This past Sunday, the headline of our local paper was “The Shelves Empty as Fast as We Can Fill Them.”
That, you will probably have guessed, referred to one of the local food pantries. My son’s middle school wrapped up a penny campaign for them yesterday, and he persuaded each of his siblings to give from their respective allowances and gave himself (and, of course, cleaned out my meter change, etc., for the year). I was pleased that they gave themselves rather than expecting me to give on their behalf, and it gave me an idea.
Last year, I had excellent intentions when it came to following one of Ron Lieber’s suggestions for getting children involved in the end-of-year giving that is traditional in many families: save all of the direct-mail solicitations you receive, go through them together and choose how to allocate your giving amount as a family. I duly saved the direct mail — and found it unsorted and disregarded on Dec. 31, at a moment when a family talk on it was impossible to achieve (my husband and I did our usual giving without family input).
So yesterday, I decided to act on an impulse instead of failing on a plan. I told the children I was glad that they had donated to the food pantry, and said I would donate money on their behalf today, Giving Tuesday, after dinner. Pick a charity, I suggested, and come to dinner ready to pitch your siblings on its merits. You’ll each have a certain amount of money to allocate, and you can either give it to the charity you choose, or you can give it to a charity chosen by one of your siblings.
This afternoon, I’ll help my younger children come up with a few persuasive facts about their choices (so far, the Ronald McDonald House, New Hampshire Public Radio and the Upper Valley Humane Society, with one undecided), and tonight we will have a pitch session. I’m going to pass out Monopoly money to represent the dollars, and maybe their dad and I will kick in a few extra dollars to an impassioned speaker. We’re not much for planned dinner table conversations, but I think this one could be fun, and could start a tradition.
Are you and your family joining in on Giving Tuesday? Tweet me your charity of choice (add @KJDellAntonia or @NYTMotherlode to your tweet) with the #GivingTuesday hashtag, and I’ll share, and of course tell us about it in the comments.
And on a similar note, we’re looking for stories of charities that inspire children and families to share during the Motherlode Week of Giving from Dec. 25 through Jan. 1. If you’ve got a great story about a great cause, we want to hear about it.