Bridges UMC Gratitude Project
The people of Bridges Church want to live a life of generosity and gratitude, plus they want to support people taking steps to engage in service projects and community outreach. They started a monthly Gratitude Project to meet new people and show our gratitude for the hard work of our neighbors. Every month, Bridges people gather for 15 minutes after worship to fill brown paper lunch bags with prepackaged goodies, such as candy, granola bars, chips, microwave popcorn and other fun items.

They include a card that says, "Just for You, Just Because: Thanks for all you do for our community." People of all ages help fill the bags, from toddlers to 90+. The gratitude bags have gone to many groups around our community, such as police officers, fire station, public library staff and volunteers, humane society, city bus drivers, garbage collectors, city street staff, county jail employees, elementary and middle school staff. For the last set of bags, the department manager had all the employees come in for a "meeting" and our volunteers got to give the bags directly to every employee. Some of the recipients have noted that they have never gotten a thank you from anyone for the work they do for our community. This project has been great for new people at church to try a service project, and for introducing our church to the community. It reminds us to be aware of all the people who work hard to bring our community together.
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