Update: Simpson Shelter moved into first place in the voting last week. Help them stay in the lead and win a $25,000 kitchen makeover. Will you please help?
What’s the contest?
The Family Handyman magazine and IKEA are co-sponsoring a contest called “Rescue Remodel” running through March 30 to award one community organization an IKEA kitchen makeover worth up to $25,000. Here’s what the contest at RescueRemodel.com says:
Deserving community organizations from across the country were nominated by their communities to win an IKEA® dream kitchen through our Rescue Remodel Contest. The organization with the most votes will receive a dream kitchen renovation valued at $25,000. And since it’s all from IKEA®, it will be full of smart and innovative ideas to make their lives a little bit easier so they can better serve our communities.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkPUR1dPEa0?rel=0&w=420&h=315]
One of the largest homeless shelters in Minnesota, this outreach ministry has taken over the basement and kitchen real estate of Simpson United Methodist Church and it’s up to volunteers like you, me, and dozens of inter-faith congregations coming together to provide meals, personal supplies, and services to men and women who desperately need a helping hand in their second chance.
The other four organizations eligible for the prize all look like phenomenal causes, important to their communities. I make no judgment as to who is more “worthy.” What I will say is that I have taken a couple hundred teens to Simpson Shelter in the past eight years and the impact of seeing poverty face to face has changed many hearts. Many of these teens are of privileged families and now have a better sense of what it is to serve in the world and to see the “other” as human. I remember one young man on his first visit, his eyes wide open, told me, “Nate, I had absolutely no idea.”
You can help Simpson Shelter help men and women be served and men and women serve.
What Can I Do?
- Vote every day between now and March 30.
- Create a daily reminder to vote on your smart phone calendar.
- Spread the word. Point a friend to this or my last post, post it on your own blog, tell your church or school or workplace. Anyone with an email address can vote.
A few ways to see this:
- If 20 of you read this and commit to voting today, that’s an extra 20 votes.
- If 20 of you read this and commit to voting every day through March 30, that’s an extra 400 votes.
- If 20 of you read this and don’t vote, that’s 0 more votes.
Thank you for reading, this and The Life Mosaic in general. I hope you will consider supporting Simpson Shelter and spreading the word.
-nm