I met Jay from Passion To Action during a series from Summit Church in Orlando called Dignity Serves.  We focused on the area of service, particularly what service is, what service does and does not do, both for the apparent "server" and "servee".

The overlying premise of Dignity Serves was the fact that service actually tends to "serve" the one serving more than it does the one whom is "being served."  Now, I use the term "being served" very lightly here and wish I had a better word.  Lets transition this from server and servee to an example of a volunteer and homeless person.  

In most cases, the volunteer would offer some kind of service to the homeless person.  This could be food, water, clothes, prayers, shelter, etc.  The volunteer tends to feel good or great from their "act of service."  In the volunteer feeling good, they assume the homeless person also feels good, getting a nice boost in some form, whether it be food, water, clothes, etc.  

The fact is, while the volunteer is left with a positive feeling from their service, the homeless person is actually left with a void, a sense of lesser being.  Through needing help, they feel helpless.  They are stripped of their dignity, hence Dignity Serves.  

Dignity Serves focuses on two way service.  Where as service was shown from the volunteer to the homeless person, ultimately service is shown from the homeless person to the volunteer in order to avoid stripping the homeless person of their dignity.  Most individuals in such a situation (a homeless person in our example) would generally not recognize their ability to offer a reciprocal act of service, but they do indeed have the assets to return a favor.  It just takes recognizing the asset the homeless person possesses and matching it with the volunteers need.

The volunteer will often have to ask for help, but asking can have the effect of empowering the homeless individual, letting them feel a sense of worth and ability to not just be helped, but offer help!  Not just be served, but offer service.  Rather than taking ones dignity, this reciprocal act can transform individuals to a feeling of worth.  Dignity is raised and lifted rather than stripped and beaten down.  Dignity Serves.

Getting back to Jay from Passion To Action, we recently put together and printed a few designs for he and his crew.  Above is one, I'll follow with more.

Below is a map of the Passion To Action travel schedule.  For more, check out www.passiontoaction.org.