Some of the new programs we have started working with...
About 6 months ago, a friend told me about a
woman named Randi Cairns who was the wife of a National Guardsman who had
returned from a tour of duty in Afghanistan as well as another part of the
world. Guardsmen and their families have unique problems...they do not live on
military bases and therefore do not have the support system regular army
families have. While her husband was deployed, Randi raised their four children
on her own and had to deal with many, many difficult situations. She once
shared the story of how she was 8 months pregnant, had a broken leg and had to
take her three other children with her while she shopped at the
supermarket...that was one of her "lighter moments." There were many
other situations that were challenging and extraordinarily difficult to deal
with.
Though her husband has returned, he can still be called to active duty and
Randi, recalling her own difficulties, decided to begin Homefront Hearts,
a non-profit that provides advocacy and resources to families of soldiers
serving their country. When I first spoke to her, I asked her how we could
help. She jokingly referred to her desk chair, which was being held together
with one screw, and her printer, which only worked when she hit it in a certain
way. Before she knew it, we had her at Staples buying a new chair and printer
so she could do her good work with a little more comfort and less stress. Since
that time, Randi has directed us to some very sad situations involving wounded
soldiers and their families whose needs are not being met by other entities. No
matter what one feels about the ongoing war in Iraq or the deployment of
soldiers to Afghanistan, many have families with needs that are not being cared
for.
For Randi and others, the GPF can provide not only monetary support but they know that we are available for mentoring, moral support, a shoulder to cry on when things get frustrating, practical advice -- we do it all.
Recently, we provided funds for a small local social service agency, (run by volunteers) which had been overwhelmed with increased requests for help with utility bills and mortgage payments.
Again, on the local level, we discovered a small organization that was started by one woman who was hearing stories of residents who could not pay their electric bills or a father who had lost his job due to illness and was foregoing much needed medicine so that he could put food on his family's table. The founder could not believe this was happening in a town known for its affluence, but upon investigation, learned that these stories and many others were true. She began her organization, Down the Block, and we have given her funds for some of the cases and have also spent time with her discussing strategy and growth. We are a unique resource for small programs, which so often were begun by a visionary with little non-profit or business knowledge -- only a passion for changing what is wrong.
We know that many
times we can make a tremendous difference in the lives of untold numbers of
people and often it takes very little to make that happen. As we like to say,
there is no such thing as a "small mitzvah"...we can take a small sum
of money and make miracles happen with it.
These programs sound terrific and so much needed. Does someone have to be
wealthy in order to help? And how do people find out about the Good People Fund
and follow your work?
What is truly unique about the GPF is that we have developed the art of taking small sums of money and doing truly important and meaningful things with it. That is not to say that we don't have or need donors with larger sums of money! The needs are huge and today, resources are so much more limited. We have $18 donors and $50,000 donors - each knows that funds we receive will transform lives in many different ways and do it in the most direct way possible. I like to use the following to best describe what we do - it is like taking the hand of the donor and placing it in the hand of the recipient with neither knowing the other's identity.
Since we are a new organization, we are working very hard to get the word out about our work. We believe that we offer something that most other non-profits do not - a meaningful way to make a difference in the most direct way possible. Our website, www.goodpeoplefund.org, is a good way to learn more about what we do. To get an even clearer picture, there is a link on the homepage to what we call our "tzedakah diaries." The diaries are short stories I share about our work and how we were able to use donations for a specific need. I came up with the idea to write them because so many people, when they ask about our work, are always taken with the stories and want to hear more. The stories are heart-warming and inspiring, for the most part, and produce a natural flow of endorphins when you hear them. (Which is why I do not look at what I do as "work"... It feels way too good to be work!) The best way people can help us is to spread the word of our work and visit our site to learn more.
Sounds great. For those of our readers unfamiliar with the terms, can you please flesh out what Tikkun Olam and Tzedakah are and how they are a critical part of the Good People Fund and your work?
Tikkun Olam is a Hebrew term which means
"to repair the world." We believe that each of us has, within us, the
ability to heal or repair the world, using our own unique talents and
abilities, in many ways, both big and small. Sometimes, we can do it with money
and sometimes we can do it with our talents or skills. Think, perhaps, of a
young man named Max Wallack who, at the age of 13, decided to collect puzzles
that he then distributed to nursing homes. Max learned, in a deeply personal
way, that puzzles can be very therapeutic for people with early Alzheimer's.
Now, only one year later, Max has collected thousands of puzzles, distributed
them to nursing homes around his home and in other parts of the country, built
an informative and attractive web site to tell his story, and used his
exceptional intelligence to form a non-profit organization.
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