Remembering What is Important

As the fervor and fevered pitch of Election Day  recedes into the rear view mirror, we inexorably move towards Thanksgiving and the subsequent holiday season. During this time, we have a duty to  kindly remember those less fortunate than us  and those in the Not-For-Profit (NFP)  world who help the disadvantaged  as best they can.  How can we help? You know the formula: donate your time, talent and treasure. Please consider volunteering at your local charity, whether it is a church, synagogue or any other NFP  organization.  Give generously to your local food bank, particularly at Thanksgiving time. Make a donation to your favorite NFP organization to help it defray its operating costs. If the economy slips into a recession as many project, funds for NFP organizations begin to dwindle. will

Look around you to see where you can help.  The needy are often hiding in plain sight. I  work at a major university. Several years ago faculty lunches were disappearing from the kitchen refrigerator.  It took us a day or two to figure out a student who couldn’t afford to eat had to resort to taking food to survive. We simply didn’t comprehend  that students at  a major university could be in such desperate straits.  We weren’t looking around and were oblivious to the plight of our fellow man. After leaving a message about the food bank in the refrigerator the lunches were left alone.

 I can’t even begin to tell you how amazed I am at how many students visit the college  food bank.  For them, it is often a choice of skipping meals or buying a textbook.  To their credit (no pun intended), these students  choose to sacrifice their current needs for the prospect of doing well in class.  Yes, I understand about the cost of college but I do have a soft spot for those who are working to improve themselves even at the cost of going hungry.  They deserve our support

We often get so caught up in our lives that we need to step back and revisit our duty to our fellow man.  To paraphrase a  great literary character, “Mankind is our business”.  And we all know what happened to that fellow when he didn’t heed his own advice.