A few years back a friend passed on his dads words of advice on how he views money. "Money is just a tool."
So lets take a step back first and think about tools. We use tools to construct, fix and create things. Some people have a lot of tools and some people not so many. My dad has a lot of tools and has always been very generous about letting me use them. Every spring he brings in his tiller so we can churn up our garden. If I need to borrow a hammer or a drill bit he is the one I call.
Now lets think about money. Money is one thing we use to construct, fix, and shape our lifestyles. Some people have lots of money and some people not so much. From a larger perspective, if we are getting along just fine, healthy and happily, why not help some others achieve that as well. What if the cool thing to do were to donate $25 dollars instead of going out to eat tonight? Or what if the cool thing to do was to donate $50 dollars instead of buying that new thing off amazon we probably don't really need? I dream of the day I hear two young adults passing by on the street saying "hey guess what dude, I donated 20 dollars to ______this week?" and his friend reporting back "oh yeah, well I donated $30." As important as it is to be humble about these things, I also think they need to be talked about. After all someone should be much prouder about giving to a food bank than owning the latest version of the iPhone.
Monetary donations aren't of course the only way to donate. You can donate blood, food, furniture and clothes just to name a few others. I think maybe the biggest donation we can make is our time. I'm going to save volunteering for another week but this is also another great way to give.
To wrap things up I think it is important to pay attention and evaluate the organizations that we are donating to. How effectively are they using your donations? Are the CEO's getting some gigantic salary in these non profit organizations? Even though this is an urban legend site, I would not doubt there is some truth to it. So before you donate, do your research! Here's to donating once a week for the rest of the year!
So lets take a step back first and think about tools. We use tools to construct, fix and create things. Some people have a lot of tools and some people not so many. My dad has a lot of tools and has always been very generous about letting me use them. Every spring he brings in his tiller so we can churn up our garden. If I need to borrow a hammer or a drill bit he is the one I call.
Now lets think about money. Money is one thing we use to construct, fix, and shape our lifestyles. Some people have lots of money and some people not so much. From a larger perspective, if we are getting along just fine, healthy and happily, why not help some others achieve that as well. What if the cool thing to do were to donate $25 dollars instead of going out to eat tonight? Or what if the cool thing to do was to donate $50 dollars instead of buying that new thing off amazon we probably don't really need? I dream of the day I hear two young adults passing by on the street saying "hey guess what dude, I donated 20 dollars to ______this week?" and his friend reporting back "oh yeah, well I donated $30." As important as it is to be humble about these things, I also think they need to be talked about. After all someone should be much prouder about giving to a food bank than owning the latest version of the iPhone.
Monetary donations aren't of course the only way to donate. You can donate blood, food, furniture and clothes just to name a few others. I think maybe the biggest donation we can make is our time. I'm going to save volunteering for another week but this is also another great way to give.
To wrap things up I think it is important to pay attention and evaluate the organizations that we are donating to. How effectively are they using your donations? Are the CEO's getting some gigantic salary in these non profit organizations? Even though this is an urban legend site, I would not doubt there is some truth to it. So before you donate, do your research! Here's to donating once a week for the rest of the year!
End of Week 18 Update
This week I got to donate to my friend Stephanie's quickly approaching bike tour of the United States to raise money for multiple sclerosis. After doing the Keys 100 years ago and raising money for the Prostate Cancer foundation in the Keys it made me recall how great it feels when you get an email saying that one of your friends donated to your efforts. No matter how big or small the donations, it just feels good to know that people are supporting you in your efforts to have a positive influence. Best of luck Stephanie on your adventure!
Blacksburg decided to change from Spring to Summer weather in about a 3 day period this year and it is becoming pretty exciting to see our gardening efforts from March and April starting to show. To the right is our front bed of 75+ "volunteer" sunflowers that came up after we tilled the bed in March. Volunteer plants are ones that appear in your garden that start themselves from seeds from your past years plants. Looks like the front of our house will be putting on a pretty big smile in about a month :-)
End of Week 18 Totals
Soda - 0 ounces
Water - 63.82 Gallons
Liquor - 0 shots
Tea - 210 cups
Trips to unhappy places - Jimmy Johns (1)
$ to support neighbors = $311.39
Fried food consumption - 2 dorito chips
Breakfasts eaten - 77
Pushups - 960 Crunches - 900
Days Flossed - 62 (missed one day)
Coffee - 0 cups
Sunrises attended - 7
Beers drunk - 0
Gallons of Trash Collected - 135
Items planted - 12 jalapenos, 12 bell peppers, 8 yellow pear tomatoes, 30 canna bulbs, 1 chinese pistache, 30 sensitive plants, 24 carolina reaper peppers, 12 ghost peppers, 31 scorpion peppers, 5 brussel sprouts, 12 tyria hybrid cucumbers, 14 congo watermelons, 6 hybrid prizewinner pumpkins
Letters written - 3
Meat eaten - none
Donations made - Bike the US for MS,
This week I got to donate to my friend Stephanie's quickly approaching bike tour of the United States to raise money for multiple sclerosis. After doing the Keys 100 years ago and raising money for the Prostate Cancer foundation in the Keys it made me recall how great it feels when you get an email saying that one of your friends donated to your efforts. No matter how big or small the donations, it just feels good to know that people are supporting you in your efforts to have a positive influence. Best of luck Stephanie on your adventure!
Blacksburg decided to change from Spring to Summer weather in about a 3 day period this year and it is becoming pretty exciting to see our gardening efforts from March and April starting to show. To the right is our front bed of 75+ "volunteer" sunflowers that came up after we tilled the bed in March. Volunteer plants are ones that appear in your garden that start themselves from seeds from your past years plants. Looks like the front of our house will be putting on a pretty big smile in about a month :-)
End of Week 18 Totals
Soda - 0 ounces
Water - 63.82 Gallons
Liquor - 0 shots
Tea - 210 cups
Trips to unhappy places - Jimmy Johns (1)
$ to support neighbors = $311.39
Fried food consumption - 2 dorito chips
Breakfasts eaten - 77
Pushups - 960 Crunches - 900
Days Flossed - 62 (missed one day)
Coffee - 0 cups
Sunrises attended - 7
Beers drunk - 0
Gallons of Trash Collected - 135
Items planted - 12 jalapenos, 12 bell peppers, 8 yellow pear tomatoes, 30 canna bulbs, 1 chinese pistache, 30 sensitive plants, 24 carolina reaper peppers, 12 ghost peppers, 31 scorpion peppers, 5 brussel sprouts, 12 tyria hybrid cucumbers, 14 congo watermelons, 6 hybrid prizewinner pumpkins
Letters written - 3
Meat eaten - none
Donations made - Bike the US for MS,