Separation of church and ..... retail?

I'm on a mission. I am soliciting donations for door prizes for A Mom's HEART, the monthly fellowship for Moms with young kids at our church. We have over 150 women registered, and 139 attended last month. Our kids get childcare while we enjoy brunch, speakers, and fellowship in a small group. So as I was out doing a little bit of shopping this morning, I decided to try to get some more donations. I would like for every Mom to win something at least once between now and May. That means I have a lot of begging to do.

After I spent $30 at the local Christian store, the Assistant Manager was quite receptive to my request and said she'd put something together. That was easy. I decided not to pester Costco because I know they have donated food for the brunch in the past..

There's a new massage place, one that markets more affordable services without all the fluff of full-service spas. I decided to go ahead and ask if they would donate a gift certificate.

Living in the Bible belt, you don't expect to encounter fear of religion. But I did. When the manager found out the Mom's fellowship is at a church, he said he has chosen not to donate to any churches because he doesn't want to endorse them. Now I understand that businesses receive many requests for donations, and they have to draw a line somewhere. I managed a small business, and did a stint in direct sales. The bottom line is there are a lot of good causes out there, and you just can't give to everybody and make a profit. But what was interesting to me was the fear in this person's voice. Fear of endorsing a "religion" by donating a gift for the purpose of encouraging a weary Mom. It's interesting how a polished, professional individual can appear weak simply by the suggestion of something that they want to stay away from. Of course, we all do that from time to time.

Perhaps if someone is that hesitant to donate something, I shouldn't be requesting their assistance in the first place. But I do hope that in our conversation I handled the man's denial of my request gracefully and somehow his heart is touched by Jesus' love and that fear will go away.

And after I left, I headed to the full-service spa which hubby has treated me to in the past and submitted a request there. We'll see how their management responds.