Charity

Saturday was “Stamp Out Hunger Day” sponsored by the U.S. Postal Service. I got a notice in the mail a few weeks ago, which I posted on my refrigerator to remind myself to pick up some non-perishable food the next time I went to the supermarket. It was surprisingly cheap and easy. I went to the canned foods aisle, and picked five cans of food – each one on sale for $1. I tried to choose food that had some nutritional content: soups, beans, vegetables and fruit. Though I am in the process of a career change and therefore am not bringing in big bucks right now, I felt that spending $5 to provide enough food for a family far less fortunate was well within my budget.

When May 9th came around, I left my bag of food out by the mailbox as instructed by the U.S.P.S. I was quite surprised to find that mine was the only bag of food there below the mailboxes that serve all 36 townhouses on my street. In the early afternoon, I took a walk to the local library to return some books. The walk took me through a neighborhood that had not had mail delivery yet. Less than 5% of the houses I walked past had left food out for pickup.

My neighborhood is a typical middle class place full of modest 2 and 3 bedroom homes. Some in the neighborhood have had difficulties lately, with a few homes being foreclosed upon and a few sitting on the rental market longer than usual. But for the most part, things around here look much the same as they did before the economy took a nosedive last year. People still have many (many, many, many) cars per household. People seem to be leaving for work in the mornings. All of the kids walking to the middle school down the street are in fashionable clothes in good repair. I find it hard to believe that I am the only person who can afford to give $5 worth of food to people far less fortunate.

It is even more interesting to notice which of the big houses on the way to the library had food donations out front. I can tell you who wasn’t leaving donations. None of the houses with expensive European cars or newly remodeled exteriors did. The few donations were out in front of houses with old windows and roofs, and homeowners out front mowing their own lawns.
I may be using incomplete information. Some of these people who didn’t make a food donation may give giant gifts to charities privately. But still, it seems like more people could afford to give a few bucks worth of food. So why is it that some people feel like they can’t afford it, and other people (often with the same or less money) feel as if they can’t?

A few years ago when I worked at a giant health insurance corporation, they had an annual drive to encourage charitable giving. The company would give 50% matching funds and automatically deduct our donations from our paychecks and send them directly to the charities we had chosen. My boss was such a believer in this program that he signed all of his employees up as volunteers to explain and promote it to the rest of the department. Many of our coworkers were customer service reps making fairly low wages. Quite a few had young children at home. Some gave generously to charity. Others felt that they couldn’t afford it. Yet, many of those same people always had the latest cell phone and went out to lunch every day.

I just tried to impress on people that however tight they felt money was, they were so fortunate to have jobs, a home and food for every meal, not to mention health insurance. Some people have none of those things. Some people are facing incurable diseases or live in countries where their governments do little to help them rebuild their lives after natural disasters. Much of the time, I might as well have been talking to the wall!

So what is it that causes some people to feel that they have enough abundance that they are able to share, while others do not? It doesn’t seem related to income, age, gender or even religious background. Is it something we are born with or something we are taught? I wish I knew!

I would just like to encourage you to do something every once in a while to help out others if you don’t already. In these times when many are struggling, it seems much harder to be able to afford to give, but the gift is needed more than ever. You would be surprised how many cans of food, toothbrushes, and diapers can be purchased for under $10 at a dollar store. It is a small amount to most of us, but can make a big difference for those in need. Whenever I donate, I feel so good, it’s as if I am the one who got the gift. It is a reminder to be grateful for everything that I have.