charity

One of my favorite charities had some rocky years. Every winter I gave to them generously, and then a few years back they stopped saying “thank you”. Their overall tone had changed, and no one was happy, kind or even productive.

I’d still give, and I’d get the typed up form letter for my taxes. There would be a little hand written note from a board member saying “Thank you so much”. The next year it just said “Thanks. From Helen” and then the year after that nothing at all.

I’d walk into their offices and no one would really look up at me, they’d snatch the check and then return to their typing.

This year something wonderful happened. The same check snatcher was still there typing away, but Helen (the director of development) had been replaced by Joe. Joe happened to walk into the lobby as I was giving my pitifully small check (too many years of insult for me), and he smiled warmly, looked me in the eye and said, “Thank you so much. We can do a lot of good with this.”

I’m going to walk in and double my money today. Just because someone finally said thank you.