Last year around march period, the march babies contribute money about 40, 500 thousand naira and bought five bags of cements for 35,500 thousands naira. The remaining balance we put it in the thanksgiving offering box during service as our appreciation.
My local church ERCC, the church council organized ways of generating incomes to the church and especially for the building of the new church auditorium. Every year the church will organized some strategies or ways of generating money like family launching or thanksgivings, Mini launching, sub groups singing competition, and babies of every months thanksgivings. All this ways ara strategies that the church leaders and church members has agreed and accepted to be doing yearly in order to generate money for the completion of the new church auditorium.
Ours is babies of the month thanksgivings, that's March babies thanksgivings. The principles the church gave to any sub groups, am individual thanksgiving or any children of every months is that it mustn't necessary mean they should gather money, but it can be anything they could afford. Other months babies used to buy plastic chairs, zink, buying windows, and different items they could afford depending on the strength of their members contributions. So, ours we sat down and agreed that every member will pay one thousand naira only. And I remembered we are more than 45 persons celebrating it last year and the estimation we had was to have more than 50 thousand naira and do something very good and presentable for our thanksgiving for the church. But then unfortunately some members couldn't contribute the exact amount we agreed to pay while other have paid in full.
One of the major reason why I discovered that some members didn't pay or we couldn't achieve our target was because during the preparation some ladies brought a suggestion that we should sow a uniforms that all the March babies would wear and would be wearing every year when the march month comes up again. We accepted the suggestion and they brought the uniform two weeks after and we stayed back after a certain Sunday service and a lot of people paid for the uniform first even before paying for the main contribution. The uniform was 2500 per person.
It was such a wonderful thanksgiving I can not forget. The funny part of it was when I gave my uniform to my friend who is a tailor, but he went back to school without sowing my clothe and I have warm him from the beginning never to give my cloth to any of his apprentice to sow or spoil it if not I will not be happy with him. Two weeks to the thanksgiving Sunday I had to disturb him with phone calls and pleaded with him to come for a weekend and he came back home and sow mine. I was so happy to wear that uniform the following coming Sunday. I can imagine fathom how we will look in that uniform in the church, especially being the first time of appearing in that way for the celebration of march babies and thanksgiving.
We went to church and people kepts looking at us and saying our uniform is beautiful. When the pastor incharge called out the march babies for their thanksgiving we came out singing and jumping and full of excitement in our faces and in our beautiful uniforms. We were given a chance to say one or two things and roundup the thanksgiving. We appreciate God Almighty for His grace and love upon our lives for keeping alive to witness the month of our birthdays and wishes to see it more and better coming and presented five bags of cements and with the receipt and a roughly balance of 4300 to the church.
We later asked for congratulations to support us with whatever they have. The band sang a song and an offering box was brought to the front where all the church congratulations came and supported us. When the service was about to be roundup, the church secretary came up to the stage and announced that March babies brought five bags of cements and a grand total of about 22,750 was added with the support of the congregations. It was indeed an amazing memories to look backwards for anytime I remembered our last year march babies thanksgivings.
This year things are hard and most of the children has gone to school while some had gone out of town for job hurting. This year thanksgiving for the month of march wasn't something to talk about much. And any Sunday I wear the uniform, it reminds me of the last year thanksgiving we did. A good memory to keep thinking about and to behold it as we look forward to do better in the future .