Zabrina Robinson, Southeast Regional Generations Project Coordinator, wanted to do something different to be a blessing at Christmas time. She writes, “Around October 2013 I begin to feel a sense that I was not going to take my usual trip home for Christmas. I sought God and begin to get a strong sense of wanting to make a significant difference in the lives of others. I had begun to get frustrated with how commercialized Christmas is; I felt there has been a loss of the "true" meaning of Christmas and felt compelled to do something about it.
Out of this a desire arose the notion to help as many families as possible during the week of Christmas. I shared this with my good friend in the northern VA area, and she was on board with helping out. As we talked we realized we wanted to not just help out with the basic needs most families would request (food and gifts), but we wanted to bless each family with unique 'acts of service'.
We decided to be adventurous and go on a mission in Northern VA to bless as many families as we could. I began to reach out via Facebook, a social media site, to get friends to connect me with families in need, while my friend reached out to those in her community. I was able to partner with a community center in Fairfax, Virginia, that needed someone to adopt the many families in their program that were in need.
I shared about my vision and they allowed me to select the families we wanted to bless. We then began to personally reach out to each family and listen to their story of need. We ended each call by asking them to describe what their family most needed, sharing that we wanted to do something 'out of the ordinary' for them and no request was too large or small. Most of the families were a bit shocked, and took at least 2 phone calls before they were able to articulate their true needs and concerns.
My friend and I then began to create a list of families, their needs, resources needed and how much time we needed to devote to each during the Christmas week. We began to see that the resources were beyond our personal finances, so again we reached out via Facebook and extended our requests to our friends, local churches and Toys for Tots.
Through all these efforts we were able to be a blessing to 6 Families - a total of 12 adults and 17 kids. All the families received gifts, food, a unique, tailor-made service for their family and plenty of LOVE. Some of the services provided to the families included: cleaning a home, helping a family move, babysitting, connecting with community resources to obtain new housing, re-decorating a bathroom, cooking Christmas dinner, providing fashionable work-clothes for a single-mother and spending time with a lonely grandmother. This is where the Love began to get established and new relationships were being built.
The families could not believe that someone was willing to do this. Many tears were shed, hugs were given, hope was instilled and lives were changed because 2 people chose to be The Blessing for this Christmas season. I am so thankful to have had this opportunity. It is the best Christmas gift I could have received.”
After the outreach, Zabrina is continuing to stay in contact with one of the families to help with housing and community resources. She has also remained connected with another family to help the mom with finding a job and with support with her struggles with depression.