C4C2016:HOMECOMING
We are now less than two weeks away from an event that has been a long time coming. Long time coming for several reasons: first, is that this event was originally planned to take place in December of 2015, but due to a great run by both Mansfield High School and Lake Ridge High School in the state football playoffs we moved the event out. Second, it's also been a long time coming due to the nature of the cause: helping orphans in our community.
Adoption is a topic very close to the heart of C4C and specifically my family. In 2009, a 3 year old little boy from North Carolina had just been turned into an agency by his mother. She had decided that she could no longer give him a safe place to live and support him in a way that she would have liked. Coincidentally, at that time, our family was prayerfully waiting for an opportunity to have an impact on the life of an orphan. At the time that we got the call, everything was wrong. Timing was bad (we were moving back to Texas literally the next day), Convenience was gone (he was 6 hours away and we had a lot to do before preparing for the move), Finances were going to be tough as we tried to sell a house in SC and buy a house in TX (this was 2009 remember). But we couldn't say no.
Almost 7 years to the day (Adam James Thompson joined our family on Feb 21, 2009) we get an opportunity to share that story and many others of families just like ours that been blessed by adoption.
I'm thankful for the folks at Covenant Kids that are joining us. These are folks that have a huge heart for the kids like Adam right here in DFW, whose whole purpose in their job is to support these kids and the families that have taken the step to welcome them home.
Please don't sit around your house on Saturday 27th, please don't choose to do yard work over having fun with us and please don't miss this opportunity to participate in an event that has great potential to change lives, maybe a young person's. . . maybe yours.
Follow the like under the "Tournaments" tab above and get your team registered today.
J. D. Thompson - Director: Caring for Community
C4C at 5 years!
Raise your hand if you were part of Help the Howards? Thank you. I see all 8 hands up! Maybe I should rephrase that: if you were signed up for Help the Howards before a day before the event . . .yes those are the 8 hands.
It really was 5 years ago tomorrow that Caring for Community was born. I still remember the week leading up to the event. Late nights sewing bags, building the boards we would play on, begging people to play this game they had never heard of, worrying about the weather holding out for our outdoor event. I still remember the torrential downpour that came Fri night and into Saturday morning and the last minute phone call from my good friend offering up his venue for the day. (Try to tell me God doesn't love a good cornhole tournament!!). I still remember the 2 hours of round robin play leading up to the eventual tournament. I still remember the ridiculous payouts we promised (again praise God it was all donated back!). And I'll never forget sitting across from that family several days afterwards, as strangers, we presented a check for almost $2000. That feeling is powerful, almost intoxicating. It drove us to do more! Even today the best part about every tournament is not the fun we have, but the opportunity to help someone.
I'd like to believe we have come a long way. Although, I don't sew bags or build boards anymore, some things never change - begging people to play and constant worry about weather seem to be constant!
Thanks to some great influences C4C has continued to grow. As of today we have given away more than $40,000 and helped raise an additional $7000 for other charities. We've had nearly 300 people take part in our tournaments, built great relationships with an incredible group of sponsors (see that panel on the right side of this page) and continue to desire to do more in our community.
So for anyone that follows along with C4C thank you. Obviously, this doesn't happen without great people supporting us. Supporting us with their time, with their prayers, with their wallets - it's all very much appreciated. We are looking forward to whatever is next for C4C. . . (which by the way happens to be a tournament May 30th at the Mellow Mushroom in Mansfield click here for details
J. D. Thompson - Director: Caring for Community