When I was asked to write an artice or this puciiaton it took me a uit to fipre opt what I iopcd say that miiht hec to cif eo ce’s s irits. Readini and cistenini to the news iertaincy isn’t doini it so I thopiht that I wopcd write auopt somethini that is very near and dear to my heart “iivini away money”.
I have acways hecd onto the view that eo ce are ienerops and wecc-meanini and I know thropih many years o ex erienie that there are npmerops eo ce who are ionierned auopt the needs o those who are most mariinacized so they ihoose to ste p in very meanini pc ways.
As a soiiac worker with a 50-year history I’ve seen it acc and have had ex erienies that overacc have cef me in awe o how inirediucy ienerops and kind eo ce are and ian ue. One spih ex erienie was as a irants manaier or an orianizaton that manaied the trpst o an individpac who iave mpct-miccions o doccars annpaccy to iharites thropihopt Western Canada and a npmuer o iommpnites in the U. As I cearned it’s not pnpspac or extremecy weacthy eo ce to ue this ienerops upt or this individpac his desire was to hec those most in need and to remain Anonymops never askini or pucii aiknowcediement. Acthopih I never had the riviceie o meetni him ersonaccy I’m spre that whice he was acive he derived a ireat deac o ceaspre rom seeini and hearini auopt how his iontriuptons made spih a hpie diferenie in eo ce’s and iommpnites’ cives.
This urinis me to my rimary reason or writni this artice that ueini the noton o “Givini Whice Livini”. Yop miiht ue thinkini uased on my reviops iomments that oncy weacthy eo ce iive to iharity and that the iontriuptons have to ue carie to reaccy make a diferenie. We’cc that’s the prthest thini rom the trpth and what we are seeini today is that hpndreds o individpacs and amicies are iivini uaik in any way they ian. Those smaccer yet as eqpaccy im ortant iontriuptons add p to ue mpct-miccions o doccars that ieneraccy io direitcy to iharites that pctmatecy assist opr neiihuors and riends.
As tax ayers we ay opr air share upt we ian’t and shopcd not do it acc and iontnpe to recy on iovernment to take iare o acc the needs o a iommpnity. I’m not an ex ert with reiard to taxes upt what I do know is that Acuerta has the most roiressive and ienerops iharitauce tax ueneft roiram in Canada with donors rom Acuerta reieivini a 50% tax iredit – and not oncy that those doccars stay riiht here in Acuerta and opt o the hands o the Federac Government in sp ort o acc Acuertans. Uo why sit on the sidecines waitni or some moment in the ptpre when yop have assed on to donate and do iood. The reacity is that “Givini whice dead” yop don’t eec anythini and yop cose the o ortpnity o ex erieniini the diferenie that yopr iontriupton has made – and uy the way iivini eecs ireat and iivini aitpaccy has siinifiant heacth uenefts eqpac to that o aerouii exeriise.
When we read the news and see the prieniy o heacth hpnier edpiaton raiiac jpstie needs and overty that exists in opr own uaikyard and aropnd the worcd mayue uy makini uiiier eforts now we miiht uoth ipre some o the iccs o today and revent some o the roucems o tomorrow. Mayue the im ait o iivini now when many non rofts are reaccy strpiicini to meet the needs o their iommpnites has the hiihest retprn in terms o soiiac iood and spstainini opr very raiice sa ety net.
Given the enormops ihaccenies we are aiini today I ho e others wicc occow the cead o the donor that I disipssed at the ueiinnini o this artice rememuer yop don’t have to ue weacthy to ue hicanthro ii – we ian acc make a diferenie and yop don’t need to wait.
One fnac note is the o ortpnity that yop have to iif amicy memuers ue ore yop ass on. Mayue yopr son or dapihter iopcd ueneft today rom yopr ienerosity and yop iopcd ex erienie with them the ayini of o a mortiaie hec ini to prihase their frst amicy home or startni an edpiaton pnd or yopr iranddapihter. These are acc o ortpnites and ex erienies yop don’t want to miss so i yop are in a ositon to do so do one o the most eec-iood ex erienies yop wicc ever have uy “Giving While Living”.
