I LL FIGHT DAY SERVANT EVANGELISM ACTIVITIES

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2 AN ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE Write encouraging letters (by hand) to someone who needs encouragement. Track down old teachers and mentors. Let them know the influence they have had in your life. Then mail or hand deliver these letters. Cards, envelopes, pens, stamps. PAGE 1 The more the merrier! Cost of materials. Stamps are $0.49. Ask your CO if they have any donated cards (we have a hunch they do ). PARENTS NIGHT OUT Babysit for someone for free, especially someone that might really need a night off and not be able to afford a sitter. Nothing, hopefully toys are provided. It s up to you! Teams of 2 or more. Free! MOBILE BAKERY Bake some cookies, bread or anything delicious. Give them away to the bus drivers, mail carriers, trash collectors or anyone else that helps keep your community moving. Baking ingredients and equipment, plastic bags to distribute baked goods, encouraging notes attached to bags. 4 or more. Cost of ingredients. Pool your resources and go grocery shopping. DROP SOME KNOWLEDGE Want to teach an elder how to use Facebook? Take a selfie? Play Minecraft? Hold a technology exchange, gather neighbors and seniors then teach them how to use these newfangled things. It depends. It could be Zunes and PalmPilots for all we know. 2 or more. Free! Dress like professors? DID YOU CHECK THE POCKET? Go through a local thrift store and drop $1 bills in random pockets of clothing being sold. $1 bills and encouraging notes. The more the merrier! Minimal. Dress in disguise. STOP AND PAY THE TOLL Go down a line of parked cars and pay for the meters that are expired. Leave a little note of niceness. Roll of quarters. 2 or more. $.10 to $.25 a meter. VISITATION FIGHT DAY Go to home for the elderly and ask to visit a resident who doesn t get many visitors. Tell stories, read together, play board games, make a friend. Nametags might be a good idea. 4 or more. Free! SINGLE MOM DAY SPA This one requires some advanced planning. Get in touch with a women s advocacy group or shelter in your area and coordinate to give an awesome afternoon to some ladies who could use some girl time. One team keeps the kids occupied while the other team offers haircuts & styling, manicures & pedicures, facials and/or whatever else you pull off that pampers! Face scrubs/masks, lotion, emery boards, cotton balls, nail polish, candles, etc. 4+ ladies, cosmetic experience (or a few lessons beforehand) needed, plus 2+ people to provide child care. Cost of supplies. PHONE CARD GIVEAWAY You might be thinking, Everyone has a cellphone these days! International calling can still be expensive though, and in communities with large immigrant populations, this giveaway can be a great opportunity to support and engage other cultures over an important shared value: family. Phone Cards (In at least $2 denominations). be helpful, or go the whole nine yards and dress fancy! Teams of 2 Fit your budget! THE ROCKSTAR TREATMENT! Ever wanted to experience the rockstar treatment? Who hasn t? Use this I ll Fight Day as a chance to roll out the red carpet (figuratively or literally!) for your neighbors. Here s the idea: signs, balloons, cheers, etc. Let your neighbors know you think they rock because Jesus loves them! Take a group photo and drop off a copy for their fridge the following week. Tip: you might freak some people out, but that s kind of the heart of IFD! Be kind and be sincere. Don t do this activity unless you really love your neighborhood and are going to back up the sentiment throughout the year. Poster Board, Markers, Balloons, Streamers, Small Gifts, etc. The more the merrier! Cost of supplies. Warmer weather is best, especially if you re planning on using helium balloons. STOCKING STUFFER GIVEAWAY Everyone loves a stuffed stocking. Give your neighbors a head start this season by delivering some fun stocking stuffers for them & their families. Something fun for kids of all ages: bubbles, candy, silly putty, freeze-dried ice cream, mints, etc. Salvation Army gear; uniforms are a plus. Teams of 2-4 Fit your budget!

3 GIFT BASKET GIVEAWAY Bring a holiday blessing to your local civic officials, police officers, and/or firemen and women. Let them know how much you love your neighborhood and how thankful you are for their service. Offer to pray for them, maybe sing a carol, and leave them with a really nice gift basket. Christmas Gift bags/baskets, encouraging notes and thank you cards. Tip: Get your younger Sunday School kids to help make the cards the week before IFD! Fit your budget, try saving money and having more fun by putting together your own baskets. PET STORE PICS/TREATS People love their pets. Show some love to your neighborhood s pet lovers by passing out pet treats to everyone who comes into the local pet store. Ask them about their pets (maybe bring some of your own!), and let them know how much you love your neighbors. Tip: a dog in a Santa hat will be an adorable hit! Fancy, individually wrapped dog bones and cat treats. Team of 2-4 Around $15 each for a large container of dog or cat treats, plus the cost of packaging supplies. COLLEGE CAMPUS PRE-GIFT Let s face it: a lot of college students are either too poor or too lazy to get something nice for mom or dad at Christmas. Help them out by making something nice for them! Take your sweet, homemade gifts to your local campus and get pre-gifting! Mom & dad will never know they ve been re-gifted... Supplies for s more kits, hot cocoa kits, soup in a jar mixes, or something else that will stay fresh until they make it home for Christmas break. Depends on what you make. Someone you know uses Pintrest, look for some good ideas for nice homemade gifts! RÉSUMÉ WORKSHOP This one requires some advanced planning to show some love to the unemployed (or underemployed) in your community. Team up with a local coffee shop to help you advertise a resume-writing workshop for a few weeks in advance. Bring a few laptops and maybe a wireless printer, get some Corps folks with the experience and know-how to help out with the resume writing, and you and your crew keep everyone refreshed with free coffee and snacks and chat with folks waiting for their turns! Laptops, cheap jump drives, a printer, etc. Any size team Work out a deal with the coffee shop for the coffee and food. Plan on spending at least $ depending on how many people show up. DING-DONG DITCHED! You don t actually have to ring the doorbell and run for this one. Buy a ton of individually wrapped Little Debbie Ding-Dong snack cakes and decorate them with ribbons and a Christmas note. Go door to door and share them with your neighbors. Little Debbies, and ribbon/ bows. Teams of 2-4 Around $3-4 a box. MALL FOOD COURT CLEANUP Go to your local mall food court and clean up after people eat. Bonus points if you dress up like wait staff from a fancy restaurant (white & black, ties, slick hair, cloth over the forearm and all that)! Rags, spray bottles of cleaner. 4 or more. Minimal-cost of rags and cleaner. SNOW REMOVAL FROM DRIVEWAYS AND SIDEWALKS No one really enjoys shoveling snow. Some people really can t do it. Help people out by shoveling their snow. Phone Cards (In at least $2 denominations). 4 or more. Minimal. Snow. Wear warm clothing: hats, gloves, etc. SHOPPING CART RETURNS Approach people and offer to return their empty cart back for them. Take it to the next level by offering to clear the snow off their car while they get in and warm up. Nothing. Maybe some snow brushes/scrapers. 2 or more. Free! LAUNDROMAT OUTREACH Pay for washing machines and dryers at local Laundromats. Sit and chat, make some friends! Rolls of quarters. Teams of 2-it is intimidating to have more than a few people. At least $1.50 per wash, $.50 per dryer. FREE POLAROID PICTURES WITH SANTA Set up a Santa s Village in your Corps Parking lot and have free photos with Santa. Christmas decorations, Santa Costume, Polaroid camera, film. 10 or more. About $.75 per picture. Cool to cold PAGE 2

4 MALL PARKING SPOT FINDER* Go to your local mall and help people find empty parking spots. Squirt bottles, cleaner, squeegees, shop rags. 2 or more. Fluid commonly costs about $2.50 per gallon. Don t attempt to do this in weather below 20 the cold water could freeze door locks. WINDSHIELD WASHING Go to a shopping mall or department store and wash windshields. Supplies for s more kits, hot cocoa kits, soup in a jar mixes, or something else that will stay fresh until they make it home for Christmas break. Depends on what you make. Someone you know uses Pintrest, look for some good ideas for nice homemade gifts! CHRISTMAS GIFT WRAP GIVEAWAY Give away gift wrap necessities to your community. Wrapping paper, bows, ribbons, gift bags, etc. Teams of 2. Nothing. Put your Corps donated wrapping paper to great use! TRAVELING DEPARTMENT STORE Find a homeless person and give them some warm clothing. Socks, gloves, hats, jackets and any other warm clothing. Wear bright colored clothing (be safe!) and dress warm. Teams of 2-4 Minimal. Depends on the FREE COFFEE / HOT CHOCOLATE GIVEAWAY Set up tables at store exits or sporting events and serve hot drinks on cold days. Table, 2 or 3 Igloos (5 gal.), creamers, sugar, stirrers, cups and Free Coffee sign. 3 or more. Minimal. Cool to cold GROCERY STORE BAG PACKING* Go to a self-bagging grocery store and help people bag their groceries. Might want to wear matching t-shirts. 2 or more. Free! Good project for bad LIGHT BULB SERVICE Go door to door with light bulbs offering to change burned-out bulbs. Supply watt light bulbs, step ladder. Teams of 2-3. $.30 to $.50 apiece. SMOKE DETECTOR BATTERY GIVEAWAY Give out complimentary smoke detector batteries for home smoke detectors. 9 Volt Batteries. Teams of 2. $1.25 per 9 volt battery. HOUSE GUTTER CLEANING Clean gutters on houses of leaves, sticks, and debris. Gloves, ladders, trash bags. Teams of 2-4. Everyone needs a ladder holder. Cost of plastic bags, borrow ladders from friends or Corps. Dry weather is best. NEIGHBORHOOD WINDSHIELD ICE SCRAPING Go to an apartment complex after a snow and start scraping. Windshield ice scrapers. 2 or more. Cost of ice scrapers. Cold weather, after snow. CHRISTMAS CAROLING Organize a caroling group and go house to house in your neighborhood. Take it to the next level with a Christmas mashup complete with some light choreography. Christmas music and Candy Canes (if wanted). 4 or more. Free! PAGE 3

5 STAMP GIVEAWAY* Give out free stamps in front of your local Post Office. A few booklets of stamps and a Free Stamps sign. PAGE 4 Teams of 2. Stamps are $.49 apiece. You can buy a booklet of 20 stamps for $9-10. LIBRARY JUBILEE Go to your local library and pay as many library fines as you can afford. Cash money. Teams of 2. Pay as many fines as you can afford. LEAF RAKING (IF LEAVES ARE STILL ON THE GROUND) Who likes to rake leaves? You ll do it for them. Wrapping paper, bows, ribbons, gift bags, etc. As few as 2-the more the merrier and easier. 10 people can rake a lawn in minutes. Minimal-you can own your own rake for $5.00. but it s tough raking leaves in wet CAR DRYING AT SELF-SERVE CAR WASHES* Help dry off cars after they have been washed. Towels. 2 or more. Minimal. Car washing CHRISTMAS GIFT WRAP* Everyone needs their Christmas gifts wrapped. Do it at the mall for free! Wrapping paper, tape, scissors, table, chairs, etc. Lots of people needed. Depending upon mall traffic, you will need a variety. Though costly, can cost as little as $.10 per gift. Check your Corps for donated wrapping paper. If wrapping at an inside location, weather is not a problem. NURSING HOME VISIT* Contact local nursing home and ask if you can visit. Sing some Christmas carols. Sit and talk/listen. Hold someone s hand. Pray with your new friends. Nothing (though instruments would be nice). Depends on the Depends on the 4 or more. Free! CAR INTERIOR VACUUMING* Set up in a car wash or gas station and vacuum cars for free. Handing our some air fresheners would take this to the next level. Several canister vacuums, several hand-held vacuums. Cheap (but classy) air fresheners. Nothing to purchase if using home vacuum cleaners. $.25 if using gas station vacuum. Buy the air fresheners in bulk to save money. Depends on the CEMETARY CARNATION GIVEAWAY Go to a local cemetary and give away carnations to cemetary visitors. Carnations. 2 or more. Cost of Carnations. SOFT DRINK GIVEAWAY* Fill coolers with ice and drinks to give out at a public place. Coolers, ice, cans of soda (regular and diet). 4 or more. Cost of ice and cans of soda (borrow coolers). GROCERY BAG LOADING ASSISTANCE* Help people load groceries into their cars. Nothing. 3 or more. Free! Matching Salvation Army shirts would REVERSE DONUT DAY Buy some donuts, set up at a traffic light and give them away. Donuts, plastic gloves, napkins. 2 or more. Though costly, about $8 for a dozen, you could use donut day coupons that you may have. but it s better if it s not raining or snowing Matching Salvation Army shirts or aprons.

6 TRASH PICKUP Help pick up trash after the local school football game or around community. Debris pickup sticks, 5 gallon plastic buckets, trash bags. 4 or more. Minimal (borrow what you may need). UMBRELLA ESCORTS* Help people stay dry as they travel from a store to their car. Umbrellas (big golf umbrellas are best). 3 or more. Free! Borrow the umbrellas you may need. WINDSHIELD WASHER FLUID FILL-UP People use more washer fluid in the winter. Fill it up! Bottles of windshield washer fluid. 2 or more. Minimal. Fluid is 79 cents a gallon. Rain or snow. Depends on the NEWSPAPER GIVEAWAY Purchase some newspapers (ever heard of em?); deliver to homes in your community. Newspapers. 3 or more. Cost of Saturday newspapers. CHRISTMAS TREE GIVEAWAY Buy some Christmas trees and deliver them to families in your community. Christmas trees, tree stands and string to secure to car. 3 or more. The cost to buy some trees from a local tree lot (see if you can get a deal). *For best results, please contact these businesses for permission to do these things before I ll Fight Day takes place. Many of these servant evangelism ideas come from Steve Sjögren s book, Conspiracy of Kindness: A Refreshing New Approach to Sharing the Love of Jesus, Regal Press Also, some of them I just made up... PAGE 5