Kylie
It all began in December with a simple prayer. As Jeremy and Hillary Bennett were tucking their 5-year-old daughter Kylie into bed, she prayed for $100 so she could give it to the homeless. About a month later, Jeremy was driving into work, tuned into the radio and heard a moving story about the homeless and the desperate situation they were in this winter during one of the freezes the city of Houston had. He quickly called Hillary and they prayed about what they could do to fulfill Kylie’s prayer from a month ago. How could they help the homeless?
By 11:30 a.m. that morning, God had already begun to answer their prayers. They had already raised close to $200. By 6 p.m., they had more than $700 and three boxes full of blankets and coats. With the money, the Bennett family went to Academy and bought 70 sleeping bags (the store even donated money to help out the cause). After loading up their cars, the family made a stop at Starbucks to purchase three carafes of hot coffee to distribute. They spent the evening distributing sleeping bags, coats, blankets and hot coffee to the homeless.“My favorite part about visiting the homeless is giving them sleeping bags so they can be warm at nighttime when they sleep,” Kylie said.
During their visit, they were also able to pray for some of the homeless people. After such a fulfilling night, the Bennett family knew that this wasn’t their last trip to help the homeless. Kylie’s Prayer had just begun.”Kylie not only has listened in Bible, she has taken action by praying about what she has heard and seen. I am a firm believer that God desires to use people of all ages, especially children, if we as adults will listen to them,” Tamara Gallagher, Head of Lower School, said. “When she prayed passionately for the homeless, Her parents DID listen when she had a tug on her heart for the the homeless. I love her heart of compassion and desire to take action.”
The next time they went out, they collected tennis shoes beforehand. Through shoe donations and money collected, they gave 60 pairs of shoes to the men on the streets, in addition to toiletries, clothes, cupcakes and cookies. Now, each time the group heads downtown, they choose one item that they will spend the majority of the cash donations on.“My husband and I went with the Bennett’s the second time they went out and we were blessed by the people we met downtown and the people that went to minister to the homeless. I think the thing that stood out to me the most was the sincerity of the people from both sides,” Kathy Abney, Kylie’s teacher, said. “I saw Kylie’s mom ask a man how she could pray for him. He responded that he needed a job. She immediately bowed her head and began to pray out loud amongst a large group of bystanders! It gave me the encouragement I needed to do the same with a man who came up to me and ask if we were giving away a truck. I said, “If you need a truck, let’s pray for one.”
