Giving Matters

Friday, October 27, we will head back to many of the sites we have been to often this semester: Miracle Place, Noble, Gleaners and Holy Family Shelter. Get excited! This would be a great opportunity to bring a friend who hasn't been to STARR for a great experience with kids at Miracle Place, with persons with disabilities at Noble (who are full of so much joy!), or to our other sites that provide longer-term support for concerns of family and poverty.

Serving others, loving our neighbor, matters. Let's take a couple of hours from our Friday afternoon to offer our time, hearts, hands and minds for others. And let's bring someone else who may honestly be very busy with good things (like many of us), and ask him or her to attend.

It is in giving of ourselves that we receive. Each of us has experienced that at STARR. Let's give again and get another to give, too.

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Why Reflect?: A Reflection

In case anyone was wondering, STARR features a double 'r'.  No, its not there for cutesy reasons, nor are we really bad at spelling.  When STARR was founded, it was originally STAR (Students Taking Active Roles), with the singular 'r'.  However, changes in the program led to the addition of another 'r', becoming STARR (Students Taking Active Reflective Roles).  So why the change?  What role does reflection play in our ultimate mission of Christian service?

Teach a Man to Fish: Respecting the Dignity of the Individual

One of my favorite hobbies is to watch TED talks on Youtube.  Briefly, TED is an academic forum for people, typically experts in their fields, to give short talks to an audience about whatever it is they're working on, and those talks are videotaped and posted to Youtube.  I watched a video by Josette Sheeran, who heads the UN's World Food Program, entitled "Ending Hunger Now."  I found this video to be rather fascinating because Mrs. Sheeran suggested that world hunger could be ended now if we are willing to take the collective steps to make that happen.  One idea she shared that I especially found relevant is the idea that, rather than just giving away food to those victims of hunger, we empower them to be the solution of their own problem, thus feeding them and stimulating their local economy.