Prosperity Thoughts More Christmas

After my last post someone wrote to remind me that this story about my friend Curt would be a great example of the same theme...

This Christmas, we are looking at a basic premise of prosperity- the idea that

you, yes you, are here to make a difference. Consider the proposition that your Creator gifted you with all the talent, skills, insight and personality to contribute to the well-being of us all. When we look at examples like Dr. Martin Luther King, Mother Theresa or Bill Gates and Steve Jobs it is easy to say that they were uniquely incarnated to make a difference in the world. It is however, all to easy to also say, “Sure, they can make a difference but they are exceptional and I am just ordinary. I cannot make a difference”.

Today, I write to that question. Here is a story that was shared with me by a friend about a mutual friend, whom we will call Curt. This story shows how an average extraordinary man (not much different that you and I) trying to make a little difference can create ripples which can have huge effects and thus make a big difference.

Curt has a good marriage, a good job and is a very decent man, but he is as well “everyman" with everyday difficulties and their attendant problems. Curt is a bright and kind guy, maybe extraordinary in his kindness but not much more so than many other people.What I am trying to say here is that while Curt is a good person, he is also typical. I am suggesting that if he can make a difference it is because of his willingness to express his passion unconditionally and to give to life. Thus, anyone reading this can make the same kind of difference that Curt did. It takes willingness to serve life, to follow your heart and humbly do the right thing in the moment. These are things we can all accomplish because they only depend on our being uniquely who we are called to be. Here then is the story.

About thirty years ago Curt joined with a few others in helping families
in need to have Christmas gifts that they themselves could not afford.
Curt and his small band of friends would select a needy family and choose one of the children to go on a shopping spree with a member of the group to buy gifts for each member of the child’s family.

In the mean time, a mutual friend of Curt’s and mine, let’s call him Jeff, got involved with a woman with two children- so they became his step children. One of her holiday traditions with the kids was to pick a couple of "ornaments" off of a Family Giving Tree (FGT) at her place of work and then go shopping with the two step children for the gifts listed on the ornament card.

The FTG is a non profit that is organized around providing specific gifts to children in needy families. They start by contacting local aid agencies to ascertain the specific gift needs of disadvantaged children in the area. Then Christmas Trees are placed at strategic places around the county, for example in the foyer of churches, or the lobby of office buildings and so forth. The tree has a bunch of tags hung on it, like Christmas ornaments. The tags all have a child’s first name and a gift that specific child would like. People, (employees, customers, vendors, anyone) can then take the tag off the Tree, go buy the gift and return it- placing it under the tree, often with a simple Christmas Card for the child. All these gifts are then transported to a vacant building. (The building owner generously donates the use of the vacant building for a month or two before Christmas), where the gifts are wrapped and then distributed to the family just before Christmas.

My friend Jeff joined in this tradition and it was great for him to see the care and concern that his step kids’ put into selecting gifts for some kids about their ages. The next year he somehow became aware that folks could go and volunteer at the warehouse sorting gifts so he invited a gang of his male buddies to do this as a community service project. The following year his gang of buddies invited a bunch of their male friends, including me.

As a side note to the main story, volunteering in the warehouse is an utterly amazing undertaking, I have volunteered at the FGT warehouse personally many times. It was such a dramatic experience that I brought my children to help out the next year. Imagine this; there are literally tons of gifts stacked to the ceiling in this giant building. There are hundreds of volunteers helping sort, wrap, transport and distribute the gifts. The volunteers are all happy to be there, there is an undeniably excited and productive energy. It is multigenerational and multicultural with kids and elders scurrying around to locate the gifts for each family. Executives are working along side hourly employees to sort and wrap the gifts. It is barely organized chaos with all the beautiful ribbons and toys and general mayhem leading to an image in the hearts of everyone there of a small child getting a special gift for Christmas.

In the midst of this, Jeff and his gang of men volunteering year after year developed a reputation for organization and logistics and FGT staff began to rely on us as a resource. And one of the men that Jeff invited to help out at FGT was Curt and as we pick up the story, one winter, Curt was volunteering at the Family Giving Tree with us helping to joyfully organize chaos.

And “coincidently” this one year, Jennifer Cullenbine, the founder and Executive Director of Family Giving Tree recognized Curt. She thanked him for the difference he had made. Thinking she was just offering a general compliment to a volunteer, Curt shrugged off her compliment. Jennifer pressed on; telling Curt that he was responsible for the founding FGT. Curt politely listened, but had no idea where she was heading.

Jennifer continued, explaining to Curt that she herself was one of the disadvantaged children that Curt had taken on a shopping spree years before. Jennifer told him that she never forgot the impact it had on herself, and her family. She went on to share that in 1990, during her MBA program at San Jose State University, she was given an assignment where each student had to create a class project that added value to someone else’s life. Remembering her experience with Curt, she started a small program to collect gifts for needy children and distribute them for Christmas. She and a classmate, created the Family Giving Tree with the hope of providing holiday gifts to 300 children in East Palo Alto.

Encouraged by the success of the first year, Jennifer decided to continue and expand the operation. Now, some 18 years later, the number of gifts and backpacks donated has grown to over 650,000 per season, making the Family Giving Tree the largest gift and backpack donation program in California."

Curt’s humble story shows us that one man can make a difference. When we allow our light and love to touch another, we never know how the ripples created will travel and change the world.

There is an interesting prologue to this story. Some ten years after the interaction between Curt and Jennifer, Jeff had divorced, changed jobs and moved out of the Bay Area. He had pretty much lost touch with his step kids. He was living in Seattle but was down in the Bay Area on business, it just so happened to be during FGT sorting season. He decided to get together with a couple of friends and volunteer at the FGT warehouse. And who does he run into over there, but his two ex-step kids, busily helping out and training other volunteers. He had no idea they were going to be there...turned out one was home for college break and she and her brother decided that the most fun they could have together was to go over to FGT! And they sure were surprised to see Jeff and reminisce about how great their time at FGT was for them.

So, I could have written this story from the perspective of these two kids. It is an example of how two little kids made a huge difference by doing something kind of special as part of their Christmas tradition, and what a difference they made. Their joy inspired their dad who invited his friends and now over a hundred men (and their families and children) look forward to the highlight of their winter season by volunteering to sort gifts at FGT. Their family tradition, has become a big community wide tradition and immensely valuable to FGT. If it hadn't been for their joyous generosity then none of this would have come to light.

My friends, we are all interconnected. There is a profound and subtle organizing energy in the world and how we show up makes a difference.