In Home Chef...

This passed Saturday, January 29th, my family hosted a "ladies only" dinner party at our home, in support of CHGlobal. In thinking of what we could do to help with the Power of One campaign, my family and I had a little brainstorming session over dinner one night, and figured out that we love to host our friends for dinner, and we love to eat...a dinner party was a perfect idea!


We sent out invitations by email and phone, to about 25 people. With only a week's notice, we were thrilled that 18 people said they could attend! The invitation was to come to our home for dinner (to be created and cooked by my awesome "in home chef"... aka my husband!), not to bring a thing for dinner (which was tough for my friends who are so generous), and, if they were interested, to make a donation to CHGlobal.

We had an incredible time. My husband cooked and our daughters (and a couple of extra teenagers) served and cleaned up. We served curried sweet potato and pumpkin soup, salad, and beef tenderloin with all of the fixin's! For desert we enjoyed cookies, fudge and cheesecake!

We were so pleased that we more than surpassed the target we had set...people were incredibly generous. Even those who could not attend sent us donations!

Just "One" idea that could make a difference...and we had a whole lot of fun doing it!!

submitted by,
Janet Nolan

The Power of One Utility Trailer.

Let’s face it the world is pretty messed up when it comes to thinking of SELF, in our world we are promoted as the one single human being that the world revolves around. Only one person matters, ME, how comfortable I am, how protected I am, What I can build up in material goods…. An so on and so on, you’ve see the ads, and to some extent you’ve bought into the message, I know I have.

But the true meaning of One individual really is outwardly measured not inwardly. It’s about responding to a Call (I wonder where you might have heard that before?), It’s about the impact that God has called me to make, not the judgment I cast on others for the contributions I think they should make or the things I think they should be doing.

That’s why I’m so excited about the Power of One. I believe it’s a call to shift our thinking, to challenge the things we have been taught and see though God’s eyes instead. I’m excited because the power of one is about looking deep within and saying What Can I do? And deliberately avoiding, what can I get others to do? Remember, this isn't just about raising funds, its raising awareness, engaging in prayer and leading by example.

My story? While pondering what do I have and what can I do, I came up with this idea….. I have a small utility trailer that sits unused most of the time and I know it’s a struggle for some to get that spring cleaning stuff to the dump when you don’t have access to a trailer or a truck. My plan is simple. I park my trailer at someone’s house, they load it with their garbage and for a FREE-WILL gift, I take it to the dump early on a Saturday morning. My hope and prayer that this meets others needs while generating some resources (resources that would have been diverted to the profit line of some garbage removal company) to Global needs. Simple? You bet! Having an impact? Absolutely!

So I challenge you…. What can you do?

David Petkau