This year, Australian communities are encouraged to join in i4Give week from February 1-7, 2023, with i4Give Sunday held on February 5, 2023.
The 2023 theme is “Keep 4Giving”.
“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you,” Ephesians 4:32
Parents Daniel and Leila Abdallah created i4Give Day as a remembrance of their children whose lives were tragically lost on February 1, 2020, by a drunk driver.
In 2022, God honoured the work of i4Give and gave many opportunities for Danny and Leila to share forgiveness with Australia and the world.
From the i4Give team
Dear friends,
Welcome to 2023! Our theme for this coming year is ‘keep 4giving’.
During 2022, we had a huge year. We have so much to be grateful for.
The highlights in 2022 included the extraordinary opportunities we had to share forgiveness with a hurting world and shine a light on hope. The year started with a wonderful I4Give Service (including an interview with Danny and Leila) held at their children’s school and attended by the Prime Minister and Premier of NSW. In June, Leila and Danny gave a talk to hundreds of thousands of Australian teenagers at Stand Tall and the message was wonderfully received. Amazingly, in the middle of the year, the Abdallah family visited the Vatican to share their story over 20 minutes with a standing ovation. Later in the 2022, Danny was invited by the Prime Minister to attend the Queen’s Funeral. What an incredible privilege! Danny also did a compelling interview with Mark Bouris on Straight talk which is worth listening to. Other i4Give opportunities included a partnership with ARL
for the i4Give Cup, a rugby league game between the Bulldogs and Parra. Our founders gave talks for the Grandparents Association, Icons of Property Lunch, Youth in Parliament and the Prisons Network. Of course, on a personal front the Abdallah’s were blessed with a beautiful baby girl, Selina. She is a very precious and we all celebrated with them.
We are pleased to share with you the YouTube footage from the I4Give Service, the talk at the Vatican and Straight Talk. All have some poignant moments with the Abdallah family and their journey of forgiveness. We thank God for these incredible opportunities to talk openly to Australia and the world about the power of forgiveness in the face of tragedy.
i4Give Sunday 2022
Channel 10 i4Give service overview
2022 Vatican speech
Abdallah summary interview about their faith on their way to Vatican 2022
Channel 7 Vatican visit overview
Straight Talk: Finding Strength, Freedom & Peace in Forgiveness: Danny Abdallah | Mark Bouris
Last year we had over 100 community groups share in I4give day, and we are delighted in the creative ways schools (all types), churches (many denominations and faiths) and community groups engaged in the topic.
An outward looking Anglican Church in Newport set up a tent all week near the local shops and offered a free bottle of water to locals as they passed. Church members asked locals what their reaction was to the Abdallah family and were delighted that so many stopped to talk about the story and about forgiveness. They were so encouraged.
A Catholic Church in Strathfield set up a beautiful table in their foyer in honour of the four children with forgiveness resources available and wrote in their Bulletin about the story, the power of forgiveness and the i4Give Foundation.
Many of our partnering churches and schools gave a message to their communities on i4Give day 2022 and we hope that you will continue to revisit this important message in 2023. Our schools had some great ideas including sorry postcards for all the children and staff to write a message, a debate on “why forgive?” and an activity to paint a wall mural on forgiveness. Forgiveness is a journey, and we want to encourage your community to engage with this hope topic every year. Please share with us what you do in 2023 with photos and a story.
We also want to thank the many generous donors in 2022, donors of time, expertise and money. We thank each one of you for your incredible generosity and commitment to sharing forgiveness.
With love from all of us at i4Give
We hope these resources can help facilitate forgiveness in your communities and relationships:
- Bible notes on the power of forgiveness
- Forgiveness ideas for schools and children’s groups
- i4Give book recommendations
- Talks, movies and songs about forgiveness
- i4give partner website forgivestories.com with many additional stories
i4Give prayer
God of love and mercy,
Thank you for forgiving me.
Please forgive me my sin.
Give me strength and courage to forgive those who have done or said things that have hurt me.
Sometimes all I want is for them to be punished but I know this is not Your way.
Give me the power to forgive them for the hurt caused
and the strength to not dwell on it for too long.
Fill me with Your strength, compassion, and love
so I can be your heart and hands here on earth
as Jesus our Saviour showed us,
Amen
We all make mistakes!
When we have been dealt an injustice of any kind, we can sometimes decide to hold grudges, bitterness and anger instead of moving on by forgiving those responsible for hurting us.
We have a choice in how we respond. Start with this prayer.
For more information, visit i4give.com.