Day 5 - Give permission to others to give

Day 5

The Gift: A five dollar contribution to Camp Foster trading post.

Today offered the first cash opportunity to give and it was fun and spontaneous. We took our youngest daughter to summer camp and were depositing money into her “trading account” for her to spend during the week. We had planned to deposit fifteen dollars and I only had twenty dollar bills. I handed the counselor a twenty dollar bill and asked her to put the difference on a child’s account who had no other means. Her surprised thank you and pleasant smile were kind, and certainly worth more to me than the five dollars that I can’t imagine spending in any other way. Shannon got to witness the act (although I was very discrete) and I could see her take a deep breath of pride. That simple gift of five dollars established her in her mind as coming from a giving family and set a standard for her to live up to. While she was at camp she told me later that she gave half of her postage stamps to some of the girls in her cabin who wanted to send a letter home and forgot stamps. No-receipt cash transactions - probably not a smart accounting move, but an infinitely solid giving opportunity.

❦ Setting a standard of giving provides others with permission to give.