Grace by Richard Paul Evans

Last Thursday, October 30^th, was my 24^th birthday and one of the presents I received was the book “Grace” by Richard Paul Evans. He is also the author of “The Christmas Box” and “The Gift.” Anyways, last night I couldn’t sleep and I was about half way through this book so I decided to go read it after lying in bed for 30 minutes. I thought I would be out there for only 30 minutes and would be ready for bed. Well that 30 minutes came and went and I was still not tired so I reclined for another hour and finished the book. I was so touched by it that I wanted to share this information with everyone! At the end there is a Letter from Richard Paul Evans. I am going to quote it here:

“Dear Reader,

While the story you’ve just read is fiction, at this moment there are thousands of stories like Grace’s happening in real life.

Through the blessing of your readership and the help of many friends, I have been able to establish The Christmas Box International, an organization dedicated to building emergency children’s shelters and providing services for abused and neglected children. Since we started more than a decade ago, we have served more than twenty thousand children. Most of the children we help are young sometime just infants, and usually entering state custody or foster care for the first time.

With the release of this book we have launched an exciting new and massive project called The Christmas Box Initiative. Our goal is to help every youth in America who is aging out of foster care. Right now these youths face serious challenges including; crime, drug addiction, teen pregnancy, poverty, and suicide. With no one to help them, many of them return to abusive home situations or end up homeless and on the streets. We can make a difference, The Christmas Box Initiative is a four-phase plan.

Phase 1. Working with local child protective services, The Christmas Box International will provide Christmas Box Lifestart Kits to youths as they leave state care. These kits include simple but vital things youths need to start their transition to adulthood such as dinnerware, cooking utensils, a first aid kit, a tool kit, bed sheets, towels, and more, including important information to help these youths navigate life on their own. Giving these kits also connects us with these youths in a relationship of trust.

Phase 2. Assist communities in helping their own youth by creating “Christmas Box Rooms.” A Christmas Box Room would consist of a room or space supported by community members and agencies that would be used to collect and store items needed by youth in that area.

Phase 3. Assist in finding a mentor for each of these youths . A mentor could consist of an individual mentor or a mentoring family. This will be the most challenging of our goals but will eventually accomplish the most good.

Phase 4. Providing an information hotline and internet site to help these youth not only in crisis situations, but also in finding the many resources available to them, including housing and education.

Our ultimate goal is to help every one of these youths live happy, productive lives as law-abiding citizens and break the cycle of abuse and neglect they were raised with.

HOW CAN I HELP?

You can help by joining with Operation Kids in support of this program. Operation Kids is an international charity that has supported The Christmas Box House for nearly ten years. Their enthusiasm for this program includes a match of all donations received online. For only $100 you can provide a Christmas Box Lifestart Kit to a youth leaving foster care.

I know that you are probably already giving to many important charities. But if just one out of twenty of my readers decides to help one youth a year (about 27 cents a day) by donating to Operation Kids, your donations will result in the purchase of a Christmas Box Lifestart Kit for every transitioning foster child in America. Of course you or your business is welcome to assist as many youths as you like.

Will you be one of those special angels? I promise that one hundred percent of your donation will go to creating these kits, and Operation Kids support that promise. Any overhead associated with this program is covered through my book sales and the support of many wonderful individuals and organizations like Operation Kids. To join our cause, go to www.operationkids.org/lifestart and click on LIFESTART KITS. Or call 1-888-257-KIDS.

Thank you and God bless,

Richard Paul Evans”

Dale and I decided a couple of weeks ago that our budget for Christmas would be $100 per person. So after reading this and crying for an hour I decided that since this is the season of Thanks”giving” and Christmas is about giving I am not going to get any presents from Dale and TaKara but I am going to donate my $100 to this wonderful cause and help 2 youth leaving foster care get a Lifestart Kit. I know that not all of you may be able to do this so Richard Paul Evans and Operation Kids have set up another way to grow this cause.

JOIN THE RICHARD PAUL EVANS MAILING LIST AND HELP A CHILD

Everyone who joins Richard’s mailing list, Operation Kids will donate $1 to The Christmas Box International to help abused and neglect youth. To join now go to RichardPaulEvans.com and click on the Join the Mailing List button on the left hand side. Then type in your first name, state, and email address. (Note: Richard respects your privacy and does not share or sell his mailing list.) Thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to read this! Have a great Holiday Season!!