Groupon: Become a Global Investor for $15

If you're still participating in the 30-Day Giving Challenge, here is a GREAT way to give (if you're not participating, it's still an awesome idea). Currently Groupon is offering the opportunity to help invest in small businesses around the world.  For $15 you'll have $25 to invest in an entrepreneur across the globe via Kiva.  You choose who to give the loan to.  When their business has taken off, they pay back the loan and you are free to re-invest or withdraw your money via PayPal (no more than the $15 you initially paid).  For the initial loan, Groupon itself is paying the other $10.  How awesome is that?!  Lending to a small company does more to influence poverty than giving a small donation just for food or clothing.  You're giving someone the opportunity to sustain themselves for the long-term.  Consider the proverb, "Give a man a fish, he'll eat for day.  Teach a man to fish, he'll eat for a lifetime."

If you're interested in doing this for yourself or using it to buy a Kiva card to give as a gift to the one who has everything (they can then choose their own individual/business via Kiva to lend to).

Here's what to do:
1. Register or sign-in to Groupon.
2. At the top of the page for your chosen city should be a long yellow box that references the Kiva deal (if you don't see it on your page, visit Oklahoma City and check there).  Follow the link given there.  Be sure to read the full terms of this particular deal.
3. Click "Buy!"
4. You will be able to use this deal within the next couple of days.  You can redeem either directly as a loan you choose yourself or as a Kiva card to give as a gift so your recipient you can decide to whom they'd like to lend.

30 Day Giving Challenge - Day 3

I actually thought Wednesdays would be easier for me to find an opportunity to give because I'm generally out and about a lot more on Wednesdays than any other day of the week.  It would stand to reason - the more people I see in a day the greater likelihood of finding a need to fill.  But after going to Bible Study this morning and NOT seeing the friend for whom I had a bag of hand-me-downs in the trunk, I was a little stumped.  Should I visit her at home?  Should I run home to grab some of the other donations I have yet to drop off at church?  I need to get this checked off my list!

Instead I prayed.  I prayed that God would give me an opportunity.

Later, while reading my round of deals blogs this afternoon, I stumbled upon an entry detailing a great deal on pajamas through crazy8.com ($7.99 a set, in case you're interested).  I had never heard of crazy8 until I found a 20% off coupon code in one of my magazines just last week - a coupon code I tried to give away to anyone who needed it but received no response.  And I have already been searching like a hound for the perfect p.j.'s for our children to open on Christmas Eve.  What luck!

I had a little wriggling thought in the back of my mind that someone else might now be able to use that code, but I also really wanted those p.j.'s.  So I told myself, "I'll just look.  And if I don't see something I like, I'll let someone else have the code."  I'll take selfish for a thousand, Alex.

And that darn wriggling thought just wouldn't go away.  I'd prayed for a way to give and here it was right in front of me!  And even though just sharing one 15-digit code doesn't seem like much by way of giving, it was actually quite the sacrifice for me.  To turn down a deal so that someone else might have the chance.  Little thing.  Big step for me.

Not just giving, but giving despite my own desires - that's what this thing is all about!

I also think it's neat that we're three days into this Challenge and I have yet to give financially.  Because that's a big excuse for some people - "I just don't have the money to give." - but money isn't the only resource with which God has blessed us.  Sometimes it's our time, sometimes it's our hospitality (even if it's just for animals) and sometimes it's something as silly as a 20% off coupon.  God gives us the resource - it's up to us to spend it wisely.

That, to me, is what Steadfast Stewardship is all about.

If you have not joined the 30-Day Giving Challenge, go ahead and jump on board!  We're only three days in, and if you're a super-rule-stickler, just count 30 days from here!

30-Day Giving Challenge - Day 1

It's November 1st!  The 30-Day Giving Challenge starts NOW!  If you've been on the fence or thinking this is just something for me, now is the time to pray over it and give your heart, finances, time and energy to God and see how He will use you in just these 30 days!

I had originally posted about giving my daughter's candy haul to Operation Gratitude but she barely garnered enough to merit the trip to the dentist, so for today I'll be giving my time to my wonderful sister-in-law who needs a hand today in her continuing effort to get her photography business off the ground.  As she rarely needs help, I'm happy for this opportunity to give to her in this way.

Now, I struggle when I consider the challenge over some concepts of giving.  As in, I would have given my sister-in-law my time whether I was participating in this challenge or not.  So, does that "count"?  I have to remember, though, that this Challenge isn't necessarily just about finding new ways to give, but about finding a way to give daily whether it's an opportunity I've sought out or one that would be normal for me anyway.  It's about allowing God to open my eyes to all the ways I can give of myself for His purpose - both in ways I'm already serving and in ways I'd never considered or wanted to bother with before.

So, today I'm giving my time.

What will you give today?

30 Days of Giving: Trick-or-Treating with a Purpose

Tonight is the night for Trick-or-Treating in the general Oklahoma City area (if not elsewhere in the country).  Typically we don't worry much about it as we tend to participate in the church's fall festival, but, clearly, when Trick-or-Treating is NOT on Halloween and the Festival IS on Halloween we find ourselves in the predicament of nowhere to go and not having candy for those ambitious little costumed candy-grubbers.  Thus, as an excuse to not be home, we'll be parading our little one up and down the street with her own bucket.

But does a two-year-old (or anyone, really) need that much candy?

Therefore, we'll be heading out on Monday to Impressions Dental here in Shawnee (2510 E. Independence) between 3:30-6:30pm when they'll be participating in the Halloween Candy Buy Back (follow the link to find a participating dentist in your area) for Operation Gratitude, which sends care packages to troops overseas.  They will be paying $1 per pound of candy, but as they also have to pay to send their hundreds of pounds of candy overseas and Monday starts the 30-Day Giving Challenge, we will take the opportunity to donate her extraneous candy without requiring payment in return, allowing them to hold on to their cash to cover the cost of shipping - giving and also keeping our home free of superfluous sugar?  Sounds like a plan.

In addition, I'll be taking our Trick-or-Treading turn around town as an opportunity to gather supplies for the local food pantry by Trick-or-Treating for canned goods.  I know the pantry tends to run low on many items and this is just one way to help them keep their shelves stocked and feel like we're Trick-or-Treating with a purpose.

Let me know if you have any other great ideas!

30-Day Giving Challenge: Blood Drive - November 6

When pondering the 30-Day Giving Challenge and various ways I may find to give, I stumbled upon the idea of donating blood as a means of giving.  After overcoming the fear in college, I have not donated for quite some time but am looking forward to trying again (I've been rejected as many times as I've actually donated).

There will be an OBI-sponsored blood drive at Shawnee Mall on November 6 from 10am-3pm.  I don't have many details and, as stated on the OBI website, dates and times are subject to change.  If you're interested in scheduling a time slot, visit here.  I will not actually be scheduling my time in advance because I'm a mom of two and the time I'll be available to slip away to donate is subject to change.

30 Day Giving Challenge

After reading this blog this morning, I am thoroughly looking forward to participating in the 30 Day Giving Challenge.  Simply, the Challenge is to GIVE in some fashion each day of November - and then document it (for your own purposes).  I've not yet decided whether my documentation will take place on this blog or in a private journal - probably a little of both.

I am really looking forward to how God will use this challenge to open my eyes to the needs around me and create in me an ever-growing awareness of where I can give more freely.  Part of the reason I love finding deals and saving money is because I find it affords me more opportunities to give to those in need.  I'm interested to see how God uses me during the following month.

Won't you join me?