Personally, I have no money to speak of, and I’m in debt, but I still give because I’m a kind person – what kind, I’m still trying to figure that out. It seems that I will always choose my purpose and passion over money. That means that our non-profit’s programs and events come above all else.
Sometimes I use personal funds to compensate for shortfalls.
A recent example is that Crime Survivors Inc. (CSI) was $6126 short in trying to fulfill a Thanksgiving Gratitude Hopeful Healing program. So I put it on a personal credit card of mine to complete the mission. Someone said to me, “Well, at least you get the points.” That is true. But we get points on our corporate card as well, and those points go right back into programs and services for the people we serve.
How many people do you know that would offer the same, not knowing they were guaranteed it back?
So on a very personal level, I am not materialistic nor do I have a love for money. But I realize that money is what builds schools and churches and gymnasiums. Money is what makes programs and services like ours available to the community. It’s what keeps our parks green, our roads paved and makes our communities flourish.
Money, quite simply is the green mercurochrome that sooths all wounds. I didn’t say it’s the cure-all – it is not – but it will go a long way to bring hopeful healing and maybe even a smile on people’s faces.
Someone asked me several years back, “Patricia, I know you don’t like money, but would you rather have more or less of it?” The person was a friend so I was cracking up. I finally answered that I didn’t give a rat’s behind about money and then we got into a whole heavy discussion. Then, I insisted to pay for breakfast.
Her point was well made. It’s a medium of exchange that facilitates our everyday lives in a multitude of ways. How we use it and what we do with it – that’s a horse of a different color. Money can be put to good use … or not good use.
To that point, I think it’s interesting that Mother Teresa really did not care about the source of her donors’ money for her charities. There were questionable sources – even South American cartel money that was donated – but she did not give a rat’s behind and probably rationalized it this way: money itself has no morality. She used the money to elevate the human condition or at very least to alleviate the pain and suffering of so many.
So on that note, we too need more of the green mercurochrome, after all, we are trying to sooth a lot of wounds.
May your God be with you.
PW –