How I Learned to Give

I was raised by a single mother before the creation of our public welfare system. We six children did not have much growing up. I remember eating pancakes every night for dinner for several days.

I was in hog heaven! I loved pancakes. Little did I realize that was all there was to eat in our home.

No matter how little we had mother always seemed to make it work somehow. She told me there were several Thanksgivings and Christmases that if it had not been for the Salvation Army we would not have had either.

Growing up over the years, I saw my mother time and time again share what little we had to help a neighbor. That spirit of giving, of selflessness, made me realize that everything you have is a gift from God. And when He has entrusted you with more than you need, you are to share and give to others who have the greatest need.

I learned to give and love from my mother. She still touches my heart every day, and she will be in Heaven 26 years this November. -- Steve Bernhardt, Orab, Oh., CAP Supporter Since 1997

Rev. Ralph Beiting, the priest who founded Christian Appalachian Project (CAP), had been writing to me for some time. I don’t mean in a personal way. My name had got on CAP’s mailing list and I received Rev. Beiting’s appeals on a regular basis. I ignored them.

But something made me read the small autobiographic book he included with one of his appeals many years ago when he was still active with CAP. My late brother had spent a summer with a Christian nonprofit in Kentucky when he was a high school student. That was back in the 1970’s, when CAP was just starting out. I wondered if my brother had spent that summer vacation working with CAP and sat down for an interesting read.

The book, I discovered, contained an eloquent love story. In his recollection of founding CAP, Rev. Beiting had married the Sermon on the Mount with a practical approach to addressing the problems of Appalachia. I was so moved by Rev. Beiting’s humble story that I not only became a regular donor but also made up my mind to visit CAP. A few years ago I drove from New York to CAP headquarters in Hagerhill in Kentucky, where I was brought around by a staff member to see several CAP projects in progress. I think it’s good stewardship to see how one’s charitable gifts are being used. But more than that, I wanted to show by taking the time to drive to Hagerhill that I appreciated the work of CAP’s staff and volunteers on behalf of people less much fortunate than myself.

Now who are these people? They are unknown – strangers in a far-off state. We have never met before, and we don’t have friends or family in common. Their grandparents didn’t come from Sicily, like mine did, and we don’t even worship at the same church. And yet, I’m concerned about their well-being.

Wanting to help people outside our sphere is a radical idea. We’re so used to thinking that it is normal to part with our hard-earned money to better the lives of people we don’t know, will never meet and from whom we would never expect repayment that we overlook the defining role that Christianity has played in such thinking. I’ve pondered many dimensions of the parable of the Good Samaritan. I’ve reflected on the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ curing the pagan Roman centurion’s servant. And I realize now that I’m living in an age that is informed by Jesus Christ’s loving concern for all of us, which transcends boundaries.

I make donations regularly to around a dozen nonprofits, including CAP. Most of the organizations are Christian. Some operate in the U.S. and others, outside the country. Nearly all of them serve people of any faith, race or social status. In my charitable gifting, I share in God’s humanity as it is revealed through Jesus Christ. It is his example of universal concern that I try, in a very small way, to imitate. And this is why I give. -- Susan Trammell, New York City, Ny., CAP Supporter Since 1997