One night in our youth group my friend Amanda shared with us that her sister Tonya was pregnant. Tonya and her husband Erik were only married six months and still living with Amanda's parents in a basement apartment that Erik built with the money he had put aside for college.
Now, I know how I would have felt if I were in that situation... and where my thoughts would have been. I would have been selfish, I admit it. How would this new baby affect MY life, how much money would be spent on the new baby instead of ME. So many thoughts raced through my head at that very moment. I had been to Amanda's house many times; it was cramped with the four of them to begin with ... now it would be five! They didn't have the money to support another child.
...Amanda continued on to say that God had blessed her with a new niece or nephew ... and that she was going to work every day after school at the library to help with the bills. All of us were stunned. She was being so selfless, and giving.
We as a youth group decided to do as Amanda did. Help support our family. No matter how small we thought we were at different times in our lives, together we would make a major difference. So, each of us pledged one day of after-school work to our church. Two of us swept the parking-lot, one of us cleaned the windows in the hall below the church ... and we donated one day's pay from our actual after-school jobs.
So, I would like to nominate our youth group ... and give the prize money to Amanda and her family. Thank you for your consideration.