|
‘Tis the season for giving. But, read the papers and you’ll also find ‘tis the season of economic crisis and world unrest. It leaves me wondering what it all means for regular, every-day people like you and me? Do we succumb to these tough times, keep a tight hold on whatever we have and cease all giving?
I say no way! Now is not the time to give up on giving. Now more than ever, we need to embrace the spirit of giving at home and at work.
The great thing about giving, in addition to how it benefits others and how good it makes you feel, is that it can be done in a myriad of ways. Whether it’s giving your time, money, goods or services, there’s a way for everyone and every organization to give.
Personally, giving cash is not my thing. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever written a single cheque over $40 to any one charity. I much prefer to give my time, talent or vegetables! For me, bringing 62 lb. of home-grown veggies to Winnipeg Harvest, taking time to bake cookies with my elderly neighbour or packing up and delivering Christmas hampers to families in need is much more satisfying than simply writing a cheque. Not that writing a cheque is a bad thing, it’s just not my thing!
At home, one of the activities in our home-made “Count-down to Christmas Activity Calendar” is to choose something to give to those less fortunate than we are. After a day of chatting about different options, why we choose to give and how it feels to give to others, our kids made their decisions. Our five-year-old, finding it very difficult to part with any of her valuable possessions, decided to give some of her piggy bank money to buy food for hungry children. Our seven-year-old, being much more strategic, chose to donate toys he no longer uses. It’s giving – in their own way.
At work, I’d say the spirit of giving has been at an all time high at IBEX this year. In fact, some may even question whether we spend too much time, energy and money on giving; after all, as my dad points out, we have a business to run. But that’s IBEX. It’s about creating a business that places as much value on people and community as it does on profit. Don’t get me wrong, we like profit, in fact we love profit – but not at the expense of people. And, quite frankly, there is no greater morale booster, teambuilding exercise or energizer than working together and getting involved to help others.
In the past year, the IBEX Herd, with a helping hand from many others, has proudly cleaned up garbage, planted flowers, built a home and raised more than $20,000 for Habitat for Humanity.
Perhaps these hard times mean we’ll have to find new and innovative ways of giving next year, but I have no doubt the spirit of giving will be alive and well. Just the other day the Herd decided that, rather than participating in a gift exchage, they would pool their financial resources and buy a goat for a family in a developing country through the gift-giving program at World Vision.
Now that’s giving – Herd style!
|
