It will come as no surprise to any of our readers that non-profit organizations like Food for Greater Elgin really like large financial contributions. They allow us to feed people, meet people’s needs and make our community better in all regards.
At this time of year, however, I want to lift up some small gifts that touched my heart:
Going into an Elgin Fresh Market store, while purchasing my groceries, I made a gift to support Food for Greater Elgin. You could give $1, $2, $5, $10 or $20. I made my choice, and the clerk took a paper hand and wrote my first name on it. I asked if many people had given, and she said “Oh yes! Look at the back wall!” And there were hundreds of hands with different people’s first names on them.
For me, this was especially touching because we know that most of our guests also shop at grocery stores as well, and because of the combination of prices, food selection, and location, a lot shop at the Elgin Fresh Market stores. The hands on the wall were gifts that came from ‘our people’ who were picking up an opportunity to give back.
Every year–except last year–we have a ‘Change for Hunger’ campaign, where school children contribute pocket money to us by dropping spare change in a five-gallon water bottle. Teachers use the campaign as an opportunity to teach about the values of compassion, about social problems and healthy eating (they have a way of making just about anything educational!). These students give what they can: handfuls of coins.
A few coins from one child becomes a lot of coins from a class, quickly becoming a significant amount from an entire school. In collecting all these contributes, we have even broken a change machine at one of the banks we use! There is more than one way to ‘break the bank’!
Children know which of their classmates don’t eat very well, they can see poverty in their classmates, their friends. They understand. And they are reaching out to help.
We still really like large gifts (ask us about tax benefits for giving this year!). But we always treasure all gifts, no matter how large or small, because together we can make a difference in our neighbors’ lives and in our communities. When we pull together, we can make a better world.
Thank you all for your generous gifts!
– Michael