Advanced Writers and Speakers Association (AWSA) has partnered with Manners of the Heart Community Fund, a nonprofit organization in Baton Rouge, La., to reach children displaced or affected by Hurricane Katrina.

Jill Rigby, Manners of the Heart's director, is asking elementary school children to fill lunch sacks with items such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, combs, pencils, erasers, stickers, glue sticks and crayons along with notes of encouragement. The bags will be passed out to children affected by the hurricane. The initiative is called Project: To My Friend.

“The children of the storm are so wounded they can't hear the gospel-they have to feel it,” said Rigby, also a member of AWSA. “And right now, they need a young friend to help them know someone cares and is praying for them. Otherwise, we are going to see a generation of children so damaged they grow up to become adults who are bitter at both God and the world.”

Jill suggests each letter contain Scriptures such as 1 John 4:7-”Dear friends, let us love one another”-along with promises to pray for the evacuated child and their family.

“One of the objectives of Manners of the Heart is to give children opportunities to experience how good it feels to serve others,” Rigsby said. “We're building self-respect in our children, which is much more important than self-esteem. Self-respect comes from serving others, not self.” She suggested that “this project is a rewarding activity for families, public-school classrooms and Sunday school classes.”

More information is available online at www.ProjectToAFriend.com

• Prev
• Next