When Thrive! started the goal was as simple 1, 2, 3!

1. Connect with women and help re-establish the sense of true community that has been lost.
BY
2. Providing women with the resources they need to grow in their personal lives.
SO
3. They can give back to their local communities and proceed back to Step 1

I am so pleased to tell you that even though we are still a new organization so many of us are already rising to the task. I just received this letter from Thrive member Crystal Hayes-Bogicevic who was out on www.livewiththrive.ning.com and came up with this idea in response to the challenge “What is your idea to change your community!”  

I just thought I would share this with all of you because it just knocked my socks off!

    “Celebrating a Christ-Centered Christmas
One Family at a Time” 

 Just to warn you, this is not your typical Christmas letter.  This letter is not meant to boast about our family, but to encourage us all to think twice about the real meaning of Christmas.  As we all know times are tough for many families across the United States, but especially in Detroit and the state of Michigan.  In order to break the strong hold on our cities and communities in Michigan, we are doing a spiritual fast from gifting this year.

As a family, blessed by God, only through God, we have decided to put Christ back in to Christmas! We have decided that the amount of money we would normally spend on plastic toys that end up in the bottom of the toy box, or that sweater that we would never wear, we are pledging to give the same amount of money and service to the works of the Lord this Christmas.  After all, it is the birth-day of Christ, and when exactly did we become the guest of honor at his party?

Through our commitment of not purchasing gifts for family and friends, and not accepting gifts this year, we are doing a spiritual fast to help “our family” remember what this special time of year is all about.  We are asking our loved ones to understand that this fast is not a reflection of how we feel about them, but a restrain to give to those in dire need this holiday.   

As a family we are allocating our time and monetary gifts in the following areas: 

• Local Support: Giving a financial gift to a local family who has been laid off or ill
• Military Support: Help finance a soldiers trip home for the holidays
• International Missions: Helping those in Iran suffering and dying to uphold their faiths
• Cell phones for Soldiers:  Collecting used cell phones for soldiers (Alex’s work)
• Pennies for Patients: Cameron and Chloe will donate all of our pennies to this cause
• Community Service: Donating 40 hours of service to the Grace Centers of Hope
• Toys for Tots: Cameron and Chloe will be donating toys to two boys and two girls
• Adopt a Highway: Image Is Design, LLC. Will adopt a highway for years to come

This celebratory vow includes asking family and friends not to give our family any gifts, but asking that if they are in the giving mood, that they share in a cause to further the works of Christ this holiday. 

 If you are interested in forwarding this message as your family’s Christmas letter, you can download a copy at www.livewiththrive.com and click on “Thrive This Christmas” then revise the letter to suit the areas of fasting for  your family.  This decision is not to be taken lightly, as it may be a sacrifice for everyone, especially the children, but after all isn’t Christ worth if. 

We look forward to seeing how Christ is moving our families, communities, cities, and states, so please join us in posting your pledges at www.livewitththrive.com and put Christ back into Christmas.  We believe that in order to change the city of Detroit and the state of Michigan, it must start at home.   

Merry Christmas,

The Bogicevic’s 

For more information about how you can help any of the above causes please visit: 

Grace Centers of Hope, Pontiac, MI:         www.gracecentersofhope.org

Let’s Bring em’ Home:              www.lbeh.org

Cell Phones for Soldiers:          www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com

Toys for Tots:                 www.toysfortots.org

For more service ideas to get involved as a family: 

Habitat For Humanity:    www.habitat.org

Donate Blood or volunteer:   www.redcross.org

Adopt a highway:    www.michigan.gov/mdot 

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