As the holidays get closer, my mailbox overflows with offers to give money to different organizations. Most days, there are several thick envelopes with “stuff” inside. There are return address labels, notepads, all-occasion cards drawn by kids, or a calendar. With no offense to the marketing departments of any of these organizations, it feels a little manipulative. I didn’t order these products, but they’d like me to pay for them with a donation. I’ve come to terms with this by only keeping the stuff from the organizations to whom I actually donate, but the rest goes in recycling, which is, in itself, a different problem. They have spent precious dollars to make the stuff I am throwing away. Now there’s waste, and I can’t stand waste. It must work, because it keeps happening, but I wish there were a different way.
I am so glad Community Purse is more direct. We all know we are giving. We have already committed. Nothing goes toward marketing me for my donation. These fine people come to our gathering (yes, there’s still free pizza in McHenry!) and outline the needs of their worthy organization. We, as a group, choose the one we are feeling led to support. They get all the money. All of it. There are no postage costs, printing fees, time spent on designing a notepad with my name on it that I won’t use, or guilt. There is no waste.
Unless they are faking it, and I don’t believe that to be true, our group is always happy to be together. Some of us only see each other quarterly, and it’s like old home week every time. We laugh, we eat, and then we settle in and listen. We are touched by the needs in our community and glad (so glad!) there is an organization with passionate people addressing them.
I am not in any way discouraging giving to the organizations with the stuffed envelopes. I’m just happy Community Purse does it differently – that it’s more personal, that we get to hug people, and that the benefit is local.
Galatians 6:2 says, “Share in each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.”
Quarterly with Community Purse, we share more than pizza and cookies. We share the passion, the needs and the financial burden of running one of the amazing organizations that come to us.
In 2 Corinthians it says that God loves a cheerful giver. We don’t have to give. We get to give. We do it willingly and we do it cheerfully. Please join us and see what the fun is all about.
By Shannon Plate
McHenry County Chapter