by Alan Hodge



A deluge of good deeds will rain down on the Huntersville area Saturday, Oct. 8 when the What If Everyone campaign sends volunteers out to help people in need.
What If Everyone has been held twice a year since 2009. Ashley Fazal and her husband, Naeem, pastor of the non-denominational Mosaic Church based in Huntersville, conceptualized the event.
“We’ve always had a heart for outreach,” Fazal said. “The idea behind What If Everyone is to partner with other groups and people and to show them opportunities for serving their community.”
Fazal says she was also inspired by similar outreach events in Baton Rouge, La., and Portland, Ore.
“I wanted to think outside the church box like they had done,” she said.
In addition to the Mosaic Church, other groups Fazal has lined up to take part in the event include Relevant Church, Branch Church, Charlotte One, Charlotte Sports and Fitness, Diamond Detailing, Cavu Financial, Peer in Counseling Center, and Modern Dental.
Plans are for volunteers to meet at North Mecklenburg High School at 9 a.m. on Oct. 8, and after a rally, spread out to their assigned missions. Organizers expect at least 200 people to volunteer.
Childcare will be available for parents who take part in the event.
One especially good deed that Fazal has the What If Everyone team geared up for is a free gasoline giveaway.
Twenty volunteers will be manning pumps at the BP station at the corner of Gilead Road and U.S. 21 starting at around 10:30 on the morning of the event, dispensing a ration of gasoline to needy folks. The gas will be given out for about one hour and is first-come first-served.
This is the second time organizers have doled out free gas. In March, volunteers heard how much that meant to drivers in desperate need.
“A single parent told me if it wasn’t for the gasoline they would not have enough gas in the car to pick up their child,” Fazal said.
Another What If Everyone volunteer, Mary Ann Richardson, remembered that day well.
“Many young men had tears in their eyes,” Richardson said. “Others couldn’t believe why we were doing it, but once they trusted there were no strings attached they felt overwhelmed and blessed. One man said it was like manna from heaven. A young mother with two children in the back seat said she could buy her kids lunch with the money she didn’t have to spend on gas. It was interesting to see the impact this simple act had on people.”
Other jobs the What If Everyone volunteers have lined up include handing groceries to needy families, taking baskets of homemade baked items to area fire and police stations, hosting a baby shower for single mothers and their infants at Florence Crittenton Services, painting and landscaping at North Mecklenburg High School, hosting a church service and providing refreshments for residents at The Laurels Senior Living facility, and cutting grass, mulching, and weeding the garden at Angels and Sparrows Soup Kitchen.
A Red Cross bloodmobile will be at North Mecklenburg High for those who want to give blood
Some members of the What If Everyone team will also head for Uptown Charlotte where they will perform acts of kindness to strangers.
“This can include everything from helping an elderly person across the street to buying lunch for someone in need,” Fazal said.

Want to help out?
For more information on the What If Everyone event or to volunteer, contact Ashley Fazal at ashleyfazal@mosaicchurch.tv or www.whatifeveryone.com.