The Spero Project

We're on Day 3 of highlighting some ways that your small group could serve together in your local community even when schedules are conflicting or you just want to get your feet wet with serving and aren't quite ready to 'jump in' with a major service opportunity that requires a lot of commitment.   Be sure to check back if this sounds like your group--maybe we'll give you an idea that would work great for your group!

Write Notes:
Find an agency that serves individuals of a specific population (single mothers, elderly, etc.) so you know who to direct the notes to.  Contact that agency and ask them if they would appreciate hand-written notes for their clients.  Let them know you don't need names unless they want to give them to you and that you will bring them the notes with unsealed envelopes--agencies will be responsible for what they give clients and will have to monitor what they hand out.

Distribute blank note cards to your group and have them write encouraging notes to individuals.  You might not know names, so you'll have to be creative in how to address them.  'Just a note to let you know that I have prayed for you specifically tonight..' or something similar works great.  Be sure to remember to pray for that person if that's what you tell them you're doing!  Then, simply deliver the unsealed notes to the agency for them to distribute.

We're on Day 2 of highlighting some ways that your small group could serve together in your local community even when schedules are conflicting or you just want to get your feet wet with serving and aren't quite ready to 'jump in' with a major service opportunity that requires a lot of commitment.   Be sure to check back if this sounds like your group--maybe we'll give you an idea that would work great for your group!

Host a Resource Drive:
Find out from an agency their most pressing needs of NEW items (diapers, shoes, school supplies, etc.).  You may find this on their website or ask a staff member.  Register under your name for those things at a local store that has a gift registry.  Then throw a party!  Invite people to a dinner party, to watch a sporting event, or just invite your existing small group to a special night together.  Ask everyone to bring an item off the registry and you can take it to the agency later. 

NOTE:  The goal of this is to take the burden off the agency.  So, you might consider letting everyone know up front that they will not receive a donation receipt for the item.  Or, you may ask the agency if you can gather the names, addresses, exact items given and they can send a year-end receipt easily.  Try to make it as easy on the agency as possible!

Your group will have fun and you'll be impacting your community along the way!  Trust us--you'll be one of their favorite groups if you take the administrative work out of the process for them! 

Well, it's time to go back to our roots!  When The Spero Project started our blog a few years ago, before we were running programs or managing volunteers, it was designed to help individuals, small groups, and churches discover the most effective ways to care about their local and global communities.  That's still our goal as an organization--we don't intend to be a 'landing point.'  We want to help people find the best place to serve, engage, and grow anywhere that happens and with whatever organization is the best fit.  But, our blog has been sadly left behind! So we're resolving to:
1.  Actually post on our blog.  That's a very strategic step for having a blog, we think :)
2.  Not only use it to tell you what's going on at Spero, but also (or mostly) use it to share about needs/organizations/activities in the community and encourage and equip you to play a part.

So...TADA....here's our first attempt.  We hope you like it!

SERVING AS A GROUP
If your group is just starting to learn how to serve together, your season of group life makes serving on someone else's schedule challenging, or you just want some creative ways to serve ANY organization--try these ideas and get started changing your community one step at a time!  Here are some general ideas of ways to serve that don't require you to be at an agency in person at the same time during working hours, but still give you plenty of opportunity to make a HUGE impact.  We'll post 5 ideas over the next few days and we'd love it if you'd try one!

1. Host a Benefit Garage Sale.  When you have clothing, household, and other items to donate, chances are others in your group do, too.  Consider contacting an agency that you support and offering them two options:
A.  They may need the items that you would like to donate.
B.  They may need money for program costs more.
Be sensitive to the organization's true needs and be willing to put a little work into it.  The hardest things for an organization to fund are the day-to-day costs of operations like utilities, insurance, and staff costs.  Pool your items together and host a benefit garage sale, then donate your funds (un-designated!) to the agency.

NOTE:  Often, a board of directors for a nonprofit does not allow an outside group to fund-raise explicitly for their organization to ensure that they maintain control of activities and publicity.  Be sure to find out from the agency if it's OK to specify that money is going toward their organization and be gracious if not.  It it's permissible to use their name, consider putting a donation jar out at the garage sale.  If it's not allowed per their board/staff/bylaws, host the garage sale anyway!  No one has to know where the money is going.  The agency will still be blessed by your gift.