Giving Machine

As part of the church's Light the World Program, they have these Giving Machines located in 10 cities throughout the world. This is the second year and Denver was selected to host a machine! They work like vending machines, but instead of buying a snack for yourself, you can purchase items for charities. The Denver machines are giving to 4 local charities and 2 international ones. You can buy things like a month's supply of diapers, ten days of groceries, a mattress with bedding, a bus pass, 3 chickens, or a pig. The machines opened the week of Thanksgiving and run through January 1. I have been so excited to go and we finally made it!

Dagny checks out all the things you can buy. The items are pictured on tiles that drop to the bottom when you buy them.

Landon bought meals for a Women's Shelter and it had a picture of spaghetti and meatballs on the tile. Lincoln was so excited! He thought he was going to get spaghetti and we explained to him that we were buying it for a hungry friend. He was so cute about it all!

I heard that sometimes there are lines and you have to wait. We were lucky to walk right up, especially since it was quite chilly, only in the low 30's. Brrrrrr!

Such a happy face despite the cold weather!

We bought a blanket, box of soap, books, toys and a water pump. It was a humbling experience to donate things we take for granted. I hope these machines are back in Denver next year! We had a great experience.

There was a Mellow Mushroom Pizza Parlor right across the street, so we went for lunch. Ryan is the only one of us who has been here before. Their pizza is quite fancy. We got the Mighty Meaty and the Great White.

We ordered 2 large pizzas and they were huge! We'll have some tasty leftovers!