Blog Action Day

Today marks the second annual Blog Action Day in which the goal is for all bloggers to be focusing for one day on a single cause, this year it’s fighting poverty in an effort to raise awareness and encourage a global discussion.

Gina Kay Landis

Gina Kay Landis is one of those rare people who will stop everything she’s doing if someone else is in need, no matter how small that need. Need a recipe? She’ll stop what she’s doing to share her secret family recipe. Going to an orphanage to do charity work? She’d probably go with you! Today, I’m highlighting just a PART of her volunteer work as it pertains to poverty, but I have no idea how she practices real estate given the amount of charity work she does. The goal was to highlight one activity per person, but in this case, I’d like to highlight several, not so Gina Kay gets kudos (she’s very humble and is not comfortable receiving them anyhow), but to ask that if you have any money to give to any of the several missions that you do so. THAT is the best way to recognize these efforts.

Gina noted that she’s a “Member of the Care Team at Stillwater United Methodist Church. This team cares for the Body of Christ (i.e. church membership) when there’s a need. Whether emergency food or other needs, meals for our pastor (married with 4 kids), trips to church or doctors, and even joining with other churches to help with an outreach to the local ministry focusing on exotic dancers, this team has a wide range of caring efforts it puts forth.”

She also devotes time to the local food pantry at her Church, “I provide dessert for the HIV/AIDS food pantry ministry. Monthly, the local HIV/AIDS support organizations’ clients come to our food pantry to pick up supplies and food. Some of the clients are homeless, some are moving into and out of shelters, and their lives are often spare and somewhat depressing as they deal with this difficult illness.

It offers them great joy to have someone love them as they are, offer them food they likely could not afford to buy, pick them up and take them to and from the pantry and help them put their groceries away. The social workers are also grateful for this extra help that helps stabilize the often uneasy and unstable lives these people lead, as they are ostracized by their family, friends and others. Before I began working full time, I was able to join in the food pantry day for them, helping them shop in our Choice pantry and just talking with them. I miss it so I want to at least offer a goodies for dessert so they have sweet memories of a caring time.”

Yes, there’s more that she does to fight poverty, she is “currently attending a Community Reinvestment Institute, hosted by the City of Dayton’s Human Relations Council. This program not only helps people understand the underlying thinking behind the Community Reinvestment Act (where banks and lending institutions are encouraged to reinvest in communities where they are situated, either with housing loans or with assisting in building out services for area residents), the Institute also helps us understand how we can tutor low-to-moderate income people on becoming more financially secure, where assistance in various ways can be gained, and basically helping to improve people’s lives.”

Okay, we’re half way done now… Gina Kay also gives everything she can to the “Tiajuana Christian Mission. We support with our dollars this Mexican orphanage that has taken in many children, loved and cared for and raised them to young adulthood. Every year they visit our church for a fundraiser dinner. Some of the children come to visit also and entertain us with song. It seems a remote ministry, but our church has been quite involved with mission visits to Tiajuana and we feel they are more like family.”

Like some of our other poverty fighters, she’s involved in orphanage work (at The South African orphanage). “A gentleman who has HIV/AIDS was tossed out of his church when he let them know he and his fiance were thus diagnosed. He saw many adults die of the disease, thus leaving their children behind. Our church ministers to this orphanage by our dollars and also ministry trips to South Africa.”

Gina Kay Landis also helps several local non-profits with their marketing, press release distribution and even helping with events. She is an extremely generous person with her time, talent and treasure and is a shining example of what we can do with our time and money. Gina Kay, you have moved me personally and I feel lucky to know you- your humility and grace are amazing and the entire AG family thanks you for your devotion to others and to fighting poverty!