How many times have you seen a bedraggled sign toting person at the end of an exit ramp and wondered, what is his or her story? If I hand them a dollar, will it help provide a meal or a bed, or be used for less honorable purposes. In traveling to my office in downtown Chicago, for the four block walk from the train, I’m accosted by a dozen needy citizens, each holding out a hand or cup and a sign. What is a caring person to do?
God gives us clear directions about how we are to treat those less fortunate: “Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. There will always be poor people in the land.” (Deut 15:10,11)
It’s a bit confusing though, because we can run out of funds long before we make a dent in fulfilling the needs of others either with our dollars or time doing community service.
Serving others certainly embraces the idea of monetary contributions. Yet, true service demands much more of us; connection with the people that need our help. On that front, we all have an equal amount of capital to deploy.
Two years ago, the NuView staff spent several days defining the collective values that we share as an organization. Particularly poignant was the idea that we have a desire to serve others – not just in the workplace, but in the community as well.
While some of the NuView staff were always first in line to sign up for the myriad of charitable community service activities in Central Florida, others held back a bit. To provide a nudge, we decided to incentivize the behavior with a company- wide bonus if each employee donated at least 15 hours per quarter on any activity that benefited someone less fortunate.
How are we doing? Well, it’s a bit embarrassing to confess that my staff is running laps around me, donating their time to the Wheelchair Foundation, Shephards Hope, Ronald McDonald House, Feeding Children Everywhere, and many more.
In the book of Matthew, Jesus said, when you give to the needy, do not let your right hand know what the left is doing. What I have found is that public affirmation is unnecessary – the satisfaction of serving others seems to be quite enough.
So, we hope to see you at the next walk-a-thon, tutoring session, or at the local health clinic. We also enjoy hearing about the ways that our friends and clients serve others, and will be happy to join you in your ventures of community service as well.
Indeed, the poor will always be among us – perhaps just to teach us about ourselves. Although the needs are large, join us in helping make the dent just a little bit bigger.
