I often wonder how our goat is doing, and more importantly, how the family that heifer.org picked to give it to is doing.
Six years ago, my kids opened a beautiful card provided by the non-profit organization that announced their Christmas gift from me that year was a goat that would be given to a needy family in a developing country. It was somewhat anti-climatic given the array of electronic gadgets, chocolates, and power tools that littered the floor around the illuminated fraser fir that morning but I’d like to think that someday the memory will resonate in their minds when they consider how fortunate our family is.
At the time, it took some research to determine which charity tried to do the most with its donations but since then, MoneySense magazine began publishing an annual report that grades charitable organizations in Canada based on various criteria, and although no charity is perfect, some high-profile organizations didn’t fare well (see charitynavigator.org for American charities). Knowing where your fundraising dollars are going is just as important as knowing where your other purchasing dollars are going and some charities need to be held more accountable for the administrative or advertising costs spent on paying CEOs, airing commercials, and running lotteries rather than spending that money on the cause. I am suspicious of corporations trying to embed themselves in our “helping” culture: breast cancer pink symbols on every product imaginable or spending more money telling us how generous they are than the actual amount of the donation. I would also encourage primary schools to consider supporting a wider variety of charities instead of same ones every year, possibly something related directly to children their own age. Since I cannot control where my donation dollar goes, I would rather volunteer my time, or give our winter coats, or fundraise for events which are local. Again, this falls under my parenting philosophy: be well-informed in order to make better decisions; don’t let someone else shape your opinions, get involved and learn the facts. Okay, so I’m not the fun parent in this family.
I do gripe about how I managed to raise two ungrateful children but in reality, I think some messages have sunk in. Let me take a moment to say that I’m a proud parent of kids who are peer mediators, who attend leadership conferences, who receive school board awards for participating in the Gay-Straight Alliance to prevent bullying, who volunteer for VIP programs for drug awareness and reading programs at the library, and who take part in their school Me to We and Students Making a Change clubs which participate in good works such as Halloween for Hunger, flash mobs to collect canned food, bake sales to fundraise for mosquito nets, and the annual Me to We day to raise awareness for Free the Children while becoming better citizens both locally and globally.
The world has its problems, and the thought of how much help is needed can be overwhelming but I hope the lesson learned for my kids is how small acts of kindness add up to make a big difference, not just at Christmas but throughout the year.
