Be Charitable; Increase Your Worth and Wealth While Helping Humanity

Be charitable, empathetic and compassionate in these crazy troubled times. Helping others helps yourself; it creates spiritual wealth. Do not forget to support your local charities. Gather up the canned goods that have been sitting in the cabinets or pantry for a while and donate them to the food bank. That will give you a chance to clean the shelves and then you can go out and buy new stuff for yourself. The food bank will appreciate it and you end up with a clean kitchen.

Winter is coming fast in the northern states. Disadvantaged kids always need coats, hats, gloves, scarves, sweaters, sweatshirts and boots to fend off the frigid winds. As a child, Keystone remembers pulling bread wrappers over his feet before placing them in the boots because the boots leaked. When you are poor you do what you have to do. Humorously, by the time he arrived at school, the feet would be wet anyway from sweating in the plastic bags or the bags would work their way down the calf, ankle and end up only covering the front of the feet that now had wet socks. Those days are distant memories now, but you never forget your roots.

In America, sadly, many poor and disadvantaged children continue shivering in the cold and damp winter air while listening to their hunger pangs as other families enjoy lavish turkey and ham feasts in well-heated homes.

Last winter, you told yourself that your coat does not fit well anymore, it is out of style and you need a new one, so donate it to the local thrift store. Any winter clothing items would be appreciated. Search for the smaller locally-operated volunteer-type thrift shops ran by the blue-haired gal’s and silver-haired gentlemen since these little stores directly help the people in that community and your stuff will be put to good use quickly.

The bigger chain thrift stores collect money into one big pot and then disseminate the help from there--after some of that cash goes into corrupt people’s pockets. The small local volunteer thrift stores offer stuff real cheap for disadvantaged folks (so they maintain human dignity purchasing something with their own money) but most of these local stores will outright give people stuff if they are in desperate need. This does not happen out of those big chain thrift stores that control inventories with fancy colored bar code labels. Who knows, perhaps you will like the folks at that humble local thrift shop and after a few laughs find yourself volunteering once or twice per month. Most thrift stores also take food donations (canned goods, pasta, etc…) so you can drop off clothes and food at one place.

You can also make things to donate such as hats and scarves. At the local thrift store that Keystone supports and helps, a lady brought in a bag full of crocheted winter hats for women in early December; all different colors and styles. She is poor as a church mouse but gets by with her apartment and food and such. She spends all year crocheting the hats and then donates them to the local thrift stores in the region during November and December. That is a genuine, authentic, human being.

For the exercise enthusiasts and cyclists, there are many charities always conducting events such as walks, runs, bike runs, etc… The Spin4 events for cyclists help the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation; that may be of interest to you. There are always charity walks and runs in the towns and cities near you; it is a great way to meet a bunch of like-minded people rallying around a specific cause.

Other ways you can be charitable, even if you say that you are too busy, is to ask your employer (HR person) about a volunteer program. Most large companies already offer these programs to employees. The volunteer program is typically structured where an employee will agree to volunteer, say, 12 times during the year, once per month, at a local hospital, senior center, thrift store, etc.., and in return, the employer pays the employee as if it was a regular day at work. Everybody wins. The employee gets out of the office or shop once per month for something different, the place where the volunteer work occurs (usually selected by the volunteer and approved by the company) benefits from receiving help that day and the employer benefits from good will with people thinking highly of the business or company since it supports and cares about the community. These programs can be structured in lots of different ways. If your company does not have a volunteer program, perhaps spearhead an effort or ask the HR person if that can be put on the agenda at a company meeting to see if folks are interested. Yes, they will be interested.

Lighten your heart and soul by helping others and you will receive wealth beyond your wildest dreams.