Giving is the funnest thing you can do. I’m sorry, I understand you may not agree that it’s giving. It’s OK. You can be wrong, but it is the truth. You can go out and do the craziest, most-entertaining thing. But if you then provide a way for someone to experience it—someone who couldn’t do it on their own—you will find it is an even greater blessing.

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That’s just how giving works. It’s a heart thing. It’s like working out. The more you give, the better you feel. That’s how we felt when we shut down our office one Friday afternoon and took all 300-plus team members to GraceWorks to help them get ready for the Christmas season. What’s GraceWorks? Well, their site explains it best:

We supply the basics of life to help move families past a point of crisis. We also offer prayer and spiritual support, and do our best to help any resident of Williamson County, regardless of their personal faith. Help will not be denied on the basis of faith.

GraceWorks began in 1995 to help several local churches screen requests for assistance and determine the validity of the need for food, monetary help or clothing. In 2010, GraceWorks fulfilled more than 6,000 requests for assistance with food, rent, utilities and other aid, totaling more than $700,000, thanks to the help and support of our partners, volunteers and churches.

So basically, we spent the afternoon loading and unloading big trucks, transporting furniture, unpacking cases of food … and I mean like a truckload of cases that was donated by grocery stores … marking through all of the UPC symbols, repacking them and putting them back on the truck to be delivered.

Some team members helped set up the “store” that people will visit during the holidays. Those in need will be able to purchase donated toys and other goods without paying more than $2 per item. (Why do they pay anything? Because it gives them dignity.) Other team members took donated money and went shopping for the rest of the needs.

I can proudly say they had never seen a group like ours! At the end of five hours, we had done the work that would have taken them months to complete. In fact, they were stunned by how we blew through there with such passion and motivation—so much that there were a lot of tears from their team and ours.

When we left, our whole team commented on how it was a must for us to do again. Hopefully, we’ll do it more than once a year. Why would a company shut down their business, and pay out the payroll on 300-plus people to go help a ministry? Because giving is the funnest thing you can do. On top of that, guess who returned to work on Monday even more motivated? Our team!

So next time you’re eyeball deep in what’s going on in your business, stop and take a few hours to give of your time to help some people who are struggling to put food on their tables. You just might return with a different perspective.

Question: What are some things you would like to do as a business to give to your community?