by Walmart and saw some men holding signs We pulled in and asked them what they needed and how we could help them. They told us they had hitch-hiked here and now were trying to make some money for bus tickets to get to Minneapolis. They didn’t expect much from us and would have been happy with just a meal, but after explaining our story we gave them enough money for bus tickets and some food. They were so happy and gracious. They hugged us and then took off to buy their bus tickets. The feeling we got when helping these people was indescribable & brought tears to our eyes.
We feel extremely blessed to have had these opportunities & look forward to our next chance to give away the rest of the money.

The Jubilee Helps a Variety of People

One family has been doing numerous small actions with their jubilee money. At their business, they have been putting extra merchandise in people's orders. They have not charged Hillcrest for some of their services. They have paid for people's meals in line at McDonald's. Daily, they have enjoyed being able to give to others.

The Jubilee By: Joy

What an amazing feeling it was to be given the opportunity to help someone in need! My six year old daughter Jasmine just happened sit in church with me that Sunday instead of going to Sunday School and she helped me and my other two children decide what to do with some of the money. We recently went to Wal-mart and ran into an old co-worker of mine who happens to also be a single mother. As we were standing behind her in the check out line she was telling me about her recent medical problems and medical bills, knowing how hard it can be I was trying to help her feel better when Jasmine tugged on my shirt and said "Mom we should give her some of that money from church." WOW! I thought, it is amazing that my six year old thought of that before I did! So we used $100 to purchase the $42 in groceries she had and had the cashier give her the change. It was amazing to do something like that and to witness the disbelief on her face when she said "You have no idea how much we needed that! Why would you do that?" and I responded "Because God loves you." I know we were able to touch the heart of that woman that day but I believe we also touched the hearts of the several people who gathered around us who shocked that we were able to give so freely.

The Jubilee By: Aaron and Sheri

My sister, who is disabled, has been out of work for a long time. Her unemployment benefits recently ran out. I said to Aaron, "If she wasn't my sister, we could give the money to her."Of course, we came to our senses and helped her out with a particular bill. We're still looking for the right thing to do with the rest of the money -- I have a feeling God has a specific place for it to go.Sheri & Aaron Levisay

The Jubilee By: Art and Cheri

We talked about all the people we know that need financial helpand SO had many ideas. We finally decided to help a single mom that I work with on budgeting because she was in the most helpless spot. In November 2008 she found herself $300 behind at the daycare her daughter was attending because the father had lost his job 4 months prior and was not paying child support. The daycare said that she would not be able to bring her daughter any longer if she did not pay the bill the next day. WELL………. She went to a title loan place and became one of their victims! She received a little under $300 and satisfied the daycare, but the payments were $120 a month which she could not afford in the first place., so she quickly became delinquent and was beginning to sink. Long story short, by the time we stepped in her payoff was $780.00 (not to mention the $480 she had already made in monthly payments) and they would have repossesed her car soon. After MUCH discussion, we were able to get them to settle with a payoff of $600 so we just paid the whole bill to get her car title back. She just kept saying thank you and I cannot re-pay you! God definitely made an impact in the life of this family. Art and Cheri