Friday, 05 December 2008

• The Spirit of giving

  Several years ago I became good friends with a young woman that I worked with at a large retail store. Our friendship changed my life in many ways and just yesterday I realized that she continues to impact me even years later.

  One evening she and I were walking out of our place of employment together. It was near Christmas time and she stopped and dropped some change into the Salvation Army bucket that one finds outside most stores at this time of year. I thought nothing about it and we went our sperate ways. The following morning we were walking in together and I noticed her stop and place money in the bucket once again. This was a young woman, nineteen at the time, living on her own on very small pay. My curiosity was peeked and I asked her why she donated again so quickly after her last donation.

  She began to tell me her story. When she was growing up at home, her family was very poor. Her father was a mean alcoholic that would often beat not only her mother, but her and her younger siblings as well. Due to his drinking problem he had difficulty holding down a job and refused to allow her mother to work. As a result, they often went without basic necessities. She said there were many times they had no utilities and very little food.

  Every Christmas though the Salvation Army came by and made sure that the children had a great Christmas. Volunteers would come by a few days prior and provide the children with presents and food for Christmas dinner. Angie told me that if it weren't for those volunteers, there would have been nothing for them.

  She then told me that she had promised herself that when she was making her own money that she would never allow herself to pass by a bucket without putting something in. Sometimes it was less than a dollar, sometimes it was much more, but every bucket she passed received money.

  From that day forward, I took on her mission. I explained to Garrett, Whitney, and Alyssa that sometimes children were not as lucky as they were and that this was our way of helping them to have presents for Christmas. Each and every time we passed a Salvation Army bucket, each child had money to place inside. Being a single mother didn't leave me much for donations, but much like Angie, I looked at it as every little bit helped.

  I have since continued the tradition with Caleb and Emily. Obviously, Em is slightly too young to understand, but Caleb is a proud giver.

  Yesterday we were outside of Wal-Mart and Caleb heard the bell ringing. He immediately turned to me and asked could he have some money for the "ucket". I handed him a dollar and we headed off. When we reached the sidewalk he ran ahead of me so intent to get his money to the volunteer. He wasn't paying attention and inadvertently ran in front of an older gentleman pushing his cart out the door. I could see his irritation that he almost hit Caleb (I couldn't blame him, Caleb got in his way), but when he realized where exactly Caleb was in such an all fire hurry to get to, he suddenly smiled. I approached him and apologized for Caleb being out of hand when he smiled brightly and said "He can get in my way anytime when it is for such a good cause". The man then proceeded to pull money out of his pocket and placed a donation in right behind Caleb.

  Now, I have no idea if this gentleman had intentions of donating prior to his run in with Caleb, but I like to think that seeing the joy on my child's face as he placed his dollar in the "ucket" perhaps motivated him to donate as well.

  Garrett is now eighteen and making his own money. I am proud to report that he has carried on the tradition we started years ago and I hope that he passes the same spirit of giving onto his own children. Caleb has many weeks left of giving to the "ucket" and I am hoping that as he gets older, he better understands the purpose behind those little trips.

  Have a great weekend, everyone!!

  • 6:29 PM
  • 78 Views
  • 8 eProps
  • 4 Comments