Members of St. Luke AME Church raised more than $3,000 for their annual outreach effort and were able to buy groceries for more than a dozen families

Members of St. Luke AME Church in Harlem (www.stlukeamenyc.org) have been going around to New York City grocery stores and randomly paying people’s bills at the checkout lane. St. Luke’s outreach effort is called “Random Acts of Kindness” and they do it every year leading up to Thanksgiving as a way to demonstrate God’s love and blessings. “This year we raised more than $3,000,” says Rev. Melvin Wilson, St. Luke AME Church’s pastor. “Three teams of people, armed with $1,100 in gift cards, have been deployed to the five (5) boroughs of New York City. They identify people in the store and stand behind them at the checkout line. When the person gets ready to pay, our member takes out the card and pays for their groceries for them. It’s very simple, we know that we’ve been blessed to be a blessing to others.  This is one small way we show that, through these random act of kindness.” So far more than two dozen people and families have been blessed by St. Luke’s generosity. This is the third year that the church has been engaged in this effort, and including this year, the church has spent more than $10,000.