Talking to so many people in the store every day became a great way to spread the word about outreach in Jamaica. And since people brought in their gently used clothing for us to purchase anyway, I would suggest that they donate the remaining items that were not saleable to Journey Home Jamaica. We amassed quite a collection of clothes and shoes.
One weekend, we had a clothing drive for Jamaica. We collected hundreds of pounds of clothes in the store. The newspaper was there to take pictures. People came from all over. Some people had no idea, just came in to shop, saw what we were doing and went home to clean out their closets. We took all the donations home, sorted, organized and cleaned them up, and packed them away in preparation for our next trip.
One Sunday morning at the end of 2013, the youth director at our church asked us if we would like to take a group of kids to Jamaica with us. Sure we would! So, we scheduled an informational meeting. About a dozen kids came, parents asked questions, and we formed a small group. Everyone applied for their passports, cleared their calendars, and the youth started the daunting task of fundraising.
We opened up the trip to others, too. We decided we would take our entire family along to show them the places that we talk about around the dinner table and introduce them to our Jamaican friends. When I started planning the itinerary, we had about a dozen people on our list.
We shared our upcoming trip on social media. We had continued to host Monday night bible study in our living room and invited the group that was to go with us to join us. Our friend, Jama, had been coming over on Mondays and decided to join our trip. And she shared it with friends. The daughter of Jama’s high school friend, Marah, decided to come along, too. The fundraising efforts were well underway. In just a few short months through various activities, the youth group raised $6500 - more than enough for them to all go for the week. Incredible. The people of our church are very generous.
Soon our group had grown to 15 travelers. We had team meetings and started to get to know each other. We planned out our week together. We would do outreach in the community, visit a school and spend a day with kids, clean up a property for future use, go to an established orphanage, paint a homeless shelter, and do some street evangelism.
We also decided that we wanted to do a clothing distribution since we had so much that we could take along. The airline allows each person to check one 50 pound suitcase. We asked each person to leave some room to take along at least 10 pounds of additional clothes, shoes, and toys to give away. Some of the parents were unhappy with that, but the kids really stepped up, most taking more like 30 or 40 pounds of extra stuff. Each one filled their suitcases to the brim with extras, taking carry-on’s and back-packs full of things to donate.
A few days before we left, we asked everyone who was going to go along on the team to come to our house to help us sort clothes. We shared a devotion, talked a little, and then got out the baskets and boxes of clothing and began to sort and distribute it among the team.
Jama had brought along a guest with her that afternoon. She and Tori had been riding bikes on the Greenway when it was time for the meeting to start, so Tori just tagged along. Bruce and I knew Tori because she had been dropping in at our bible study. Tori was a recent high school graduate who was very kind, gentle, made friends easily, and fit right in with our group. She jumped right in talking with the others and helped to sort clothes with the rest of us.
As the job was finished, some of the kids started to leave. All of the sudden, Tori said, “I want to go along.” What? We are leaving in three days. “I think I want to go along with you to Jamaica,” Tori said. I ran over the computer and looked up the flight. I could still get her a seat. The hotel rooms were already booked. Since I had planned for only two or three to a room, she could easily bunk with someone. She already had a passport. Jama and Marah volunteered to pitch in toward paying for her trip. A few phone calls later confirmed that she had permission. “Okay!” I said.
Tori grabbed a couple of arm fulls of clothes and marched out the door with Jama. Our group now totaled 16.
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