Tapestry of Faith: Wonderful Welcome: A Program for Children Grades K-1

Taking It Home: The Gift Of Helping

Life's most urgent question is: What are you doing for others?

— Martin Luther King, Jr.

IN TODAY'S SESSION...

The children learned about the intangible gift of helping. Although helping is intangible, the results of help are tangible. The children made a Helping Hands Wreath constructed of their traced hands — a metaphor for hands linked together to help others.

The opportunity to help presents itself daily in concrete ways such as helping to clean the house. However, this session focused on helping people whom we will never meet, people who live very different lives from our own. The organization, Heifer International, empowers people by giving them farm animals to raise. Before receiving an animal, each family agrees to pass on the offspring to other families in need, thereby passing along the gift of helping.

EXPLORE THE TOPIC TOGETHER. Talk about...

how you contribute to organizations that help others. This can include contributions made through your congregation. Often congregations collectively sponsor organizations such as Heifer or Habitat for Humanity. Talk about why you have chosen to help. How does it feel to know that people you may never meet can improve their lives with your help?

EXTEND THE TOPIC TOGETHER. Try...

forgoing birthday gifts from one another so that family members can instead contribute money to a charitable organization. Point out that the birthday gift you receive is the gift of helping.