How to make an impact at Thanksgiving, even if you're not Bill Gates
It's Thanksgiving, and again I am fortunate enough to spend my holiday with my friends and family. In a past post, I noted my posts on being thankful, in particular this one on being thankful, where I noted the Seattle P-I newspaper's slide show on "Words of Thanks."
"What are you most thankful for? P-I photographer Meryl Schenker profiles six local residents who have different reasons for giving thanks on this holiday."
At home, we're thankful for many things, primarily for good health, family, and our community. The philanthropist W. Clement Stone said that "If you are really thankful, what do you do? You share."
Today I received a mail with a link to an article from last year on Bill Gates and how Microsoft's founder and his wife, Melinda, are aiming to change charity...
"For the past 10 years, the Gateses have opted for the latter: “How can we do the most good for the greatest number with the resources we have?” Bill asked a sea of Harvard University graduates at their commencement ceremony last year.
"The answer? If you’re Bill Gates — with $37.5 billion in your foundation’s coffers and as much as $100 billion to contribute over the course of your lifetime — you do it very, very carefully, say philanthropy leaders."
OK, you don't have Bill & Melinda Gates' resources. What can you do?
Plenty. And you don't need billions to make a difference.
In an article today from Patrick May of the San Jose Mercury News writes about the local impact of the recession at the holiday to some of those in Silicon Valley, and provides a list of places to give for the holidays in San Jose and surrounding areas.
In Amy Goodman's article about thanksgiving, she notes "Billion for a Billion" campaign launched by the WFP, "urging the 1 billion people who use the Internet to help the billion who are hungry. But if you think that hunger is far from our shores, here is some food for thought ... and action: The U.S. Department of Agriculture released a report Monday stating that in 2008 one in six households in the U.S. was “food insecure,” the highest number since the figures were first gathered in 1995.
And Jerry Large writes today about good people giving back with thanks, about "someone who traveled to a foreign land and made a fresh start despite hardships and with the help of new friends."
So I've included this link on how to help over the holidays from my previous hometown paper, and from our new home town, The Seattle Times Fund For The Needy.
This in closing from the article on Gates noted above...
"Gates — who dropped out of Harvard to create Microsoft — returned to the university last year to accept an honorary degree and to deliver the 2007 commencement speech to graduates. It was, Gates-watchers agreed, probably one of his finest speeches ever, an eloquent reminder that success doesn’t always mean following the rules. Among other things, Gates told Harvard students that technological achievement is critical in the years ahead, but that “humanity’s greatest advances are not in is discoveries but in how those discoveries are applied to reduce inequity … reducing human inequity is the highest human achievement.”
How will you pay it forward?
Whatever you do, for those in the States and wherever you are, have a happy Thanksgiving.
Tags: shopping, Microsoft, articles, blogs, what I read, Thanksgiving.
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Comments
- Anonymous
November 30, 2009
Good post. Maybe others will pick up on this thought.