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Washington County resident Denise Webster put together a vending machine full of acts of service to do for the holidays that helped not only her to feel the spirit of giving but also the many recipients of those who participated by purchasing acts of service from her vending machine.  Patterned after the vending machines the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints have done in years past called Light The World Denise calls this The Giving Machine. 


Denise Webster talks about how she put the vending machine together.

She tells us what types of service she put in the machine


Denise Webster tells us what types of service she put in the machine


Denise Webster tells us about how it all works


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She has heard several stories of the joy this machine has brought to those who participated. Denise said, one friend chose "Buy or put money towards a goat or a cow."  Her friend said, 'that was so fun and satisfying to be able to buy a goat!  I've always wanted to do that!"

Denise says they haven’t done much in the way of Christmas decorations like lights, but she says, “I do have a giving machine in my yard though!” 


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Stories from people who participated in the Giving Machine Charity.

One friend said she picked "Learn about one of your ancestors and how they may have celebrated Christmas."  As she began talking to her kids and telling about some of her own Christmas traditions, she realized her kids didn't know much about her mom and what her mother did for Christmas.  She passed away a few years ago and because it made her sad to talk about her mom, she never shared much.  She realized that it was important to share things about her mom to her kids even though it made her sad because they didn't know things about her mom that she thought they knew.  She was grateful that this opened up the stories and questions for her to share with her children and how much they loved learning about their extended family and ancestors.

One sweet gal lost her firstborn daughter last year as a stillborn.  She was then divorced shortly after.  She is the sweetest little thing and her loss has been so hard for her.  She chose "donate a toy to a child" because she wanted to give to a child since she didn't have hers.   I was told she may not have thought of that if it weren't for the vending machine.  A sweet story. 

Another friend chose "Buy or put money towards a goat or a cow."  She said, 'that was so fun and satisfying to be able to buy a goat!  I've always wanted to do that!"

One family had a 5 year old who chose "Do something kind to someone who has been unkind to you."  (which, btw, was the one most selected after writing to missionaries and military)  He said there was a boy that was being mean to him at school, so to do something kind, he decided he would ask the boy who had treated him unkindly to play with him at recess.  When he went and asked him to play, the boy said "why do you want to play with me?  No one ever plays with me."  He then told my friends son that he was the first friend he had. ??

This same family had a teenage daughter who chose to pay for food for someone behind her.  She wasn't sure of the ripple effect, but this gal works as a hostess at a nice restaurant in town.  One night as a family was checking out, they said they wanted to pay for another table there by them.  This hostess said that it started a chain reaction of 24 people paying for other people during the night.  So she said she realized that doing good really does create a ripple effect and you just never know how far the good will go.

Another story was a family who said there was a student in their class at school who was trying to make a project for Christmas in a shop class.  The student couldn't afford to purchase the products so was going to have to not make the project.  This family chose to donate money anonymously so this student could complete their project.  They had drawn "donate a toy or gift to a child" out of the machine and this is what they chose to donate.

So evidently there has been some sweet stories.  Thank you for the opportunity to ask.  I had no idea how much good was really going on. <3

Denise

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