Church group hands out $12,000 to congregation members to pay it forward: 'This money isn't from me, it's from God'

Maggie Parker
The men’s group at Sandy Valley Baptist Church in Warner Robins, Ga., found a way to help members and do good this holiday season. (Photo: Getty Images)
The men’s group at Sandy Valley Baptist Church in Warner Robins, Ga., found a way to help members and do good this holiday season. (Photo: Getty Images)

A men’s group at a Georgia church decided to give out thousands of dollars to members of their community with only one condition: that the recipients pay it forward.

CJ Holmes leads the men’s group at Sandy Valley Baptist Church in Warner Robins, Ga. A few weeks before Thanksgiving, he said, the group decided to raise $12,000 for its congregation to spend.

“It really sort of happened as a conversation about ways we could give back to our community and give outreach and the idea came up,” Holmes told Yahoo Lifestyle. Holmes’s wife is a staff sergeant in the U.S. Air Force stationed at Robins Air Force Base, and Holmes himself works at the base.

“They wanted to figure out a way they can bless others,” Sandy Valley’s secretary, Lyn Gill, told Yahoo Lifestyle. “So they collectively came up with the idea to raise some money just by telling people what they wanted to do.”

The church did not contribute to the group’s cause. “We personally gave and other people who go to the church or are friends or family of the group contributed,” Holmes said. In the span of approximately two weeks, they raised the amount.

They called it Project Multiply and presented it to the congregation the Sunday before Thanksgiving. They packed about 80 envelopes with different amounts of money ranging from $100 to $1,000, and they handed the unmarked envelopes out randomly to families who were at church that day — each family got one envelope.

There was only one stipulation: that recipients use it to help someone else.

“We just gave them guidance to go home and open the envelope with their family and talk about someone they felt could benefit from the money, someone in need, obviously,” the 32-year-old Holmes explained. “It’s a lot easier to get creative with money that doesn’t come from your bank account.”

The congregation was shocked by how much money this small group raised. While there are about 15 members of the men’s group, only about eight to 10 can regularly attend the weekly meetings. “It’s hard to think that a small group like that can have a big impact, but we just wanted to have faith in God that he would do something great through us,” Holmes recounted.

While the goal of Project Multiply was for the families to pay it forward, Holmes was fully aware that not everyone would. “We considered that and honestly, if it was someone who needed the money that bad in our congregation, we were glad to help them,” Holmes said. “Even if that was the case, there have been multiple cases where people in the congregation matched the money they were given with their own money and then found ways of giving it. So if anyone kept the money for themselves, it was made up for.”

He believes most of the people were excited to come up with creative ways to use this money. “They were excited, and I think people, for the most part, want to be giving. So they were excited to find an avenue to give to someone who needed it.”

And they did. Families have used the money to buy food and supplies for the homeless. A few pooled their money to help someone who’s going through chemotherapy pay medical bills. Others have used it to tip waiters.

“We actually heard back from one of the waiters from a LongHorn’s who told us that they received a $100 tip anonymously, but they figured out from the news report that it was from us,” Gill said. “And they wanted us to know how much they needed it and that they were thankful for it.”

One man from the congregation took the money on his trip to Disney World. “As he was going through the line where they check your bags, he, like anybody would, asked the man checking bags how he was doing, and the guy just unloaded on him about a lot of the issues he was having in his life,” Holmes shared. After giving it some thought, the church member decided this person could benefit from the Project Multiply funds. “He had a bunch of medical bills and stuff.” He ran into the man again on his last day in the park and said, “I want to give you this money to help with your medical bills. I just want you to know that this money isn’t from me, it’s from God, but I think God put me in your life at that moment for a reason and I’d like you to have this.”

Holmes hopes to make Project Multiply an annual Thanksgiving effort. “It’s had a pretty big impact just in our congregation. Everyone’s just been really encouraged and inspired to give.”

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