Well, a couple of things have happened over the last 48 hours ... one is - I noticed on my sitemeter that we've been visited by a couple of folks from the UNICEF offices in New York (I noted the New York reference and looked ...) and the other is, I went searching on the web and found a reference on the Canadian UNICEF web site that has been posted in response to the hew and cry folks have raised (this blog included) to the plan to cut the orange box ...
I'll add the link below ... But for now, I'm still not happy that they are axing the little orange boxes. Using the rolling of coins as an excuse doesn't wash with me ... I recall a penny drive I helped with when I was in BC. The youth group collected hundreds of dollars in pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters ... we spent a night in the hall of the church rolling the coins.
We hit the local Zellers and Dollar Store and bought a bunch of the gizmos that assist in rolling pennies and went to work ... it took a couple of hours but we got it done ... It was a time of fun, laughter and utter silliness - but we managed to do something wonderful. We rolled close to 1000 dollars in coins ... AND we had a blast and it didn't even seem like work ...
Why couldn't schools do the same??
Our local elementary school is involved in a programme called Lions' Quest, and one of the components in it is the involvement of the youth in community and outreach activities. Wouldn't getting the grade five class, or the grade 8 class to roll pennies be a community outreach activity??
"Oh," say the cynics, "they might pocket a few dollars in coins ..."
Well, that is a risk. But overall the majority of the pennies will make their way into the UNICEF coffers - and in time your loss will be minimized because it will become a school effort, and peer pressure can sometimes become a good thing. But if a kid wants to pocket a handful of illicit change - maybe he feels he needs it more then the kids in Somalia or India or wherever ... Isn't that a risk we all take when we give to charities of any kind???
I do hear the concerns about kids chugging around on Halloween with money in their boxes hanging around their necks ... I hear it and wonder why there are so many kids out by themselves?? Our three go out with a parent each Halloween (which bums me out, because Oct 31st is my B-day, and I'd rather be home ... but parenting duties trump all else sometimes ...). It's just the way we do it ... I know not every parent can, or will - but I will only say it is kind of fun to watch the excitement of the kids as they trick or treat, and to watch our neighbours respond to the costumes ... (It's worth the inconvenience - trust me).
I suppose the bottom line for me here is - helping, supporting and being part of the important work that UNICEF does. If there are no orange boxes this Halloween, so be it - I hope the education campaign works. I for one will do my part.
If you want to read the press release it is at:
http://www.unicef.ca/news/displayNewsItem.php?id=161&PHPSESSID=486756148bf75d9f77d8254da9443af1
SPEAKING OF STEWARDSHIP ...
On the issue of fundraising, I posted an entry at my United Online Blog yesterday that highlights the need for better stewardship within the Church ... I've gotten some positive feedback on it, and I think it is an area I want to spend some time during this sabbatical reflecting on ...
Are we good stewards of our time, our money and our talents?
Are we good stewards of the profound and abundant wealth we take for granted?
I think if we were/are honest the answer would be NO, we are NOT good stewards ... we have much work to do.
For now, I wonder why it is that we never speak of Titheing in the United Church of ours ... I say this knowing that as for me and my household we have some ground to gain before we can say that we honestly tithe. We give to a variety of charities over the year, and we donate generously of our time in a variety of ways - but we (like many) could do much, much better ...
Imagine a Congregation of 100 families. Let's suppose the had an income of about 40000/year, and they tithes 10% of their income (4000 per household per year) ... that is close to 400 000 dollars!!! Now, even if the Church only got half of that it's still $200 000. I bet each of those households spend more then 4000 a year on things like entertainment (cable, movies, video/DVD rentals and so forth) or holidays ...
It's all a matter of priorities ... It's all a matter of better stewardship.
We are the wealthiest, most affluent society in the history of the planet, and instead of closing the gap between the haves and the have nots it seems to be widening ... We are becoming more and more selfish - and yet we have more and more and more that we could share ...
Perhaps we need to go back and revisit that story about the Widow's mite and think about where our stewardship comes from ... If we were more generous as a society, and as individuals, organizations like UNICEF would suddenly be out of business ... hmmm ... do we dare dream of such a world ????
May it be so ...
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