On Saturday, December 4, 2010, Children's Hunger Fund hosted their annual Toy Wrap volunteer event. Since 1991, CHF has given hundreds of thousands of toys to needy children across America and around the world. When you give a child a toy, you are also giving away hope and love this holiday season.
All three CHF facilities (Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Antonio) shared their holiday spirit by inviting faithful volunteers to wrap toys for needy kids. In Chicago, we wrapped over 20,000 toys (and books) in less than three hours. 
I have had the pleasure of being involved with the staff of this great organization for over 6 years and the experience keeps getting better. There were just about 500 great volunteers and we enjoyed the time spent with volunteers, churches around the Midwest Area and just a heartfelt appreciation for Children’s Hunger Fund and their goal and desire to help those in need.
My family and I have taken our responsibility of helping those in need very seriously. We have been giving to causes like these and we cannot tell you the blessing that we see in return. I don’t want to mislead you, because it is not always a monetary blessing nor is it anything like that. The Bible talks about not letting your right hand see what the left hand is doing. When we do this, it pleases our Father God and he knows where our hearts stand.
My wife and I believe that it is crucial parenting skills to teach our kids selfless acts of service and giving. After all, Christmas, that is CHRISTmas is not about what we get in presents but about a gift of love from our God. Christmas is about love and about a Savior promised to save us. For God loves us so much that He sent His only Son to die for us and rise again so we can all be saved.
Besides volunteering time and money for Children’s Hunger Fund, my family and I also give to charitable causes that pull our hearts to give. Many of us in this economy may not have the gift of giving financial offerings, however, we have the gift of time. We have the ability to make a difference in other people’s lives. Whether that is working for someone or just serving someone else, it doesn’t matter. What matters is when you give something and expect nothing in return.
The gift that returns is priceless.
There is a movie that I think that encapsulates this whole act of giving and just incorporates what every day of the year should be about. The movie is called, The Ultimate Gift. Without giving to much away, I have included the promo for this movie. I highly recommend watching it before Christmas.
James 1:27 says the following, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
Think about it, society teaches us to put ourselves first. Christ teaches us that to be first in the Kingdom of God, a leader must be last, that is, he must put himself in the place of a servant- a Servant Leader.
What are some ways that you have made a difference in this World?
Dante