There are many creative ways to make a lasting difference in a child’s life, which is making a difference in a family’s life, which is making a difference in a community’s life. You could:
DO something you love! More important than any of the ideas listed below, please feel freedom to advocate and serve in ways that carry your own fingerprints.
HOST a benefit concert in a coffee shop, church, or community center. (See what this could look like).
SEW dolls or blankets for the children at Shevet, like this group of ladies did.
RUN a marathon or triathlon to raise awareness and/or surgery funds for Shevet Achim.
HIKE a mountain to raise awareness and/or surgery funds for Shevet Achim, like these men from Wales did (post of Sept. 16, 2012).
CREATE a piece or pieces of artwork of children at Shevet, and display them at a local center. Give us digital copies, and we’ll post them to our website too! See what Rachel in Washington State put her hands to (post of Dec. 26, 2011).
TRANSLATE a child’s blog into a different language. If you are bi-lingual or more, helping us make blogs available in languages other than English opens up Shevet Achim to whole new groups of people. After all, the best place to begin introducing people to Shevet Achim is not with words like “organization” or even “community,” but with the story of a single child.
CHALLENGE your church to save the life of one child in December as a Christmas gift to the world, or to save one child in the spring as Lenten Collection, like this church did.
TALK to friends and family, your church or Bible study, local children’s or humanitarian organizations, high school and college groups, or any man or woman on the street, letting them know about Shevet Achim.
WRITE articles for the local newspaper, or blog about Shevet.
ORGANIZE a booth for Shevet Achim at an activity fair in your area. Let us know beforehand, and we will get good materials (newsletters, magnets, posters, etc.) to you.
CAMPUS CHAPTER – if you are in college, a campus chapter for Shevet Achim advocacy could be….anything you want it to be. Make a difference during your college years.
FAST one meal or one day in order to pray for Shevet Achim and the peoples of the Middle East.
CREATE a video or write a song that communicates the message of Psalm 133. Something like this may work.
PAINT murals in local places that display what unity and Psalm 133 looks like in your own community.
BAKE treats for your community, and have a donation option for children’s heart surgeries, like this group of high school girls did (post of Mar. 11, 2012).
PRINT off photographs from our children’s gallery, and make them into personal postcards for your friends, family, or church.
PRAY personally or with a group for the children at Shevet, like this group of children does.
SHOW a Shevet clip to some friends and talk about it afterwards. (Here are a few videos to choose from.)
LINK to Shevet Achim’s website from your personal website, Facebook page, or blog.
LIKE Shevet’s Facebook page, and updates from Jerusalem will make it into your live stream.
DANCERS/MUSICIANS might think about showcasing their talent in a combo-event with dance recital and music performance woven together.
INVITE someone from the Shevet community in Jerusalem to visit your group and share. You can write to this address to make an invitation.
AUCTION off dates or servants for Shevet. What this means is, at an event in your community, you could hold a human auction either for one day’s labor (being a servant) or one night’s companionship (dates), and put the proceeds towards a good cause.
GIVE your birthday presents to the children at Shevet, like six-year old Shiloh did (post of Feb. 23, 2012).
GOLF TOURNAMENT – host a tournament for charity with your local course, perhaps partnering with a church or several churches in your area.
BIKE – a long distance bike ride could be hosted to raise awareness and/or funds.
SUBSCRIBE to the Sunday Letter, a weekly reflection from our director about what is happening in the region.
DOWNLOAD a newsletter and share it with your community.
DONATE your birthday on Facebook to Shevet Achim. Through Facebook Causes, on your birthday you can ask people to give towards heart surgeries for children instead of giving you a present or writing on your wall. A good way to make your birthday count! One member of our community raised over $600 for his birthday! Click here to start a birthday wish; click here to join our cause page; click here to follow our normal Facebook page with updates on children and other happenings in Jerusalem.
BOWLING – organize a bowling night at your local alley. Perhaps teams could raise a minimum of $500 to enter? That’s $100 per person. Each person can ask ten friends for ten bucks.
CONNECT with Jewish, Muslim, or other minority groups in your area, and share with them the Shevet Achim spirit of brother- and sisterhood. Maybe one of these events could be co-hosted with another group?
WALL OF HEARTS – at your local community center, coffee shop, school, or church, create a station where people can make a heart with art materials and pin it to a visible wall with a donation. It would be beautiful if each heart also had a picture of the child it was going to help! Because it costs $8,000 for one heart surgery, perhaps it could be a goal to save one child’s life with one wall of hearts?
GARAGE SALE – getting rid of extra stuff? Perhaps a portion or all of the sales could be donated towards children’s heart surgeries.
BUILD your event around a holiday or social event that already exists, like pulling on “heart themes” for an event around Valentine’s Day.
DINNER – a dinner event could be held to share the message, mission, and story of Shevet Achim.
*If you use one of these ideas, please let us know! We would like to link an article with pictures so that it can be an encouragement to other local leaders thinking of using the same idea. Also, if you have any brilliant ideas that do not appear in this list, please help solve the problem and write to [email protected].