* Take morning tea down to the local Police Station.
* Organise combined services or worship and celebration to God on the Saturday evening as "Australia Worships" as we give thanks to God for our great nation. Turn Sunday services into Thanksgiving services and honour and thank special people in your own congregation who work and serve in the areas chosen to be honoured and thanked this year.
www.thanksgiving.org.au
HOW SCHOOLS CAN BE INVOLVED IN IMPACTING THE COMMUNITY
* Mobilise each class to do an act of kindness out in the community that will highlight to the community at large, and the students themselves, the values for which your school stands.
* Invite people from the 2013 targeted group/s to your school to thank them and to learn more about what they do in the community.
* Get each child to send 1 or 2 cards and ribbons to someone they want to say thank you to, thus teaching them the importance of recognising what others do for us.
* Order a free electronic "Schools Info Document" from our website at
www.thanksgiving.org.au for more information.
HOW FAMILIES CAN BE INVOLVED IN CELEBRATING OUR NDOT
* Get behind and encourage your Church and/or School to take up the opportunity to be involved in one or more of the activities mentioned above.
* Have a neighbourhood morning tea or bar-b-que and take the opportunity to talk about the values that NDOT seeks to celebrate whilst cementing ongoing friendship and relationships with those who live around you.
* Have an NDOT party of thanksgiving to God and invite to it those you want to reach out to with the love of Christ.
HOW AN INDIVIDUAL CAN CELEBRATE OUR NDOT
* Send cards to people you especially want to recognise for their friendship to you, and their service to your local community. Also send cards to leaders within your community, the State and also the Nation, who rarely get thanked for all they do in their respective positions of public service.
* Pin ribbons on those you wish to say thank you to in everyday life like the supermarket check-out operator, postman, or others whose service we often take for granted.
* Be an ambassador for NDOT by joining in with your Church's activities and/or encouraging others to join with you in making a small group of your own who can undertake random acts of kindness for others.
WE NEED YOUR HELP TO DO RADIO INTERVIEWS
The National Day of Thanksgiving continues each year to expand its horizons and influence not the least through Christian radio, television and print media. One of the most frequent requests we receive is for interviews with people who are either organising events this year or have organised events in past years. Another aspect we would like to be able to cover is people who have been thanked and want to share what that meant to them with others. We want to set up a small database of people who are prepared to be interviewed on Christian radio to share your experiences.
If you would like to help us out in this regard please email us at
info@thanksgiving.org.au giving us your name, contact phone number and town or suburb in which you live. You will not be contacted immediately, but as requests for interviews are received we will either contact you ourselves or pass your details on to a radio station to call you to arrange an interview. Please don’t be shy or over humble. Stories are an important way of telling the story of the National Day of Thanksgiving and bringing it down to the personal level where people can see that they too can make a difference with a little ingenuity and creativity. This is your chance to tell your story!
FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK
For those into social media networking you are now able to follow the National Day of Thanksgiving on Facebook. Links are available in the top right hand corner of the www.thanksgiving.org.au website for the uninitiated.
Please “like” us and to help us get the message of the National Day of Thanksgiving out across your network of friends as well. Tell us what you are planning to do to celebrate our National Day of Thanksgiving and in so doing inspire others to also participate. Whilst it is important for Churches to facilitate community wide initiatives to celebrate NDOT it is just as important that individuals also take up the concept so that ordinary people who do extraordinary things, or provide exceptional service, receive your recognition for that.
