Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Would you take a one-time donation?

Much has been made about the fact that our staff have made sacrifices to help avoid layoffs here. In addition, many employees have made cash donations to help the cause.

But, here's the latest twist. A staff member writes:

At dinner last night I was telling my husband about all the meetings we’ve been having to think of cost-saving measures, and how we were hoping to get the number of possible layoffs down even more. My ten-year-old son (Mark, shown here) suddenly looks up, all concerned, and says, “What???” Then he very seriously said, “I’ve saved $10. Can I give that to save someone’s job?”

3 comments:

Anjali Mitter Duva said...

That's very sweet. This is, in fact, a perfect time to teach kids about sacrificing a little bit to help others. I recently bought a piggy bank for my four year old, and it has three compartments: spend, save and donate. I'm just waiting for her to start saying she wants to buy things before I give it to her. I'm amazed, and delighted, that the day hasn't come yet. And yet, I look forward to teaching her the value of donating.

Anonymous said...

I don't know what to say to that. I am about to become a parent myself in June and don't know what I would do in that situation. I would probably thank my child for sure for his generosity. As far as taking the offer, I am not sure about what I would do.

Kari said...

Last week we had two days of 2nd grade tours at our hospital where I am the Volunteer Coordinator. We, too are facing budget cuts and it has reached the media. I had a little boy after the tour, hand me $3.51, all in quarters and pennies. I took a 'donor' picture of the two of us.

Kids are much more thoughtful and giving then we give them credit for.

Thanks Paul for the great blog!