What is the Abby and Alex Service Challenge?
Are you looking for community service hours for civic clubs or college scholarship credit? Take a minute and keep reading. Since our lives changed so dramatically last year with coronavirus restrictions, there have been fewer opportunities for non-profit ministries to engage with volunteers to help facilitate their community outreach projects. Sisterhood Of Servants is proposing a solution that we believe will be a win-win-win for all parties involved. It’s called the Abby and Alex Service Challenge, so named for Abby Jean (12) and Alex Park (14), who used their entrepreneurial and servant leadership skills to raise money for Sisterhood Of Servants’ Partners In Compassion Initiative. The P.I.C. Initiative will provide economic empowerment, transition housing, educational opportunities and life skills training to foster youth that have aged out of the foster care system and homeless women and their kids. Last Fall, S.O.S. hosted a fundraising drive to purchase a 19 acre property in Bradford County, Florida on which the housing facility will be built. With Abby and Alex’s help (and more than 100 other individual donors), we met our first goal to raise $25,000 by the end of 2020 to put as a down payment on the property. Abby raised $200, and Alex raised $1000. What a blessing!
How can you replicate Abby and Alex’s accomplishment while receiving community service credit hours toward college scholarships?
1. You work with your hands to provide personal services to members of your local community and receive community service credit hours for your work. Recipients will pay for your service in the form of a donation to Sisterhood Of Servants’ Partners In Compassion Initiative that benefits foster youth and homeless women.
2. Determine how many hours for which you’d like to receive credit (ex. You may need to acquire 100 credit hours between now and the end of the school year in order to apply for a grant or scholarship)
3. Be creative and make a list of personal services that you can provide for your neighbors, friends, and business owners (for example: babysitting, pet care, yard maintenance, household chores/cleaning, homemade baked goods giveaway, car wash, elder care, tutoring, book reading for children, literacy skills assistance for adults, commercial business clean-up)
4. Complete the online registration/pledge form shown below. Once registered you will be sent a Service Hours Record Sheet to keep track of your donors and hours. This form will need to be completed by you and verified by your parent. You will also receive a free set of business cards to hand to your contacts that includes a QR code instructing them on how to make a donation to Sisterhood Of Servants as payment for your personal service.
5. Set an hourly, per job, or individual sales price for your service. Promote your rate as a “suggested donation” to Sisterhood Of Servants, keeping in mind that you won’t be receiving compensation for your service. NOTE: YOU CAN’T BE PAID FINANCIALLY FOR THE WORK YOU DO AND RECEIVE COMMUNITY SERVICE CREDIT HOURS Your contacts will pay for your service by making a check out to S.O.S., or paying online through Sisterhood Of Servants’ PayPal or Cash App accounts.
6. Email the completed service hours record sheet to Sisterhood Of Servants, which we will verify against the donations that have been received on your behalf. You will then receive a community service verification form that can be attached to your college scholarship or grant request.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
1. Can I be financially compensated for the service I provide to members of the community and receive credit hours? No. All payments for ‘services rendered’ must be donated to Sisterhood Of Servants. 100% of proceeds will be used for the Partners In Compassion Initiative
2. Can I perform personal services for my family members and still get credit? No. Services provided for immediate or extended family members are ineligible for community service credit.
3. Can I receive credit hours for standing on street corners or in front of businesses requesting cash donations? No. You must actually work with your hands and/or feet and do the physical labor in order to receive community service credit.
4. Can I sell store bought items and receive credit hours? No. You must create your own products with your hands in order to receive credit. Keep a detailed record of your actual labor hours. You will receive credit for the time spent creating the item and delivering it.
Abby’s Testimony:
A woman in Phylicia Perry’s bible study group presented Phylicia with a gift made by the woman’s 12 year old daughter, Abby. It was a box of homemade cookies and an envelope. Inside the box were all these beautifully packaged cookies with a label on top that read, “Abby’s Guilt Free Bites.” On the outside of the envelope was printed the words, “For Miss Phylicia and SOS Girls.” There was $200 cash inside the envelope! Speechless and overwhelmed, Phylicia asked Abby what motivated her to give so extravagantly to our ministry. This is her testimony: “After COVID hit, I had a lot of time on my hands to bake. I wanted to help during the pandemic, so I baked cookies to raise money. I donated to SOS Girls because I love the work that they do. I’m so glad I had this opportunity.”
Alex’s Testimony:
Alex is a 14 year old high school freshman. Since the time Alex was very young, he has been giving his “time and treasure” to non-profit organizations to help those less fortunate. When Alex’s mom told him about Sisterhood Of Servants’ P.I.C. Initiative, he put together a plan and made a commitment to raise $1000 for the project! Alex sold a pre-paid coupon to family members. The coupon was worth from $10 to $100. It covered services like dishwashing, shoulder massage, helping grocery shopping, helping house cleaning and laundry, dog walking, etc. His grandparents, uncles, aunts, brothers and sister loved to purchase the coupons. Alex’s mom says that now he has lots of things to do to cover the given ‘already paid duties,’ but he is really happy to do it!