Giving to the max...

 

 

 

"Can we truly help the least of us?"

 

Wow. I love juxtapositions, and last week we had a whopper. First off, the week finished off with the annual Give to the Max Day. By the way, this year's event was very successful, collecting a record $17M. The other thing which happened this week was the release of the Governor's last year's income tax return. In his own words, he was embarrassed by the disclosure. The $1,000 he gave was a fraction of one percent of what he earned.

 

Why do I bring these two things up at all? What is the point? My point is simple and twofold. First, we should never need a special day to remind us to give. It should be as natural as going to the gas station to fuel up your car; as natural as going to the grocery store to buy food once a week. Giving is not only a natural thing for us to do, it is also biblical. Second, we should never be embarrassed or proud of how much we give to any charity. This week, someone sent a letter to the newspaper containing a very good point. (If I may paraphrase), If you want to see the politics of a person, look at their income taxes. Democrats give very little as they believe government is the only agency that needs to help. Republicans give quite a bit more as they believe just the opposite.

 

Back to our Governor just for a minute. Let us pretend that he had a very modest giving pattern. For example:

• Even though most churches teach the biblical teachings on tithing, lets suppose he gave one percent instead of ten percent to his church. One percent of $380k is $3,800.
• As the titular head of our State's National Guard, many of whom have gone into harm's way of late, the Governor could support the Wounded Warrior Project at $19/mo. That would have given him another $228.
• Being the Governor of the state which houses one of the most successful hunger relief charities in the world, he could give 1% to Feed My Starving Children. That would have been another $3,800, and saved hundreds of young people from starvation or malnutrition.
• As a man of conscious, not wanting to see anyone go without during the Christmas season, a gift of only $1,000 to Operation Christmas Child would have impacted over fifty young lives of people overseas who have literally nothing.

Again, giving is a personal decision. My purpose in pointing this out was not to shame, but rather to illustrate how easy it is to give to a great many organizations which desperately need our help. As most were taught at a very young age, "From whom much has been given, much is also required."

 

So, to the success of Give to the Max Day, I say "Bravo!" To those who think the government can take care of all of societies and the world's unmet needs, I say only this - the ACA web portal. The government, just by the nature in which it operates, does very few things well. The bigger the effort, the less desirable the results. Many charities on the other hand (not all, they need to be vetted), have over a 90% efficiency rating.

 

Should we give until it hurts? No - give until it feels it is the right thing for you.