giving

I was watching Oprah a few days back, and chanced upon the guesting of former US President Bill Clinton in that show. The guy actually has a new book entitled “Giving.” From what I gathered, the book is a compilation of inspiring stories of groups or individuals who have taken an extra mile to reach out to their fellows. One of the people Clinton featured in his book is tennis superstar Andre Agassi, who, I just learned from that interview of Oprah with him later in the show, operates a school--the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy—for the community's challenged children. It was great listening to the retired tennis player talk about how he envisions the school to become a venue for these kids to start hoping and dreaming, it even uses Winston Churchill's famous quote: “Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never.” in its website. This school, which assists every kid there to overcome all the challenges and be responsible, is now considered a model institution in Nevada where it is located. According to Andre, affecting these kids' lives for a lifetime gives him more joy than what his 21 years of playing tennis did. Wow!

Another person who was that day's episode's (and this modern day) heroes was a senior college student, who first guested in the show in 1997, when she was still a little girl. From a quick replay of that episode I learned that that little girl started a small charity, with the help of her father, wherein everyone in their neighborhood was asked to give a penny for her then small foundation dedicated to the indigents. It was actually from that episode, and from the girl's spirit to do something, that Oprah was inspired to follow what the little girl was trying to accomplish. The saying that goes, if you can why can't I truly applies to that situation. And ten years later, Oprah's Angel Network Foundation has funded 60 new schools in 13 countries. While the little kid's “penny” foundation has actually gathered US$9M as of that interview. A wower!

Other “givers” who guested in that episode were couple Matt and Jessica Flannery who founded Kiva.org, a website that helps people from developing countries to start their own small business by getting a loan from individuals from across the world. One lender was also there to say that the organization has not only helped her help other people through its website, but made her find the meaning of life, in the process of giving. Her $25 dollar loan to someone in South Africa some years back was already returned to her with interest, it is in fact multiplied to hundreds of dollars after lending it to several other individuals in need of capital money. This is more than just investing, it is giving and seeing how that simple click of the mouse changes the life of those people from the opposite part of the world. So great!

And for this part of the world, exactly in my city, we also have our own brand of giving. We're on our 7th year now. This Christmas eve my friends and I will be hosting a party for the kids in the neighborhood and those from outside it. This is where we have a little party with games, some food, et cetera, and at the end of it, we hand out gifts to each of them. As of this morning, there are already 189 in the list, and according to my friend, I should keep extra packs “just in case.” I expect more than 200 kids this year, they were about 180 last year, and there's always an increase of the number, I've since noticed that. There'll be no more toys this year though, because Unitop no longer sells cheap toys, and there's no more time to search for shops with toys within our budget. If we continue the “tradition” of putting inside each pack a toy, then I'll be broke starting today until months from now. That's scary, I don't like! (But we need donations. Seriously.) So instead, we'll be replacing the toy with more candies and whatever chocolate-flavored bits I can think of later on when we do the real shopping. I started the first shop yesterday (I could no longer stall it bec the clock is ticking!), and wowowee, shopping bags filled both the passenger's and the back seat of the cab, cramming!. That was not even half of what we need. What I'm actually looking forward to right now is the night of the 24th. I don't care if we are fast forwarding the night where I'll definitely lose my voice from shouting (200 kids, yay!), I really don't care. I just want to skip the shopping part for goodness' sake! So there, we are also giving because...wala lang! :)

Happy Christmas!!!