By Jerry Macy, PCF Board Member
I don’t think anyone disagrees that the world presents us with challenges every day. The past two years have been especially difficult. It’s understandable to want to “close ranks” and withdraw into ourselves and the presumed safety and comfort of our own world.
However, withdrawing doesn’t make the rest of the world go away. Quite the contrary. We find the real world out there every time we step out the door. We see a world where the balance of bounty versus hardship, opportunity versus challenge, joy versus sorrow, is not the same for everyone. A world where many in my community are hurting and don’t have what I have.
So what do I do about it? That’s where giving comes in.
My view of giving is simple. My upbringing and faith taught me that, if I see someone in need, someone who is hurting, I have a responsibility to try to see what I can do to help. Sometimes that help involves money, sometimes material goods, sometimes my time and outreach. That’s the charge. That’s the responsibility.
Have I fallen short of responding the way I know I should? Of course!
No one can meet everyone else’s needs or always lend a helping hand. But that’s not an excuse for not trying!
There are unlimited opportunities to reach out and give of our time, our talent and our resources. We just need to find the areas and needs that mean the most to us, that resonate with us and then do something. While the needs outside our community are great and some of my giving goes there, the needs locally are right here, right now, right in front of us.
So, the primary focus on my giving is local, to the organizations that do the most for those closest to us. For me that is the Ocean Park Food Bank, Pacific County Immigrant Support and Peninsula Poverty Response. These are only a few of the many local organizations that do great work and are deserving of our support.
We give not only because we should but because we must. It is the right thing to do.
We are called to give of ourselves as we are able. We can do no less.
“To those whom much is given, much is required.”
That’s why I give.