“Give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, they will pour into your lap. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return” (Luke 6:38).

Author and religious leader Gordon B. Hinckley once said, “The best antidote I know for worry is work. The best cure for weariness is the challenge of helping someone who is even more tired. One of the great ironies of life is this: He or she who serves almost always benefits more than he or she who is served.”

For the past few weeks, CA has come to life with service opportunities. It seems that every day someone else is getting up in chapel and announcing another cause to donate money and time to.

The following projects are just a few of the projects that have happened recently or are happening right now:

CAD 4 Hope: On November 5 and 12, CA students, faculty and volunteers loaded into cars and went door-to-door asking for food to help stock the Samaritan Center’s food pantry and feed many needy families in the area. This year, CAD 4 Hope brought in around 13,000 pounds of food!

Rice for the Philippines: In order to raise money for the survivors of the typhoon in the Philippines, senior Joelle Kanyana and other volunteers began selling rice for three dollars in Mrs. Macias’ classroom. The idea was that students were giving up their lunch to help someone else. With the help of a $200 donation from the Student Association, over $500 from an anonymous student’s efforts, rice sales, and a jeans day, Kanyana raised $1815.

Clothes for the Homeless: Noticing that the weather is getting colder and many of the homeless in Chattanooga lack warm clothing, senior Savannah Moore is doing something about it by asking her fellow students to donate unwanted clothing to hand out to the homeless. A bin is in Mr. Sherwood’s classroom for students to leave the clothing they want to donate. Moore hopes to pass out the clothing after Thanksgiving break and invites other student to join her.

Christmas stockings: Every year, CA fills Christmas stockings and takes them to the children at the Chambliss home. For many of the kids, the stockings are the only Christmas they will have. In years past, Pastor Chris has had difficulty getting enough items to fill the stockings. This year, senior Sydney Sinclair has organized a class competition to try to encourage participation in the project. Stocking items are assigned a specific number of points, and each class is competing to get the most points. The prize? Classes that get a minimum of 500 points will get a jeans day, and the class with the most points will get a full dress down day.

So get involved! These are just the service opportunities that have been happening around CA. Many more opportunities exist in Collegedale, Chattanooga and beyond.  Need ideas? The Calcutta group and the humanitarian club are both great places to brainstorm. Plus, any teacher (or other student) at CA would be willing to talk to you and help you join a project or create one of your own.

Let’s unite as a school and help lift burdens off the shoulders of people who are struggling. Let’s bless others and at the same time bless ourselves. Let’s live so that when Jesus comes back He will look at us and say, “For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me” (Matthew 25: 35-36).