Stories
This is a new page we are adding to the website to share with you a few stories that will warm your heart and give you a flavor of what's happening with the New Leaf Foundation.
The Car - May 2008
The husband from one of our families was recently released from prison. While there he gave his life to Christ, got married, inherited a family, wrote a book, and wrote out all of the things he wanted to accomplish when he was released. He had turned his life around...no doubt about it. Pastor Ken Gilliard and I met with he and his wife and truly felt his passion to follow Christ and do the right thing. Unfortunately, during his quest to find a job he found what you might expect, rejection. No one wanted to hire someone who just got out of prison. We prayed with them and gave them a Prayer Journal to record their prayer requests, hopes, fears, and ambitions. We wanted them to record the miracles God was going to do in their lives. He and his wife now pray together and write in their journal every day. It is amazing what has happened.
One of the things he really needed in order to get and maintain a job was a car. They purchased one on their own for $6500 and were paying 22% interest. Their payments were bi-monthly and if they were late the little black box in the car's engine would not allow it to start. The car spent more time in the shop than it did on the road. Then they discovered the odometer didn't work. They had a lemon! We went and met with the dealer and he agreed to take the car back and refund the entire purchase price. Praise God! Unfortunately, now they were back to square one; no job and no car.
We sent out an email to those who have signed up to receive them and within 24 hours we got a phone call from one of our members who agreed to pay for a car. Now all we had to do was to find THE car. There are thousands of cars for sale, but we firmly believed that God had only one car waiting for us. We just had to find it! Through what can be described only as God ordained circumstances, we found THE car. It was $4500 and the member who agreed to pay for it pulled together some friends and wrote one check to us for the entire amount. Praise God! However, we kind of forgot about the taxes and title for the car which totaled an additional $203. Later that day I opened the mail and another member had sent in a check for $200. Wow…that was neat. But it gets even better. There is a coffee shop in Ballantyne Village called It’s A Grind that is selling our Village Pass for us. I stopped by to check on them. There had been no coupon book sales, but the waitress said that someone had donated their change that day to New Leaf Foundation. You guessed it! It was a $3 donation. Coincidence? No way. There were exactly 3 donations made that totaled the EXACT amount paid for the car. Not one penny more, not one penny less. God’s hand is all over this organization and our mission to support needy families in inner-city Charlotte.
The story doesn't end there. When we arrived on that Monday morning to pick up the car we found a large rock on the roof of the car. It had been used to bust up the windshield. The steering column and turn signal had been ripped apart as someone had tried to hotwire the car. We assume that in frustration that they couldn't steal the car, they decided to vandalize it. Our first reaction of shock was quickly overtaken by sorrow. Sorrow for the person who perpetrated the crime. Can you imagine being the person who vandalized God's car? Out of all the cars on the lot, some less expensive and most more expensive, why this one? I truly feel sorry for that person.
We went ahead and paid for the car. The owner of the dealership agreed to get the car fixed and provide a loaner car until all of the repairs were complete. He is a man of his word. So this Monday morning purchase had lasted a lot longer than we expected. But in the end our friend drove off the lot with a loaner car.
He called me during his lunch break the next day which was his first day on his new job. He said, "You know John I've always wondered why these people I'm working for had wanted me to start work on a Tuesday. Most new jobs you start on Monday. I even asked around to other people who work here and they all said they work on Mondays. They told me weeks ago that I was going to start this Tuesday. Now I know why. God didn't provide the car until Monday! I couldn't have made it to work on Monday."
Praise God from whom ALL blessings flow!
A Christmas Story
In speaking with Pastor Ken Gilliard of
As these thoughts consumed me, it became apparent that one of the biggest tragedies of Christmas for the families and children that we work with is not that they don’t receive presents (we make sure of that!). It’s that they don’t have the opportunity to enjoy the blessings of giving; giving to their children, giving to their parents, giving to family, giving to friends, and certainly not giving to strangers. So we came up with a way for a few families to experience this blessing, and were shown a couple of ways that was totally unexpected!
In the after school program we work with, A Better World, the children earn incentive points throughout the year. They earn points for good grades, good behavior, etc. At the Christmas party each year they use these points to “buy” presents for themselves from the Incentive Room. This is a constant motivator throughout the year and a real highlight of the party. This year we included three greeting cards that the child could purchase as a gift for their mom. Whether the child had earned 100 points or 1000 points, the cost of the greeting card was ALL of their points. They had to sacrifice everything they had earned to give this one small gift for their moms. One young man and two young ladies made the sacrifice.
During the main gathering of the Christmas Party we explained to the over 250 in attendance the sacrifice these three young people had made. We told who the children were and invited the three mothers and their children to come up to the front of the room. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house! We presented the mothers with their greeting cards from their child. As they opened the card, it now had a $50 gift card to Wal-Mart inside. A gift the children did not know they were giving. We then recognized the sacrifice and spirit of giving exemplified by the children and presented them with $50 in cash so they could go and buy whatever they chose.
Two Very Special
Children
One of the families we work with is a mother and her two daughters, 14 and 10 years old. At the Christmas party neither of the two girls had the opportunity to select the greeting card as a gift for their mom. All three cards had been taken before the girls made it to the Incentive Room. I was there when the oldest daughter was shopping with her incentive points. It was very strange because all of the gifts she was buying were for little kids. It was odd, but I really didn’t think much about it. About an hour later the mother came running up to me and explained that when her daughter left the Incentive Room, she took the toys she bought with her points and gave them all away to some of the younger kids who were there. WOW…what a beautiful heart!
Later on during the party, the youngest daughter won the grand prize in our drawing, a brand new bicycle! Everyone was so excited for her. Now this daughter already had a bike, but it was older and this new one would be perfect. But this child truly understands the blessings of giving. Rather than keep the new bike for herself, she knew of another child who didn’t have a bicycle. You already know what happened…she gave the bike to the less fortunate child.
Yes, there are some very special people that we work with through the New Leaf Foundation. Many have been helped and there will be many more in the future. But it’s during times like this Christmas party that make me wonder exactly who is being blessed here? Who is being served? Who is being taught the invaluable life lessons? To Christ be the glory!