Dime Store Dream Come True
A WINTER RELIEF STORY
As Pam wandered around the Dollar Tree looking for Bingo prizes, she never imagined how God would use one of the items to bring a smile to Nan’s face.
No Bingo this year.
That was the word passed down from who-knows-where. The Winter Relief guests and volunteers alike were crestfallen. Playing Bingo for a chance to win prizes is the highlight of the week for many of the Winter Relief participants.
Pam and a few other volunteers decided that everyone NEEDED some Bingo in their lives. Pam climbed into her car and headed to the Dollar Tree to pick up some prizes. Right away a decorative sign with a saying about friendship caught her eye. She passed it by thinking that a decorative sign was probably the last thing a person without a home would want.
She continued to pick up more practical items. Fun socks, pretty headbands, scented lotion… But her heart kept going back to the sign. She finally added it to the pile in her basket thinking that surely no one would want it.
Later, as Pam set up the prize table for Bingo Nan, a Winter Relief guest, was immediately interested in the sign. Pam recalls, “How I just wanted to say ‘go ahead, and take it’ but it wasn’t my place to give away the bingo prizes and so I just prayed that she would win it. “
Pam didn’t stick around for Bingo as she had to run some errands, but upon her arrival back at church she noticed that the sign was absent from among the prizes. “I asked around as to who had won” Pam said, “and when I heard that Nan was one of the winners and that she picked the decoration, the one thing that I was for sure nobody would want, my heart was filled with joy.”
Such a simple thing.
Pam adds, “Now I know that it was God who was leading me to select that item for Nan and I’m so glad I listened. She was so very happy. When you consider the hardships that our guests go through on a day to day basis, and that something so simple as an item from the dollar store could bring such joy – well, that is what serving at winter relief is all about – seeing that joy.”
EA