Giving

"There is no joy in possession without sharing"

Russ and I were invited to attend a M.D.A. fundraiser at La Caille. There was a silent auction and a live auction to raise money for kids with muscular dystrophy. The theme of the evening was "Beaujolais Nouveau". Russ googled the theme and it turns out there is a region in France that produces a red wine and it is released on the third Thursday in November. Needless to say there was a lot of wine floating around. During the live auction the first item up for bid was to donate money to send a child to MDA camp. The cost to send one child to camp is around $600. The auctioneer started the bidding by sending 4 children to camp $2400. Nobody was biding on this so the auctioneer cut the number of children to 2 children to camp $1200. It was at this time one of Russell's colleagues bid. I was shocked. It was so generous. During the rest of the live auction there were some really cool things that you could bid on like a Safari Photo Shoot in Africa, diamond earrings, helicopter ride to a mountain top for a picnic. One person bid on quite a few of these and probably spend over $8,000. But here's the thing that impressed Russ and I the person who donated the most was the one that did it to send 2 kids to camp. There was no expectation of a cruise, or diamond earrings, or a trip to Africa. It was a gift. I hope one day when Russ and I are in a position to give we will follow the example of our friend.