Who Are You Helping This Giving Season? (RVICS Helps the Community)
It’s great to be a part of this wonderful organization.
When we became full-time travelers, we no longer spent time with our blood relatives during the holidays. The family we will spend Christmas with this year is the same one we enjoyed it with last year. The difference is, this time, we are truly members of the RVICS community in every sense of the word.
We joined Roving Volunteers in Christ’s Service late in 2022 and worked on our first assignment in Florida in February 2023. We’d spent a couple of years as nomads in our motorhome and wanted to do something productive in our retirement years. We have volunteered for four more projects since then. We are thrilled to be a part of the wonderful RVICS family, and it keeps getting better.
Today, Tommy was the speaker for our weekly devotional gathering. I might be slightly biased, but I think it was the best since we’ve been here. He gave a wonderful message on the importance of taking communion and supplied the elements. We wish all churches did it weekly, but that’s not the case. As travelers for years, we’ve experienced communion presentations in many different forms.
We prefer sharing the elements as a community in unison. It’s what we did today, and so many were blessed by it. You could feel the presence of the Holy Spirit in the room, and prayer requests and praise seemed more powerful. Many people told me what a great job my husband did. What a way to start the day.
After devotionals, several of us headed out to pick up trash in the neighborhood, something the Village members do every year. As a newbie, I’m unsure if it’s only an annual event, but I was thrilled to participate. We were supplied with neon-colored safety vests, grabbers, clear garbage bags for recycling, and black garbage bags. We were given a map and picked the areas we wanted to cover.
My pal, Sandy, teamed up with me, which worked well. I held the recycle bag, and she had the garbage bag. I don’t know what I thought when I put on my brand new $110.00 New Balance shoes. It wasn’t my most brilliant move. We had to walk into the weeds in many areas, and my feet were soaked. Sandy had on a pair of Crocs. She was great about going into the wetter areas for me. Speaking of wet, we had a lot of rain, so there was plenty of damp garbage.
A man stopped to ask us if we were volunteers, and when we said we were, he thanked us profusely. Many people told me that there would be plenty of garbage to replace it tomorrow. They might be right, but it felt good to do what we could to make a difference.
I considered taking my grabber and a bag on my daily walks in the future. However, when Sandy left me because she and Bill were leaving town today and I carried on alone, it was a real pain. Wrestling two bags and the grabber was cumbersome. I reconsidered the daily garbage pickup when I returned home and found that it took over two hours to get in my 10,000 steps. I may do it once a week.
Can you think of doing something that will bless your neighborhood this holiday season? I hope you do. Giving is so much more fulfilling than receiving. We’re caroling in the area on Sunday. I’ve never done it before, but it sure looks like a blessing when they show it on TV.
Becoming a Roving Volunteers in Christ’s Service member was one of the best things we’ve ever done. Being a part of the community has always been important to me. When we owned Johnny’s Bar & Grill in Hollister, California, we held many fundraisers and donated to local charities. Being retired meant we had much less to give monetarily, so the opportunity to give back by doing physical work has been a fantastic blessing.
I want to thank my subscribers for being a part of my life and giving me your time. I’d love to hear what experiences you enjoy during the holiday season. Do you deliver food to the needy, make crafts for the lonely, or send a check to the organizations that do? If you aren’t giving, you are missing out. Jesus is the reason for the season. He gave us salvation by giving up His life on the cross. Try to remember that in the hustle and bustle of the season.
I look forward to seeing you on the Internet next week. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Charisse Tyson is a retired biker bar owner, author, blogger, and full-time RVer. You can follow her on Medium, Facebook, Linkedin, X(Twitter)