The small things you do today can have a large, future impact around the world. That was the message MCC Manitoba Executive Director Darryl Loewen shared at the Altona MCC annual meeting Monday.
"It was quite unrehearsed but Dave Regehr's devotional to open the meeting struck a chord that maybe framed some of my thoughts really well when he was speaking about some of his conversations with folks in the Ukraine around 
He says in those conversations was a challenge given for us to remember that the small things you do today may be taken up by someone else who receives from it and does something surprising with it. "You just don't quite know where your own small good act, or good work, will go in the future."
Loewen goes on to say that there is a recent story making its way through MCC circles that illustrates this point exactly and links back to Altona in what he refers to as a delightful way.
Lebanon has received a great many displaced Syrians in the last several years and Loewen explains thanks to this new thrift shop, a previously unfamiliar notion of donating used goods to be resold in a manner born in Altona was transplanted to Lebanon and is serving an entirely new community first-hand.
"Who would've known?," noted Loewen, adding that the four founding ladies of MCC Thrift in Altona didn't know where it would take the Manitoba system, never mind North America, and now the blueprint has gone international. "It's really terrific."
He adds this story is an example of how the spirit of the work can multiply mysteriously around the world.
"Scripture is filled with that image of the dying seed and the many-fold harvest of that death and regrowth, so to that extend we shouldn't be surprised, but still each example is its own striking little story."
During the annual meeting it was also highlighted that more items made from recycled materials were available for purchase at the local Ten Thousand Villages store. Sixty thousand artisans from thirty countries make the handmade items sold at the Fair Trade stores around the world and Loewen says purchasing these beautiful products is a chilling and wonderful opportunity to contribute to someone's success. He adds one example is a group of ladies in Bangladesh that make some of these items from used saris.
It was also recognized at the Monday evening meeting that 811 blankets were sewn by volunteers out of the Altona MCC Thrift Shop in 2016. The handmade covers offer a message of comfort and hope to people around the world who need it most. Loewen spoke of the impact these blankets have, adding they are a remarkable thing.
"We're bailing pallets-full of blankets...everyday and shipping them around the world and the stories that come back from the receiving regions of the world are really encouraging. Folks receiving MCC blankets know that loving folks who are praying and making blankets made these by hand and they're as well received as though we were delivering them to our own children."
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