Random Philanthropy: #LunchAngels

You never know when you'll find something you thought you didn't need. Well today's post isn't about a new lipstick or recipe. Recently, during my late night office hours ("me" time/work on blog time/after Sky is sleep time) I had to opportunity to just wander about Facebook. Check in on the interwebs...caught up with a few friends, laughed at a few statuses, denied a ton of game requests...you know the usual Facebook adventures.  Now, I have tons of Facebook "friends", probably way too many so it takes a bit of attention grabbing to actually get me to stop and click on a link that is going to take me away from my mindless scrolling of the timeline! Well, one post had just enough to draw me away and I'm grateful I allowed it to do so. All of sudden I scroll past the most adorable faces smiling at me. It was a picture of a mother and daughter. Being a new mom and I absolutely had to stop and just reflect. Then I realized it was much more than just a tender moment caught by a camera. The photo had been attached to a gofundme.com account. So, first, Mom is a Falcon (#HBCUPride) and second, the kid is totally adorable and third, I know her fiance and he's a Falcon & blogger as well and pretty cool dude (*cough, cough #teamfife loves weddings btw)

Here is an except from their gofundme post:

"We have a huge population of homeless of all ages in Raleigh, and we want to do something about it. I want to make bagged lunches, stuff the bags with some essential items for homeless men and women such as personal care items, and a note of encouragement." 

What an awesome idea, right?! My husband and I (together and on separate occasions) have worked with programs to assist the homeless population in Raleigh. This lead me to want to get to know Mom and daughter a little better, so I asked Mom for an interview. Here it is below...

Q. Introduce yourself! (Bre) 

A. I am Bre. I can be found at @_missbre on twitter. 

Q. What does charity mean to you? (Jayden)

A. It makes me have a warm feeling inside of me. I like to think I did something good, I did something nice.

Q. Why did you want to start this project? (Bre)

A.Well, I wanted to start this project so that my daughter can understand social responsibility, but she actually came up with most of the idea.  I think that a lot of time people associate homelessness with bigger cities an that is just not the case.

Q. What do you want to be when you grow up? (Jayden)
A. I want to be an artist and a person that helps the homeless. 

Q. So many people have the ability to ignore homelessness, we drive past people on street corners, walk past people on benches downtown, why would you say it is important to pay attention to this issue? (Bre)

A. I can't ignore homelessness because I have been the homeless.  I am very blessed to be where I am and I want my daughter to understand that. We aren't too far removed as a people from being the needy.  Middle class (starts) at around 50K yearly and the average salary in RDU is 30-40K. That leaves a lot of us working paycheck to paycheck. 

Q. After you have completed this first project, would you like to do more in the future? (Bre)

A. Because the fundraiser is going so well, we are working towards next weekend, July 19 - 20. I would like this to become a monthly thing. I know that hunger is an everyday problem and we want to do all we can to help.  Since it is the summer, I also want to focus on bringing lunch to children that are out of school for the summer.

Q. Besides funds, how can we help with this cause? (Bre)
A. Money is a small part of this effort. A HUGE way to help is to spread the word. 

Q. How does it feel to know you are helping other people? (Jayden)  
A. It feels SO good! It feels great! I feel very happy!

Donate here: 

Community service and philanthropy are very near and dear to my heart...its a passion that I share with my husband and we intend to share with it our daughter. Helping people isn't to get public recognition for it but it is just the right thing to do. Here is one of the many reasons of why I was inspired to help.

James 2:14-17 

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. (ESV) 

Click >>> #LunchAngels for more information! 


Talk to you later lovelies,


~Shan, Ms. Naturally Random