Did you miss it?
It was just one day last week, but its effects have a lasting quality for the year around. The day was, Give To the Max Day, an annual fundraising event for all charitable organizations, particularly in the state and a chance for your organization to earn some bonuses besides.
This year was the thirteenth year for this event and the results have been spectacular. 6457 organizations in the State of Minnesota benefited with $39,390,470 collected. Various grants were received by participating organizations, some given every 15 minutes throughout the day, most in the neighborhood of $500.
The Give to the Max Day was probably chosen for a number of reasons, not the least of which may have been its closeness to Thanksgiving as well as its closeness to the end of the year for tax deductions. We are not all equal in our ability to contribute to our favorite charities. I, for one, have been very fortunate In many ways.
One of the early lessons from my parents, particularly from my mother, was in being kind, generous and courteous. My parents were not well to do, with both my mother and father having to quit school to go to work to help support their families. My mother left after eighth grade and my father left after ninth grade. However, there was no bitterness detected.
One of my earliest memories was a visit by a neighbor friend who was on the outs as they say. He had become a salesman door to door of various items that a household might use. My mother always came up with something that she thought we could use even if it was only for five cents or so. I think the stock pile of shoe strings that are in a box that I have have had for years is an example.
If nothing else, mother always saw to it that she purchased something.
jtr
Thrift and savings were bywords. My father very carefully maintained a register of my allowance — as little as five cents a week. Of course it got a little bigger (not much) the older I got, but then again, I went to work delivering weekly newspapers (and collecting each week.)
My allowance soon ended and depended on my newspaper earnings. I eventually delivered daily (& Sunday papers) doing both a morning route and an evening route (Dayton Daily News and Dayton Journal Hera;d) that kept me busy both mornings and evenings.
That experience made me into a morning person, getting up early to complete deliveries before school.
Fortunately, I also had some advice and began investing in the stock market, joining a stock market club where I learned a little about that means of saving and “earning” money, Some of the decisions were awful and I lost money, but overall, I did a credible job.
I eventually was on my own for investing and with a bit of effort made some fairly good decisions, many thanks to a great stock broker that I had for a number of years who never seemed to want me to sell anything, but rather to keep accumulating.
When my broker retired, I was a bit devastated as I realized what a good job he had done and left on my own, I was not as good as he was.
For the last five years or so, I have searched but never found another broker who was as good as my first one.
jtr
I have led a somewhat charmed life. I was blessed with a wonderful marriage of over 40 years and have wonderful step-children and grandchildren.
The biggest event, however, came as a surprise about a year ago. I had a good friend that I made as a freshman at Denison University just out of high school. We were compatico and exchanged letters on a regular basis for over fifty years. He never married, but he had often entertained me and my wife at his home in Florida as well as visiting us in the several states where I worked during the time I knew him including here in Marshall.
The surprise was that when he died, he left me an inheritance of six figures that has allowed me to take part in the Give to the Max Day, including a five figure donation to a scholarship fund in his name at our alma mater.
My current and long term charity interest has been the YMCA where I learned to swim and went to two-week summer camps before I was 11 years old.
For those who haven’t read about it, the YMCA is modernizing with a multi-million dollar drive.
Until next time: Oh, Fiddlesticks!
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November 24, 2021 at 01:06PM
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Learning to give to the max | News, Sports, Jobs - Marshall Independent
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