Reverse Lent

Today is Ash Wednesday and for protestants worldwide it is the start of Lent. For those who don't know, Lent is traditionally a religious observance that begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Easter Sunday (approximately 6 weeks). Lent is a season of prayer, fasting, and simple living, but has evolved to the removal of an unneeded item from your life (i.e. giving up chocolate or coffee). Last year I was introduced to Reverse Lent. In Reverse Lent, the person does something charitable during the 40 days of Lent. Reverse Lent might be 40 days of helping a different person or organization every day or 40 days of working to help a single person or organization.

I really enjoyed Reverse Lent last year and spent 40 days working on a baby blanket that I donated to Oliviana's Closet. Oliviana's Closet is an organization that helps single moms by providing them with new and gently used baby items. This year I am going to challenge myself and try to finish a blanket a week. These blankets will then be included in care packages for foster children. Each care package or "comfort kits" will include essentials for the child as well as extras that will provide comfort to a scared child and be packaged in tote bags. For those who don't know most children enter into foster care with very few personal items and the items they do have are carried in garage bags. Comfort kits that provide them with additional items, as well as nice bag to carry the items in, are beneficial to the adjustment these children will inevitably have to make.