The Art of Giving
Twenty days before Christmas I was sitting in my office surrounded by 1500 pieces of brand new children’s clothing. I was rushing to repack the merchandise and get it sent out so that needy children around the country would have the items before Christmas.
It is better to give than to receive – and a lot more fun. I collected names of needy families and organizations from staff members. Some had stopped by my office in their spare time to help with the boxing of the items. We were amazed at the company that so generously donated the merchandise to KIDS (Kids in Distressed Situations). I have been working with KIDS for The New World Foundation for at least 6 years.
When Mark Gelber, President of KIDS, found out about our Take Action Awards some years ago, he made a generous and important offer. The awardees in our scholarship contest (those who had “taken action” in their communities) would get to distribute $25,000 worth of new merchandise donated by various manufacturers to KIDS. This would make the young people double heroes in their communities. That’s when I discovered that many of these young heroes had no idea how to donate merchandise. For those it was a learning process. For others, an excuse for publicity.
There is an art to giving that we must teach the young. Giving requires more than putting a few coins in a cup and walking away. They see us write checks with a smile of satisfaction that we donated to a cause. It is mandatory that they learn to share the wealth. But the art of giving goes a little further.
During that first year KIDS donated 2000 small teddy bears to various Take Action awardees. They came from Osh Kosh dressed in striped overalls. One young man had his 500 bears given to an organization that was making gifts packages for needy children. He went to their location and helped them with the baskets. He also contacted a local store and asked them to donate socks, gloves, and hats for the baskets. Another store sent toys. By the time word got around town, the effort made the local news.
This young man had researched the organizations in his area carefully so that he knew what place could use the donation.. The fact that he appeared on the scene to help was as important as his soliciting other gifts. He had learned the art of giving.
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