How far can a Benjamin go? A lot farther than you think. You were challenged to think of a way to stretch $100 as far as it will possibly go to get as much community impact as possible. The five best and most creative submissions were announced on Sunday, September 30 and they will receive $100 to do their project, which will be documented by video.

HERE ARE THE IDEAS THAT WERE SELECTED:

College kids need to improve their noodles too!
To be completed by a Rock Solid small group
The Benjamin will be used to buy lots and lots of ramen noodles. The Rock Solid members will carry them to several locations on UNL’s campus and bless the college students who don’t always have lots of money, by providing nourishment and care. It will be a fun way to share God’s love. Because children are our future.

Mission: Book Worm
To be completed by Jeff & Renee Tyson’s community group
The Lincoln Food Bank and LPS Backpack Program already supplies under privileged children with a back pack of food every Friday so they will have something to eat over the weekend. This group will partner with these programs to put at least one brand new book into every backpack for each student. They will use the Benjamin to purchase at least 100 books – possibly more. This project will impact our community by promoting literacy and giving a little something to a child who may not have any books of their own.

Quarter for Food
To be completed by the Harris Family
Hunger is a problem in Lincoln and having an available food pantry is vital for any missional church. This family would go from house to house and buy a non-perishable food item for 25 cents. With $100, they could go to 400 homes. With the items collected, we can stock the food pantry and meet the needs of people in our community and our church.

Extreme Makeover: Friendship Home Edition
To be completed by Stephen & Erin Mohring’s community group
The goal of this project is to give a fresh start to the women at the friendship home through donations and a makeover project. This group will set up a booth at the Fall Craft Festival to collect donations for the Friendship Home and a silent auction to raise additional money. The group will collect donations from salons and find stylists to provide hair cuts, manicures and make up – the end result will be a day of makeovers for the women living at the Friendship Home. It will be a time where they can feel pampered and cared for by showing them Christ’s love.

Gifts of Love
To be completed by thepoint
Every year City Impact gives families a chance to have Christmas with dignity by giving them the opportunity to purchase gifts for their family through their christmas store. New toys, clothing and other items are significantly marked down and sold to those in the community who can not afford to buy gifts at regular price. In order for this to work, City Impact receives donations from people that are willing to contribute. thepoint will raise as much money as possible to purchase gifts by hosting a service auction. Young adults from thepoint will be auctioned off to donate or volunteer their skills to people in the church willing to purchase their skills – to clean, babysit, paint, design, shoot photos, and much more. The great thing about this project is that it is two kinds of service: each young adult will volunteer service in order to raise money and the money will be used to help out people in our community.