Blessing those who Bless

If you've been following along,

You know that we met a young man with a beautiful soul - and how did we "meet" him. Only online. Which can be a VERY tricky thing. There are a lot of people who would rob you blind with a sob story quicker than you could blink. So, it was a very cautious approach to getting to really know him! I do not recommend that people randomly meet and help anyone on the internet. Please don't do that. Invest time (and more time) getting to know people. Watch their words, watch what they do with their time, what how they react... But if you do have the ability to bless someone - and you have done your research - bless wildly!

Back to our young man!

This guy! Wow. What a heart he has! Let me tell you how he has IGNITED HIS DREEM!

The thing that most impressed me about his excitement on this project was

• not the fact that he was going to be starting a new life for himself
• not that he was going to have a new way to provide for his mom and brothers
• not that he would hopefully have a successful new business.

No - the thing that impressed me the most was his JOY IN SERVING the children of the community. When we discussed the details, he got SO excited about the prospect of being able to train children to BREAK THE CYCLE of destitution in their lives.

Not only was he going to be able to teach them, feed them, and nurture them - but the training would give them opportunity to change their lives! and then TRAIN THEM to help others!

This is no simple task.

It's hard enough to change your life, change your career, and change your perspective! But when it involves other lives that will be dependent on you? The burden increases exponentially! But he was willing to take it on! Throughout each new challenge, we talked, prayed, and planned how to overcome each obstacle. And when he was just weeks away from selling his first harvest of fish - we SURPRISED him!

The SURPRISE FOR HIM AND HIS COMMUNITY

For his "Grand Opening", we held a fundraiser to raise half of the money for the fish sales, so that he could essentially bless his entire community with fish at a 50% discount.

Why half from us?

Because we wanted people from all around to come to his fish farm, and have a reason to buy HIS fish! We want to spread the word into the community that something special was coming/ Not just a place to buy fish, but a place to support the healthy growth of the children - who are the FUTURE of that community! When the arrived, they were be able to buy their fish at half price, and received a card explaining how the community of Uptrennd had blessed them by igniting George's drEEM.

Why half from them?

Because we believe that it's important that the community have some "skin in the game" as well. When people get things totally for free, and don't have to work for it - it's often taken for granted. We want each person to bring their portion, appreciate the discount, and then be blessed with our portion.

We asked for the community to share DURING CHRISTMAS!!!

And they showed up in ways that you wouldn't believe. I was so proud of that group of people (About 50 of them are here on Hive now - they came after Uptrennd was given away and died.) And the thing I love most about them? It didn't have to do with a platform - or a project - or an initiative. It had to do with love for another person. It had to do with giving something from themselves (during the holidays - when money is going toward EVERY other thing!!) and it didn't matter.
They gave, and they blew me away.

We raised so much that....

well 😊 I'll tell you tomorrow!