Stories of Kindness from Around the World

I was a DJ, playing music for wedding dances, reunions and such. One Christmas, some coworkers wanted to have a dance for a Christmas party. They asked me to be the DJ, and decided to have an admission charge and donate all of the proceeds to charity. After looking around, we found that several children in the area could not afford shoes or coats in the wintertime. There was a local group, the "Resource Council" that worked with WalMart to provide $15 vouchers to needy families for shoes and coats for these families, but there was never enough money to go around. We decided that the money raised would be donated to the Resource Council for this purpose.

After thinking about it, I wondered why an endowment fund couldn't be used for this purpose. With an endowment fund, just the interest would be given each year, and the principle would be left in the fund to keep growing. I searched for charitable groups that would be able to manage a fund like this, but I wasn't having any luck. Then I found out about the McPherson County Community Foundation (MCCF). Their purpose was to manage endowment funds that were used to serve the community. The MCCF required that at least $10,000 be in the fund before any dispersements were made, so I started writing letters to community businesses, telling them my story, and asking if they could donate to the fund.

The response was amazing. Within a couple of years, we had $10,000 and were able to make our first donation to the Resource Council. The amazing thing is that over 90 businesses, groups, and individuals have given to the fund! The fund now has a value of approximately $30,000, and last year, we gave over $1,000 to the Resource Council -- and all because of many people helping out!  

I am always reminded that snowflakes alone can't do much, but together, they are able to shut down large cities!