sa-weet love's starfish story

The Starfish Story

By City Year

 

A young girl was walking along a beach upon which thousands of starfish had been washed up during a terrible storm. When she came to each starfish, she would pick it up, and throw it back into the ocean. People watched her with amusement.

She had been doing this for some time when a man approached her and said, “Little girl, why are you doing this? Look at this beach! You can’t save all these starfish. You can’t begin to make a difference!”

The girl seemed crushed, suddenly deflated. But after a few moments, she bent down, picked up another starfish, and hurled it as far as she could into the ocean. Then she looked up at the man and replied,

“Well, I made a difference to that one!”

The old man looked at the girl inquisitively and thought about what she had done and said. Inspired, he joined the little girl in throwing starfish back into the sea. Soon others joined, and all the starfish were saved.

- adapted from "The Star Thrower" by Loren C. Eiseley

Many of us have heard this story and reacted with ahhs and melting hearts. So, why am I sharing it now? Well, Des and I had the opportunity to be part of the Pregnancy Resource Center's open house and ribbon cutting ceremony for their new ultrasound machine and program. It was hot, er...I mean fun. We baked up some sa-weet treats (maybe that's why they invited us...) and took our girls to the event with us. There was a color guard, prayers, speeches, thank yous,  much awaited eating (oh wait, that was just our kids), and the ribbon cutting (talk about BIG scissors). Anyhoo, during the thank you portion, sincerest gratitude was being given to donors whose contributions were in the 10's of thousands of dollars. Yeah. "Fifteen thousand from this group, and matching funds from over here. Twenty thousand raised through this effort..." Amazing! I mean truly great. Jokingly I asked Des if she thought they would mention the $250.00 donated from Sa-weet Love. I then I felt a little deflated that our efforts seemed so miniscule and helpless.

Then, yes then - this is where it gets good - someone spoke about the benefits of offering ultrasounds to unsupported moms who might be on the fence about keeping their baby or aborting it. It was shared that most women who see their baby via ultrasound technology choose NOT to have an abortion. They choose to have the baby. They choose life. It was also communicated that this service - an ultrasound - costs $30. Great, right?? So, while mine and Des's contribution PALES in comparison to many gifts that have been given to the Pregnancy Resource Center - our $250 donation made a difference to 8 babies. Eight babies. That gives me goosebumps. I am so happy God revealed this truth to me - so that I won't focus on what we didn't do or what we cannot do - but what we did do and what we can do through Him. And like the starfish thrower, hopefully our efforts will inspire more people to get involved, so more babies can be saved. 

~Joah

Pregnancy Resource Center ultrasound program ribbon cutting

food 4 less bake sale

God was with us. That pretty much sums up our first bake sale. Oh, and it was cold. Those two things combined sums up our debut fundraising event.

With a monetary goal of $200 in mind, Des and I braved the cold weather (it was Memorial Day weekend, shouldn't it have been warmer?) and peddled our sa-weet stuff outside of Food 4 Less. While many people avoided eye contact with the red-headed duo (that would be Des and I), most people at least glanced our direction, and some even stopped at our table to check out our sale.

Oh, and a side note here, Des is the hard sell. Diabetics and celiac's were buying from her...

Through the sweet tooths of many and the generosity of a few, we exceeded our goal and were able to give $254 to the Pregnancy Resource Center. Most inspiring were the people who donated $20 and only took 1 or 2 sweets. They liked our cause. People tend to be more generous when you support a cause than when you try to raise money for eye liner or beer. Neat.

Even better than the cash we raised was the presence of God that illuminated our table. We asked Him to be present at our sale, and we prayed for His good and perfect will to be done. Through His grace we had opportunities to speak about the preciousness of life and to show the love of Jesus.

Des and I are overwhelmed by the support of our friends and community. We had three people buy or offer to bring us coffee. Many of our friends showed up just to buy some cake pops and cupcakes (that we have made for them dozens of times for free). And KDOV generously advertised our sale on the radio at no cost.

We excitedly look forward to our next sale and are anxious to see the good works God has planned for us to do.

~Joah

All set up by the Coke machines.

Moving shopping carts out of the way.

Got sa-weets?

big bake day

Tomorrow is our debut bake sale. Des, Jeanne, Amanda, and I spent today baking over 200 treats. Two hundred. That's a lot of baked goods. Des is a little concerned that we won't sell them all. She really wants to see a good turn out so we can give a big wad of cash to the Pregnancy Resource Center. I want to sell a lot so that I won't have to eat the leftovers. I foresee the waistlines of Des and I growing in indirect proportion to the success of our bake sale. She's the spiritual one. I am the practical one.

Des is also excited. Excited to go set up our lemonade stand and peddle our goods. I do not share her enthusiasm. I don't enjoy sitting out to sell things, talking to strangers, or smiling at people when they avoid eye contact with the crazy red heads with a cause. However, I am excited to see what God will do. We are doing this for His glory and I am excited to see how He will show Himself. God is in control of our sale tomorrow, and I wouldn't want it any other way.

~Joah

shopping, tour, facebook

I met with Des today. We went to Cash & Carry to scope out the bags, sprinkles, and cupcake wrappers. Let me just say how much I like Cash & Carry. If you are not familiar with this jewel, let me clue you in. It is a restaurant supply store, but it is open to the public. They have everything from soup and sugar to  salt shakers and aprons. It is behind Costco. It rocks. After meandering through the aisles, we bought some supplies for our debut sa-weet sale next week.

After our shopping spree we met up with the director of the Rogue Valley Pregnancy Resource Center and took a tour. All of the proceeds from our first sale will benefit this group. The Rogue Valley Pregnancy Resource Center is a faith-based organization, focused on promoting the values of the sanctity of human life, premarital abstinence, and marital fidelity in our community. All of their services are FREE and confidential. Fa-ree. (Like how I did that? With the hyphen? Matches  "sa-weet.") Because we believe in the sanctity of human life, Des and I fully support this organization that spreads the Pro-Life message.

We also started a facebook page. So, be sure to "like" it so you will know when and where we will be selling our sa-weet treats. The first Sa-weet Love sale is next week!

~Joah

our first gig

So, we got our first gig! We are setting up our bake sale table outside of Food 4 Less on Friday, May 27! Yesterday, we could not be more excited. We have plans to sell cupcakes, cookies, and the new craze - cake pops! We decided who is bringing the chairs, table, signs. We arranged childcare so we can be totally focused during our debut sale. We made plans to start a facebook page (be sure to "like" us once it's up and running). And, we have agreed to give our proceeds to the Pregnancy Resource Center and Hearts with a Mission.

That was yesterday. Today we are hit with the reality that there might be a lot more details that need to be worked out. Ya know, the kind of details that will keep us from getting fines or being sued - those kind of details.

So, as Des makes phone calls this morning to get the 411 on giving money away (that's all we are trying to do) I am praying that God will open the doors so we can honor Him with our gifts. We ask above all things, for His good and perfect will to be done.

~Joah

how it all started

My friends were having a garage sale last weekend. They invited me to participate. All my crap, er, I mean stuff, is in storage, so I didn't have anything to sell. But, I love these girls, and I wanted to play with them, so I decided to bake some cupcakes (my new found passion) and peddle my baked goods to the unsuspecting Central Point community. My capitalist idea to raise money for myself made a drastic 180° turn and turned into a fundraising effort for "Relay for Life" and "The Pregnancy Resource Center." Over a two day period I made $25 for each organization.

This morning, my friend Des called me with an idea that God put on her heart. Since we both like to bake - with real sugar and flour (yes, I know that is out of fashion) - and I did pretty well as the yard sale, maybe we could make some cookies and cupcakes each month, set up a stand somewhere (details still being worked out) and sell them to raise money for charity. Des, let me get this straight...I will get to serve God by baking? Ummm....yes please!

We are still praying about this and have many details to work out...but if it is God's will, it will be done. And now the fun begins...and has already began. We even have a name. But before the big reveal - let me tell you how it came to be...

Des knows these gals who make a yummy sauce and have since turned it into a business. They are the "Saucy Sisters." Since we are baking sweet items, Des was thinking maybe we could be the "Sa-weet Sisters." Sa-weet since we are super psyched and that is a much cooler was to say sweet, and Sisters since most people think we are. I wanted to incorporate something to do with our matching red hair. I mean, c'mon, we are both carrot tops and need to represent with pride. Thankfully Red Hot Sa-weets, Flaming Sa-weets, and Red's High Fructose Food (that one was my idea) didn't gain any momentum. Des was inspired this afternoon, and since we are baking for charity and our hearts' desire is to serve, she came up with a name that represents our goods and our calling.

sa-weet love

We are kindred redheads who love to bake and desire to serve...our sa-weets are off the hook!! (It's a work in progress...this is just the first draft.)

I can't wait to talk with Des face to face. Yup, all of this came about via text messages today. Ahhhh technology. But I am excited, and I know Des is too. God is good and He will iron out the details. I look forward to updating our progress and peddling our goods to help those in need.

~Joah