Blessed 2 Bless Bags

You know giving money to the homeless is not always the best thing, but you can see that they have some needs. Why not keep a few blessing bags in your car to hand out to those in need.

About 6 months ago we were at a neighborhood Walmart Market. Sitting outside the store was a woman and a young child....probably about 18 months or so. She was sitting on the ground looking rather tired and hungry. People were just passing by her without a second look. I couldn't believe that no one was helping her. I stopped and bent down and asked her if she needed anything. She couldn't speak much English, but she was able to tell me that her baby needed baby food and milk. I felt horrible for her because she just kept repeating herself over and over again. So, while Joey and Presley waited in the car I ran into Walmart to buy her food. I felt so bad for her son and I thought to myself, "I can definitely do more than just buy her baby food and milk!" It's amazing how much food you can get for $30. Sadly, as I returned to give her the bags of food she had already left. I ended up taking the food with me to the food pantry at our local CCA where our Bible Study was serving the elderly in need the very next day. After this experience, I have often thought to myself, "I should have been more prepared, maybe they wouldn't have left."

Yesterday I mentioned the Blessed to Bless bags some of my friends from Bible Study and I got together to do while Presley was in pre-school the other day. So many people are doing this activity. Once it was brought up at Bible Study we decided we should all just get together to do it. Most of us learned about this idea on pinterest. When you click on the pin it immediately leads you to the woman behind the idea ;o) Julie's blog, "Joy's Hope." We followed Julie's routine and used most of her ideas on what to put into the bags.......click here to read her post. We came up with a verse and then I made some "Blessed to Bless" tags for the bags we put together. Click here to download the tags.

Here's a list of what we put in our bags.......
1 gallon Ziploc bag
toothbrush and toothpaste
brush (walmart has travel sized for $1)
deodorant
Tic Tacs
Trial size Ibuprofen/Acetaminophen
hand sanitizer
sunblock
body wash and shampoo
rinse free shampoo
Cheese and crackers
peanut butter and crackers
nutrigrain bar
Grammy Sammy (sandwich snacks found at Babies' R Us)
fruit cup
Plastic utensils and napkin
bible tract (I used Daily Bread)
McDonald's gift card
Pair of men's socks