How Do I Start An Ordinary Hero In My Area? Here's A Perfect Example....

I often get asked "How do I start an Ordinary Hero in my city?" I say it is as simple as getting a group of friends together to make a difference.  That could be going to your local mission with snacks and crafts, or getting involved with any of our projects by using them as an example of how to serve and then just doing it where you live. We were so pleasantly surprised this week by a letter we received. Let me introduce you to Nancy(pictured above). I had never met Nancy, nor did I know that she was even a blog follower. Nancy is perfect example of how God can use you to make a difference when your heart is stirred toward something specific. You know, like when you watch something and you start the ugly cry? Yes, that is God stirring your heart.  Nancy lives in a very small Ky town just outside of Cincinnati. We received the following letter from her this past week. 

Here's more in Nancy's own words.....

"It’s through a combination of being blessed+blown away by the amazing work that Ordinary Hero actively pursues, Katie Davis in Uganda and Gwen & Suzanne of 147MO banding together & reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan, that I started to pray about what the Lord would use me for. I prayed hard, anytime I thought of it, day & night etc. Finally I thought of emailing another adoptive mother that I met at a picnic in May 2010 thru our home study agency to see what her thoughts were on doing more than we are. As the planning unfolded and things changed here and there in only the way that the Holy Spirit can do, I made up a shirt design, started selling t-shirts on September 3^rd, 2010 via Facebook and work of mouth!  By the 2^nd order placed early in October, we received 104 t-shirt orders and raised over $500 on t-shirts sales alone!!! My original post about the Sale was on August 31^st, 2010. The response was overwhelming! Gathering donations and pricing donations with the help of volunteers, we opened for business at our first Water for Korah Sale on Saturday October 16^th, 2010 @ 8am and were sold out by 2pm! We raised a total of $1,800 for Korah in 6 hours! Our total donation was $2,700 after all donations were counted in! Praise the Lord!  

Here’s is what I consider evidence that it was the Holy Spirit stirring hearts for Korah and nothing else: No one was asked to help, not 1 donation had to be chased down and all of the incredible locations that I thought would pull thru…didn’t….except a week or so before the Sale a church came to the rescue….it was the MOST perfect location for the sale and the church did not want to charge any fee at all for us to use their space! Did I mention it was a spectacular 70 degree October day!!!  =D  This is evidence to me and the oh say, 20 or so volunteers that worked the Sale start to finish and the countless people that donated to Korah, that God is alive and well, working in Korah and stirring hearts in Northern KY and VA, TX, WA, IN, OH, CA to be involved!"

And No she doesn't even have a blog.....yet :) Here are examples of a couple of her posts on facebook just to show you how easy this can be done when you put your mind to something.   

1^st post on FB about the Water For Korah Sale August 31st:

Nancy Bradford McCarter PLS DONATE! Any item accepted! Books, a mirror, lamp, furniture, purses etc. Another adoptive mother and I are preparing for a"Water for Korah Sale" to raise money for drilling of a water well in Korah Ethiopia. Korah is a landfill where over 100,000 individuals & children live. If you can donate ANYTHING please drop it by my house or I will do my best to arrange to pick it up! Clean a closet out or your basement, the smallest thing to the biggest, your donation will bless a community of 100,000 people with drinkable water!! THANK YOU!!by my house or I will do my best to arrange to pick it up! Clean a closet out or your basement, the smallest thing to the biggest, your donation will bless a community of 100,000 people with drinkable water!! THANK YOU!! August 31 at 10:37pm    · Comment ·LikeUnlike · View Feedback (3)Hide Feedback (3) 

 1st post on FB re: Water for Korah T—shirt Sale September 3^rd:

Nancy Bradford McCarter This is a tee w/ a design that I kind of created and am going to order for myself, Chad and anyone else that wants one. Proceeds to benefit, of course, WATER FOR KORAH! If I get an order for 8 more I can sell them for $26 and make a small profit and if I get any more orders the sale price will be even LESS and even more orders the sale price will be even LESS and even more rders the sale price will be even LESS and even mor...e profit!! My goal is to sell them for $20 but I want to be sure enough people will buy them 1st lol otherwise that wouldn't be much of a fund raiser =)The dark blue background/ square will not print, just the white Africa shape and the writing inside of Africa. I expect the tees to be pretty ROCKIN

Here is the tshirt design that Nancy created for her shirts to sell. Super cute!!

Here they are below, at the yard sale to benefit water for Korah. Nancy was joined by her mom, mother-in-law and two friends in this pic.

Here is a glimpse of the sale in progress.

The gentlemen in this pic were WAITING @ 7am in the parking lot to help set up for the Sale and ALSO set up a table of their own items, antiques as you can see, to sell and donated ALL of the proceeds to Water for Korah! I had no idea they were doing this until they started unpacking what they brought and setting up their own area!!

The latest thing that has spiraled from this effort was this in her own words....

"Also, someone that donated to and shopped the Korah Sale, has offered to have a benefit concert (we are thinking possibly early into 2011 or Spring time) to raise money for Korah....so VERY EXCITING things to come!  God is good."

So....there you have it!  That is how it is done. We have a number in mind to send to Project 61 specifically for land and water that has not been met yet.  Who knew that we would be receiving this? Well.....I know someone who knew :)  What a blessing!!  You see how everything you do to help others has a spiral effect?  People need/want something to do to help others in their community.  How has God called you to help and spread light on an area of need? 


If you would like to purchase one of Nancy's shirts to benefit water for Korah, email her at mccarter3726@hotmail.com. The water and land efforts are getting closer to starting the process! You can bet that I will make every effort to be there when that water shoots up out of the ground....and I'll take you all with me through this blog :)


Thank you Nancy and all the amazing people who have come up along side you in the Ky and Cincinnati area to give of your hearts and your time to help bring water to a community in Africa that most people wouldn't even step foot in.  


You are an example of an Ordinary Hero to all of us. And she and her hubby are adopting from ET soon!  Congrats!!


To view the video that originally opened their eyes and stirred their hearts for Korah, CLICK HERE.
If you have an idea of a project you would like to start in your area, email me at Kelly@ordinaryhero.org. 


Have a great day!!