Podcast Episode 116 Transcript: AJ/FF’s Guide to Giving

It's a special episode for Giving Tuesday! Around the holidays, charity goes up exponentially. Since two of us on the AJ/FF team have formerly run nonprofits, we thought we would explore the practicalities of charity, including a plea to not let giving be a once-a-year thing. We discuss Giving Tuesday, food drives, toy drives, and more! Included in this episode: lots of tips for doing giving and volunteering WELL.

Listen here or watch on YouTube.

[00:00:00] Hi, this is Tana from Ancient Jesus/Future Faith. We thought it would be a good thing at this time of year to do an episode about the practicalities of charity and volunteering. I do want to offer one correction to something I say later in the podcast when discussing these issues. I mention the origins of Giving Tuesday,

[00:00:24] and boy, did I get them wrong. I say it was a YWCA in New York City in 2007. I was right about New York City, but it was the 92nd street Y, which is a Young Men's and Young Women's Hebrew Association. Also, they started Giving Tuesday in 2012. So Cyber Monday started in 2005, so it did indeed come first. All right let's get into the podcast

[00:00:54] ​

[00:00:59] Tana: Hello, and welcome to the Ancient Jesus Future Faith Podcast. I am one of your hosts, Tana Schiewer, and I'm here with my co-hosts Sarah Mainardi.

[00:01:11] Sarah: Hello.

[00:01:11] Tana: And Don Schiewer.

[00:01:12] Don: Hey!

[00:01:13] Tana: And if you hear any crunching in the background, that is our dog, June, enjoying a bone.

[00:01:19] Sarah: Buy her a bone at buy us a coffee dot - is that what it is?

[00:01:22] Buy me a coffee.

[00:01:22] Tana: buymeacoffe.com/ajff We have a buyer- feed our bone budget. So today we want to, uh, talk about giving. Now it is the holidays and always seems to be an uptick in charity around this time of year. In fact, we are recording this, I believe that, yeah. Um, the Saturday before Giving Tuesday.

[00:01:48] Sarah: Yes.

[00:01:48] Tana: So that's a thing happening. And we talked in a previous episode, episode five, about the statement that the poor will always be among you. So we, we did a deep scriptural [00:02:00] dive into, into some giving in that episode. But we, we kind of wanted to touch on today is the more practicalities of giving and especially around the holidays.

[00:02:13] So, Don, before I might jump into any other things, are there any, uh, any general thoughts that came to mind immediately that you wanted to touch on?

[00:02:25] Don: It's- one of the things I find interesting is that in the first handful of episodes that we've done for a jff, I think I've talked about giving and money more often than I have in the last three years at my church.

[00:02:37] So, um, so there that, but I think that this episode when as the listener, I think is going to have to be a balancing act in that, in no way. Would I discourage charity at any time, but I, I have critiques about charity, at this time of year.

[00:03:05] Tana: Right.

[00:03:06] Don: And so it's gonna be an interesting, I don't even know that I'll be able to thread that needle very well, right?

[00:03:11] Tana: Mm-hmm.

[00:03:12] Don: Because I think it's, I think charity any time of year is important.

[00:03:17] Sarah: Yeah.

[00:03:18] Don: But I, I want to encourage our listeners and viewers to, uh, consider something beyond, uh, holiday charity, so,

[00:03:30] Tana: right.

[00:03:31] Sarah: Yeah. And I think it's interesting just, you know, the Giving Tuesday thing, because it starts with Black Friday.

[00:03:36] And then Small Business Saturday.

[00:03:38] Tana: Oh, right. Yeah.

[00:03:39] Sarah: And then Cyber Monday. Cyber Monday, yeah. And then it's like, oh yeah, we should probably care about giving. So now there's giving Tuesday, and I don't remember historically, although, I mean it's happened in my lifetime that these things have developed, but.

[00:03:50] Was giving Tuesday the last one that got added to the family?

[00:03:53] Don: Yes, yes.

[00:03:54] Sarah: Or Small Business Saturday.

[00:03:56] Tana: I'm not 100% sure about that because it started at a [00:04:00] YWCA in New York. Okay. And they did it as their thing for several years before it kind of blew up. And that was back in like 2007. So I don't know that Cyber Monday was a thing yet.

[00:04:12] I'm not sure.

[00:04:13] Sarah: Yeah. It'd be interesting. But even just the progression of it, it's like. I don't really participate that heavily in Black Friday or Small Business Saturday or Cyber Monday. But for people who do, how do they have any money left for giving Tuesday?

[00:04:30] Don: Yeah.

[00:04:31] Sarah: I mean, I don't have any money to do the other day.

[00:04:33] So.

[00:04:34] Don: Yes. It, it is a strange, a, a strange sequence. I think in some ways it's a nod to the fact that if you did Giving Tuesday. The Tuesday before, or Giving Wednesday the day before Thanksgiving, you're definitely not gonna get any money because everyone's going to be holding onto all their extra money.

[00:04:55] Yeah. In order to see what the sales are and everything else.

[00:04:58] Sarah: Yeah. Cause we need more things.

[00:04:59] Don: We do.

[00:05:00] Sarah: Yeah.

[00:05:00] Tana: But it hasn't been a problem. You know, what you were saying about all, all the shopping things and then going into Giving Tuesday. I remember way, way back when, when I worked for the Toledo Symphony.

[00:05:13] So this is before Giving Tuesday, but November and December were always our highest giving months.

[00:05:18] Sarah: Okay.

[00:05:18] Tana: And I, I was, at, I started off as the database manager, which basically, well, you know, besides managing the database, I also entered all of the checks. Yeah. And, um, checks, just reminding people that those exist.

[00:05:38] And it would be, it would be terrible that time of year because there were just so many, and it would just make my job so much harder and I'd have to stay late and all that stuff. So

[00:05:47] Sarah: was that because people were wanting to take advantage of tax season and realize, I think so, you know, they have to get it in by the end of the year?

[00:05:55] Tana: Well, I think so. And there's always, almost every nonprofit will do a [00:06:00] year end appeal.

[00:06:00] Don: Yeah. Yeah.

[00:06:01] Tana: And, and be like, it's the end of the year, you know, let's, let's push and reach our goal. But, um, a lot of times our appeals would directly state the, like, you know, do it before you're, you know, you lose your tax break for

[00:06:15] Sarah: Yeah.

[00:06:15] Tana: You know, so. Yeah. Yeah. Hmm. So, um, the. What you were saying about threading the needle, Don um, I think I'm gonna find that a little difficult as well. Cause I also have a lot of critiques having run multiple nonprofits. But I also thought, think that there's sort of like a practicality to this that could be, that could be helpful to people and like how to do charity well, yeah. And one thing I wanna, talk about a little bit is, there was a nonprofit here in Toledo called Food For Thought that Don founded and I ran it for a while as the executive director and it started off as a food pantry and then, evolved into a Saturday morning picnics with the homeless and a mobile, mobile food pantry.

[00:07:06] And, but around this time of year, we would always get places that wanted to do food drives and there were a lot of difficulties with that. First of all, we would've always preferred the cash because we could go out and buy cheaper. We could buy the food that we needed than people could at the grocery store.

[00:07:25] So if they took that same amount of money that they spent at the grocery store and gave it to us, we could actually get more food.

[00:07:30] Don: We could probably triple it.

[00:07:31] Tana: Yeah. And, um, secondly,

[00:07:35] Don: so that's first tip to our listeners.

[00:07:36] Tana: Yeah.

[00:07:37] Don: If you're interested in helping a food pantry at this time of year,

[00:07:40] Tana: give 'em money

[00:07:41] Don: yes.

[00:07:42] Or at least check with them if they prefer to have cash or groceries. The, the hard part for me with that is going to a grocery store and thinking about families and pulling things off the shelf and [00:08:00] buying it, knowing that you're gonna be giving it to someone in need is way more personally powerful.

[00:08:08] Sarah: Yeah.

[00:08:09] Don: Than, dare I say, writing a check.

[00:08:12] Tana: Mm-hmm

[00:08:13] Don: um, I was just playing on the check. Sending a Venmo, right.

[00:08:17] Sarah: Get a money order.

[00:08:18] Don: Yeah, money order there. So, so again, that's, that's one of those ones. That's hard, right? Because I think people going to the grocery start taking time out of your life, time outta your day and pulling stuff off the shelf and being thoughtful about what it is you're buying in order to pass on to someone else is way more powerful for you personally, right? To understand the impact you're having. The irony is it's way more powerful for the nonprofit to receive cash because they can buy food at a much lower price point.

[00:08:56] Tana: Well, and also they know what the people who visit their pantry want.

[00:09:00] Don: Yeah.

[00:09:01] Sarah: Yeah.

[00:09:01] Tana: And um, that's the second thing is, there's so many, so many problems with the food that is donated. One a lot., some, a lot of people...

[00:09:12] Don: Well, if you don't go to the grocery store particularly, right?

[00:09:14] Tana: Yeah. A lot of people will just reach to the back of their pantry and be like, oh, here's this thing that I'm not going to eat.

[00:09:19] Sarah: Mm-hmm.

[00:09:19] Tana: and a lot of times do not check the expiration dates.

[00:09:22] Don: Yes.

[00:09:22] Sarah: Yeah.

[00:09:23] Tana: And then sometimes it's just weird stuff.

[00:09:25] Don: Yeah. Like cream of pecan crusted shrimp soup.

[00:09:29] Tana: Yeah. That was, cream of shrimp soup was one that we got. We also got cinnamon sugar pork rinds.

[00:09:36] Don: Yes.

[00:09:37] Uh, but it, but the problem isn't even necessarily new versions of those uhhuh, it's that we would get canned goods that said, now lead free.

[00:09:47] Tana: Yeah.

[00:09:48] Don: And like, how long has that been sitting in your cabinet? That it's now like part of the sales point of it, that, that the, that there's no lead. It can, it's made out of is lead free. [00:10:00]

[00:10:00] Sarah: Well, to the point of the shrimp soup and the cinnamon sugar pork grinds, it's really. The audience, you know, it's really because there might be people who love shrimp soup at people who eat cinnamon sugar pork rinds.

[00:10:13] Don: They just never came to our food pantry.

[00:10:15] Sarah: Right. And that, and if you don't have that knowledge of what the food pantry actually needs or the people want, or, um, then it's presumptuous. It's presumptuous

[00:10:26] to assume, you know?

[00:10:27] Tana: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And the, there's also weird ways now, box tops for education are now, um, digital.

[00:10:36] Apparently it's been a long time since I've had to deal with that, but back, way back when people would donate to the food drives and they would cut the box tops off of the cereal and then donate the cereal. And man did that used to bother me because I'm like, who wants a hole in their box, first of all?

[00:10:56] And secondly, chances are the kids' school, like of the people visiting the pantry, could use those more. Yeah. Than, you know, the person, the person donating. And I don't know what an equivalent might be today, but you know, there, there has been this attitude, and I've experienced it with some of our volunteers, that people should just be grateful for whatever they get.

[00:11:19] And like, almost like there's no standard of quality.

[00:11:24] Don: And for the most part,

[00:11:25] Tana: cause you're poor.

[00:11:25] Don: And for the most part they are.

[00:11:27] Tana: Oh yeah, absolutely.

[00:11:28] Don: But that's the wrong mentality as the person giving charity to have.

[00:11:32] Tana: Yes, exactly. And it, uh, I mean, I remember one time we were trying to go through and get rid of some fruit that was rotting and the volunteer refused to do it, and they were just like, if there's, they should just be grateful to have food at all.

[00:11:50] And I'm like, would you eat that?

[00:11:52] Sarah: Yeah.

[00:11:54] Don: So, so what, what tip would you give someone wanting to give, Tana? Like, I, I think [00:12:00] that that would be

[00:12:00] Tana: Like if they insist on giving food and not money?

[00:12:02] Don: Wow. Wow. Let your prejudice shine through there ? Um, no, I think this would be really helpful if this was, if we approached this conversation today of thinking of what are the helpful ways that you can give charitably this time of year?

[00:12:19] Sarah: Yeah.

[00:12:20] Tana: Yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, I do think for food pantries, the money is gonna be the better option for food drives. I would say stick to staples. Simple things like canned veggies, maybe like flour and sugar even, even some canned meats would be okay.

[00:12:38] Things that aren't too out of the ordinary unless you call that pantry and they're like, you know what? This neighborhood, everybody really loves sardines. Okay, well then you go get a whole bunch of sardines.

[00:12:50] Don: And we used to do, we used to do food pantries for migrant farmers. Yes. In our area. And we would try to get food appropriate food, right.

[00:12:59] That would be comfort food for them, which would not necessarily be the same comfort food for. Um, other people coming through the, so yeah, I think calling the pantry is a great tip.

[00:13:09] Tana: Yeah.

[00:13:09] Don: To ask them what they, what their needs are. If I could add, I think, I think maybe split the difference with the giving cash.

[00:13:17] Tana: Mm-hmm.

[00:13:17] Don: especially if you have small kids. Like, one of my favorite things to do with our son when he was little was to have him as involved as the ch- in the charitable mindset as possible. And so I think taking your child to, when you go to grocery shopping for your household and having your child pick out two or three things, uh, to physically send to the food pantry or to drop off at the food pantry, because that's the other thing.

[00:13:44] Go down, see the food pantry, hand the stuff to people.

[00:13:48] Tana: Yeah.

[00:13:48] Don: Um, volunteer a day when you do it, um, as opposed to just sending money. I think it's important for you to, to show up there, [00:14:00] to see and see the space.

[00:14:02] Tana: Another food- related thing, um, and this is where calling the pantry would really come in handy, uh, is, you know, maybe avoiding too many sweet things because there's a lot of people with diabetes.

[00:14:15] I remember our neighbor the one year, you know, came home from a food pantry and she was crying cause there were like seven cake mixes in it because a. People donated a whole bunch of cake mix to this pantry. And so every box had like seven cake mixes. She's like, I can't eat this. So, that's why I say maybe stick to more nutritional staples.

[00:14:33] And I realize getting a cake mix for some families might be really joyous. Be like, oh my gosh, I get to make a cake. But again, that's where calling the pantry would be very, so,

[00:14:41] Don: You know, that just reminded me. If you, again, if you wanna buy groceries, buy things such as gluten free.

[00:14:48] Sarah: Mm-hmm.

[00:14:48] Tana: right.

[00:14:48] Don: Buy, buy, like, um, milk alternatives.

[00:14:51] Like buy that type of thing because it's rare that a pantry can get hold of that stuff. Like through their

[00:14:57] Tana: Yeah, that's true.

[00:14:58] Don: Through their channels.

[00:14:59] Tana: That's true.

[00:14:59] Don: Because a lot of times the way that a food pantry obtains food is through a food bank, and the food bank is dependent on, grocery stores that either turn down food on their, on their, dock because it's too close to expiration or just whatever.

[00:15:16] There's a bunch of reasons that they end up with food. Yeah. But what ends up happening is they end up with a thousand of one item because of that.

[00:15:24] Tana: Right? Yeah.

[00:15:24] Don: Which is oftentimes the thing with like cake mixes, right? Yeah. Is that the food bank will end up with thousands and thousands of boxes of cake mix, and then you're, you're left with, that's a huge part of your offering.

[00:15:36] So fresh produce, specialty items, like dietary specialty items are wonderful. Those are things that are really powerful to, if you want to give physical items to a pantry,

[00:15:48] Tana: You know, and non-food items. A lot of times, the food banks can't get and food stamps won't cover, right. Like diapers.

[00:15:57] Don: hygiene products,

[00:15:58] Tana: feminine hygiene products, [00:16:00] any hygiene products, that, that's also usually a great thing to donate to a food pantry cuz they often don't have a lot of that. Toothpaste, soap, you know? Yeah. Things like that. Uh, another thing, you know, Don, you were saying about how it feels more personal to go to the grocery store and pick out the food. And also people just really like food drives. We, I remember people having some pretty creative ways of doing money drives, cash drives.

[00:16:28] That, could be a fun thing for like a school or an office or something where um, you know, maybe you have like jars that you collect coins and whoever can fill their jar the highest gets like a pizza party or whatever. Like there's great

[00:16:43] Sarah: We used to do that in elementary school.

[00:16:45] Tana: Yeah.

[00:16:45] Sarah: A money race.

[00:16:46] Tana: There's still, yeah, there's still really creative fun ways you can do that.

[00:16:49] I, I think there was one year there was like a, the Ohio State Michigan game is very popular around here, and it was like raise, a. Uh, like put money in whichever team jar.

[00:17:04] Sarah: Yeah.

[00:17:04] Tana: You know what I mean? Um, and it was like a race between the fans and stuff like that. So there's also really creative ways to do the cash drives that can still be fun and community building instead of just, you know, donating online or whatever.

[00:17:20] Sarah: Yeah.

[00:17:20] Tana: So I think, we did a good job of covering food drives. What other things that are kind of associated with giving at this time of year do we wanna maybe provide a good perspective on?

[00:17:33] Sarah: Well, I think of toy drives. Do you guys have any input or thoughts about toy drive? Try to say that a couple times fast. . It's like Toy boat. Toy Boat. Toy Boat. .

[00:17:45] Tana: Uh, Don did you have anything?

[00:17:46] Don: So I think, I think there's a few things for us that we should think about when we're donating one. If you're going to donate toys for a toy drive, try to find popular current [00:18:00] toys. Yeah. Particularly ones that do not take batteries.

[00:18:03] Sarah: Oh yeah.

[00:18:05] Don: Because especially if the batteries are not included,

[00:18:08] Tana: or include batteries with your donation.

[00:18:11] Don: Yes. At the very least include batteries. But I would, I'd encourage you to find toys that don't require any upkeep. Yep. To keep them going. Yeah. Um, and I, I just think that that's a really important one, especially if you're not doing a local toy drive.

[00:18:29] If you're involved with someone like Samaritan's Purse, where you're filling a shoebox and sending it, definitely do not send something that takes batteries.

[00:18:38] Tana: Right.

[00:18:39] Don: You're not guaranteed that the batteries sold in their countries are the same batteries sold in ours, one. Two: uh, they might not be able to or probably can't afford to buy batteries.

[00:18:51] And so what they're gonna end up with is a broken toy.

[00:18:54] Tana: Yeah.

[00:18:54] Sarah: Yeah.

[00:18:55] Don: The other thing is, is I would encourage you instead of buying $50 store toys, buy two nice toys.

[00:19:03] Tana: Right.

[00:19:04] Sarah: Right.

[00:19:05] Don: And I, I think sometimes we think, wow, we can buy a bunch and buy quantity. And I, you know, I would just encourage you that quality's good.

[00:19:17] The, on the same end of , . Don't go out and buy a PlayStation 5. Yeah, because the problem with that ends up being is that if there's more than one kid in the family, one kid might get a PS5 and the other two kids might get a GI Joe and a stuffed animal. Right, right. And, and it's just, so I would say max out the price range at the most, $25.

[00:19:42] So by setting cap, what that's gonna do is keep everything that a, a child's not gonna feel it's inequitable what their sibling got. If they're an only child, it almost, it doesn't matter, right? But in a lot of these instances, it's, it's families with three [00:20:00] to four kids. And it can be complicated or difficult for, for a household to get the same quality of gift for each kid. So just, I'd say try, that's the best bet is $20 range, give or take a couple bucks is the right way to give that. Another thing, if you insist on giving used toys, which a lot of people do, they should be in such shape that you cannot tell that they're used other than they're not in a box.

[00:20:37] Sarah: Right.

[00:20:38] Tana: Right.

[00:20:40] Don: And if, if you still want to donate those, that's great. Donate 'em, but not as for a toy drive for a Christmas event, donate them to a local family shelter or something like that, that the kids could have access to them but it's not going to be pawned off as a, as a Christmas gift. A lot of these kids believe in Santa Claus, right?

[00:21:03] Regardless of whether or not you do, or you do that in your home, a lot of these kids are gonna believe in Santa Claus. And I can tell you growing up in a more poor household. I had never understood why Santa wasn't as generous to me as he was to the other kids in my neighborhood. So just keep that in mind.

[00:21:23] Those are just really important things. The other thing I'd say, if you are going to give used, do not give used stuffed or plush toys.

[00:21:33] Sarah: Right.

[00:21:33] Tana: Mm. Yeah.

[00:21:34] Don: Um, you know, give them to your niece, nephew, cousin,

[00:21:39] Tana: especially now with Covid

[00:21:40] Don: And just in general, uh, I use plush toy unless it's something that's just only been sitting on a shelf.

[00:21:48] Like if, if another child has been using it. Just, just don't, don't, don't pass that along. Yeah. Put in yard sale itself for 25 cents or something. I don't know. Yeah, so those are the main things I [00:22:00] think about when I think of toy drives .

[00:22:02] Tana: Yeah. And the one thing, um, so thinking back to Food for Thought, we had what we called a choice pantry.

[00:22:08] So it was kind of set up like a mini grocery store and people could choose the things they like. So if they don't like green beans, they could get canned peas or whatever.

[00:22:16] Sarah: Yeah.

[00:22:17] Tana: Uh, and we took that idea and ran with it for, uh, toys for Christmas, and a lot of times the toy drives, you know, people wrap the gifts and then they hand them out to kids and you have no idea if the kid's gonna like that toy.

[00:22:30] Don: Yeah.

[00:22:31] Tana: And so what we did- and our friend Bre really organized this well. She really did an amazing job- was we, we took toy donations and we cook, took cash donations, and then she bought things on sale. Another thing she's good at. And um, we allowed people to shop so the parents could come in and they knew what their kids like.

[00:22:51] Yeah. And they could be like, oh, okay, I'm gonna take this thing and then take it over the gift wrapping station. And we would gift wrap it. Or if they wanted to, they could just bring their kid with them and be like, we're gonna pick out your toy. And the kid gets a toy. So, I know that's not always possible with different non-profits, but that's an idea also to give a little bit of choice back to the people.

[00:23:14] Sarah: Yeah. Yeah. I really, there's dignity to that.

[00:23:17] Tana: Yeah. That was actually respect for us. Yeah. Yeah. It was keep allowing people to have dignity when they're, you know, in, in difficult

[00:23:26] situations.

[00:23:27] Don: We probably said this in the, in the episode specifically on poverty, but one of the first things you lose. When you find yourself falling into poverty is a lack of choice.

[00:23:38] Yeah. And that lack of choice really ultimately is a stripping of dignity.

[00:23:44] Sarah: Yeah.

[00:23:45] And so when you're participating in stuff or you're creating something to give back, um, the first thing I think that's important to make sure that you're doing is participating or, or creating something [00:24:00] that maintains an individual's dignity.

[00:24:03] And a great way to do that is to find creative ways, even if you can't do it in obvious ways, but find creative ways to make choice. So even with the gifts, if it's not something that people can come and shop for, you can at least let them pick out the gift wrap.

[00:24:19] Tana: Right.

[00:24:19] Don: Like that it's, you know, you can find creative ways to allow people to have choice and it, that's very important.

[00:24:25] Tana: Yeah.

[00:24:26] Sarah: Absolutely.

[00:24:28] Tana: So, uh, Don, I believe there was also something you wanted to say about soup kitchens.

[00:24:34] Don: Yeah. So this time of year soup kitchens are overrun with volunteers, to the point where you'll be awkwardly standing around oftentimes without something to do. And if you have kids, their experience isn't gonna be, If you're not comfortable talking with people in a different socioeconomic strata than you are, then you, you're just gonna kind of be a wallflower.

[00:24:59] It's gonna be junior high dance all over again. Right? Um, so what I'd encourage you to do is call the food pantry, or I'm sorry, the soup kitchen. And schedule as your Christmas celebration or as your holiday celebration, schedule a date in the spring that you're going to do it with your family and call and schedule that in December, and say, okay, we're gonna sit down as a family. We're gonna decide there's lots of help at soup kitchens right now, so let's pick a date in March that we're gonna go when they don't need help, and we're gonna call them as a family- and, and let me tell you, if the food pan or the soup kitchen answers and you're as a family on speaker phone to sign up to do the soup kitchen on a specific date, first of all, they might be amazed.

[00:25:52] They all also might be like, what the heck is going on? But, I think there's something really significant about that. Uh, [00:26:00] we've all done that, right? Where like we give, especially if you're a kid, you give your parent a coupon for one babysitting session if you're like an older sibling, to be used at your discretion, right?

[00:26:10] Look, do the same thing. Create a coupon, so to speak for the soup kitchen that you and your family will go and do this. And then commit as a family.

[00:26:19] Tana: Yeah.

[00:26:20] Don: To go and do that on a date in the spring or in the summer when volunteerism is down.

[00:26:28] Tana: That's, that's actually a really important point and something I wanted to touch on as well, which is, people are in need all year round.

[00:26:36] And it, it feels like there's a lot of extra love in November and December and, and that's great. I, I, I think it's good that people feel inspired around the holidays to also give to others and not just consume things. You know? I mean, I think that's good. But yes, a lot of times soup kitchens are overrun.

[00:26:55] Even food pantries. I remember one, one year we had a, a food drive from a local mega church and we had so much food. It was difficult to sort through it all and, you know, so, and I just remember thinking, oh, it would be great if we could spread this out, you know? Yeah. So yeah. So just keep in mind that charity is good year round.

[00:27:18] It's not just- not just the holidays. So, and I like your idea of like the coupons, the family coupons. Like, oh, we're committing to do this later. You can make a calendar.

[00:27:29] Sarah: Yeah.

[00:27:29] Tana: You know, I feel like, I feel like that's something you would have a lot of creative, creative ideas on Sarah.

[00:27:36] Sarah: Yeah.

[00:27:36] I don't know. I was just thinking that like if you were a business and instead of doing a food drive, Like once a year doing it throughout the year and maybe splitting people up by their last names, like,

[00:27:46] Tana: yeah, yeah.

[00:27:47] Sarah: This month these people were asking from, you know? I don't know, but yeah. Different creative ways to keep it as a steady or somewhat steady influx.

[00:27:56] Don: Yeah. And then especially if you're doing it as a business, then at the end [00:28:00] of the year, at Christmas , you can celebrate the totality,

[00:28:05] Tana: everything you did, yeah.

[00:28:06] Don: Of the year. And so you can say, yes, we've done this throughout the year. . But in our mindset of giving and generosity here, we want to just say, look what we've done this year. Yeah. And hey, we're pretty close. We're at $7,800, so we're only $2,200 away from the $10,000 contribution. And if you have the means to pitch in to make that happen, then cover that difference.

[00:28:29] Yeah, there there's lots of ways. And to Tana's point about charity being year round, I can tell you from running nonprofits being a part of nonprofits, that you as a volunteer might feel unappreciated also at Christmas because a lot of nonprofits have been, it has been demonstrated to them that this is poverty tourism season.

[00:28:58] Tana: Yeah.

[00:29:00] Don: And people only showing up this time of year. They're not gonna come back. They're, they're not coming back next week. They're not coming back next month. They're not coming back next quarter. Right. They might come back next year, but, just like churches complain about C&E-ers, Christmas and Easter-ers.

[00:29:20] Sarah: Yep.

[00:29:21] I'm just thinking that.

[00:29:21] Don: Nonprofits have, uh, Thanksgiving to the end of the year, um, tend to have more volunteers than they need oftentimes. Yeah. It's not more than they need, it's just because they have figured out a way to move things around, programs around to use up all the volunteer help, which is great, but definitely consider charity outside this time of year.

[00:29:50] Sarah: Yeah.

[00:29:50] To me it seems like a switch from. Clicking it off your list is something you should do to be a good person, to building it into the rhythm of your [00:30:00] life.

[00:30:00] Don: Absolutely.

[00:30:00] Yeah. Especially if you have kids.

[00:30:02] Tana: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And, and I'll, I'll say as somebody who has worked in development for nonprofits on and off for 20 years, maybe consider like a, a 4th of July celebration of giving or something.

[00:30:16] Yeah, because it is always like, without fail, no matter what nonprofit I'm working at, June, July and August are always the worst giving months. Like they're just, nobody's thinking about it.

[00:30:26] Don: Yeah. Well, people are going on vacation, they're going outta town, they're traveling and a lot of times people are pinching their own pennies at that time of.

[00:30:34] Tana: Right. And they're, they're out of like, kind of the normal rhythm of life because Yeah, we, we tend to go by like the school calendar, you know, and stuff. So, um, yeah. So maybe, maybe make a promise at Christmas. You go, okay, six months from now we're gonna,

[00:30:51] Sarah: Christmas in July

[00:30:51] Tana: Do our thing. Yeah.

[00:30:52] Christmas in - yeah, why not.

[00:30:54] Sarah: Or maybe attaching it to birthdays if your family has birthdays kind of scattered throughout the year that

[00:30:59] Tana: Yeah.

[00:30:59] Sarah: You do something. I mean, just saying that out loud, it's like, wow, this is what the feast days in, in the, all the feast days that we find in scripture. When you look to see how the Jewish people celebrate them, there're almost always acts of charity built into the feast of- and then you get it kind of throughout the year. Summer is still pretty quiet, I guess. Yeah. But yeah, building charity into your different celebrations throughout the year.

[00:31:29] Tana: Yeah. So, uh, any other, any other thoughts, Don?

[00:31:36] Don: I think the main thing I'd want people to leave with is if you feel charitable right now, do it.

[00:31:45] Tana: Yeah.

[00:31:46] Sarah: Absolutely.

[00:31:46] Don: But also find creative ways to feel charitable other times of the year. Yeah. Because I think we do a good job and, and I'd be curious to understand [00:32:00] why, but I think we do a good job of recognizing need this time of year. And if we can find ways as churches, as communities, as friend groups, to recognize need other times of the year, that would be amazing. And your local nonprofit, your local food bank, your local soup kitchen would be so grateful for that. And then I think the last part that I would just caution you here is a tip. Don't break your arm patting yourself in on the back in front of regular volunteers, when you, when you show up this time of year. They're not quite as happy to see you as you are proud of yourself to be there.

[00:32:57] Sarah: Yeah.

[00:32:58] Don: And, and that's not, that's not because they're bad people and it's not because you're a bad person. It's because they are volunteering year round within this organization or they work for the organization and struggle to give volunteers year round and. . In some ways we assume that the world should be grateful for our two hours, one Saturday morning of, of charitable work.

[00:33:23] Yeah. And yes, there are people that will be thankful that you showed up and did some labor, uh, to care for your neighbor. It might not be the other people within the organization other than the executive director will tell you, even if they don't feel this way, they will tell you till they're blue, their face, just how happy they are that you're there.

[00:33:44] But I, but for a lot of other people, it's hard to see people show up one day out of the year and take selfies and put it all over social media about how awesome they are.

[00:33:56] Tana: Well, and speaking as somebody who used to run nonprofits, [00:34:00] sometimes it's hard to find something for everybody to do.

[00:34:02] Don: Right. That's why I said you'll stand around at a soup kitchen.

[00:34:05] Tana: And then people get irritated because they wanna do the meaningful thing.

[00:34:10] Don: Right.

[00:34:10] Tana: And then sometimes I'm like, yeah, but you know what? I really need help with stuffing envelopes.

[00:34:15] Don: Right, right.

[00:34:16] Like, and that is the meaningful thing, because that's the thing that's going to bring in finances throughout the year.

[00:34:21] Tana: Right. Yeah.

[00:34:22] Sarah: So yeah, be willing to do what they ask you to do.

[00:34:26] Tana: Yes. Oh, that is, yeah. I think that's succinct, succinctly put, and so important like, A lot of people wanna volunteer on their own terms. Yeah. And they wanna volunteer to do the like, so like a soup kitchen, they wanna actually scoop up the food, you know?

[00:34:42] But somebody needs to wash the dishes.

[00:34:43] Don: Yes.

[00:34:44] Tana: Somebody might need to do a food run, like...

[00:34:46] Don: Someone's gonna need to empty the trash.

[00:34:47] Tana: Yeah. Right. Mop the floor afterwards, whatever. So, um, yeah, I think that's really important.

[00:34:54] Don: So I don't know if this is helpful, has been helpful to the listeners. It's been cathartic for me, to get all this off my chest.

[00:35:00] And I... and I think that is my biggest concern, right? Is that people could walk away from this episode feeling like it's, we told them everything that they've been doing or we're planning on doing this year is, is wrong.

[00:35:13] Tana: Right.

[00:35:14] Don: And more so what I hope if you understand from, you know, particularly Tana and i's heart where we've run nonprofits is that it's not that it's wrong, it's that this time year, it could be even better. It's a how much more. How much more if we're, we're taking into consideration some of the actual needs. And you will never go wrong by calling the local nonprofit you want to volunteer with and saying, yeah, my family is planning on volunteering some time this year. Where is a good place for us to do that?

[00:35:52] When is a good place for us to do that?

[00:35:54] Tana: Yeah.

[00:35:54] Don: And, and then the executive director will tell, and if you miss [00:36:00] out on being the person that actually puts the food on the tray for the person at the soup kitchen, well, when you volunteer in March, I guarantee you'll be the only people volunteering outside the regulars.

[00:36:10] So, you'll get that chance in March. Yeah. And so go back during a non busy time and do what you perceive to be the meaningful thing. What do you think, Sarah?

[00:36:26] Sarah: Yeah, I don't have nearly as much experience as, um, both of you, but I also think that besides just doing what they ask you to do, is to take every opportunity to encourage and love on the people that cross your path.

[00:36:42] Tana: Yeah.

[00:36:42] Sarah: So, um, similar to that idea of being a mobile sanctuary, like we're bringing the love of God everywhere we go. So if we're volunteering, encouraging and interacting with the volunteers who are there all year long, thanking them and celebrating them or just asking how they're doing as well as the people that you're serving and looking them in the eye and interacting as much as they seem willing to interact with you.

[00:37:15] And giving that gift of your actual self besides just what you're doing.

[00:37:19] Don: Yeah, absolutely. I, I love the idea of celebrating the, the year round volunteers Yeah. And the staff. Yeah. That's, that doesn't happen often in nonprofits. and so yeah, I, I love that idea. I already have ideas of things that I might want to do now, for some local nonprofits that have just dedicated volunteers, but the volunteers, you know, don't get celebrated outside of the organization. Like the organization might thank them and everything, but someone else looking in and saying, I just wanna express gratitude to you for all the work you've done year round is pretty powerful.

[00:37:58] Sarah: Yeah.

[00:37:59] Tana: Yeah. [00:38:00] Well, thank you both for your thoughts. I, we're, we're gonna keep it a little bit on the shorter side today and wrap up any final,

[00:38:08] Don: that's our charity to you.

[00:38:10] Tana: Yeah. You get some time back.

[00:38:13] Don: So that way you can call your local soup kitchen

[00:38:15] Tana: Yes.

[00:38:16] Don: And schedule something in March.

[00:38:17] Tana: Right. Use this time.

[00:38:19] Any, any parting thoughts from either of you?

[00:38:23] Don: Charity is good, generosity is good, and it's needed all year round.

[00:38:29] Tana: Yeah. All right. And, uh, I'll just add, reiterate what Sarah said about, you know, center, the people who are in need. Think about them. Think, don't, don't, focus on your need to feel good because you're doing charity.

[00:38:45] Focus on the people you're serving. So thank you both. And thank you listeners for joining us today. In between podcasts, you can find us at ajffpodcast.com. There's links to all the things there. And we've started posting transcripts on our website as well. So

[00:39:04] Sarah: Hooray!

[00:39:04] Tana: Yay! So if you're interested in that, you can find that there.

[00:39:08] We do have a bible story, uh, bible story, bible study course coming up in January. So, check that out on the website as well. And yeah, I think that's all. And thank you. Go give boldly and thank you for joining us. We'll see you next time.

[00:39:26] Sarah: Bye

[00:39:27] Don: bye.