IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
By Ed Hoffman
On my show last week, I explained why my company and I make an annual commitment to give to the needy during the holidays. In the past, we have put together dozens of food baskets at Thanksgiving; this year, we donated toys to children in the foster system who may not otherwise have them on Christmas. We spent close to $6,000 on gifts to hand out to the foster children at an annual Christmas event at John’s Incredible Pizza in Moreno Valley. Our donations ensured at least 100 kids received new toys for Christmas.
We know this isn’t a unique gesture anymore; lots of organizations have annual giving initiatives. So, I don’t share this to toot my own horn. It’s just my way of encouraging others to participate in some type of giving project during the holidays. I’m almost embarrassed to say I didn’t start doing this until seven years ago, when my wife and I were inspired by a story from the great motivational speaker Anthony Robbins.
When he was a boy, Robbins’ family was forced to ration food, a situation exacerbated by his parents’ incessant fighting. They rarely enjoyed feasts during the holidays; it wasn’t a happy time. At 11 years old, the young Tony Robbins answered the door one Thanksgiving to a man holding a box of food. Beside him, there was a black pot with a giant uncooked turkey in it. Robbins thought, “This is going to change it all!” His parents would stop fighting, their family could eat and things would start looking up. Unfortunately, his father did not agree; in fact, he refused the food altogether and yelled, “We don’t take charity!” The man was just large enough to stop the door from being slammed in his face.
Then, he admonished Robbins’ father with these powerful words: “Don’t make your family suffer because of your ego.” Six years later, Robbins would use that experience to motivate him to help others the way that man had tried to help his family. At age 17, he purchased two full holiday meals, got the names of two families who would be grateful to have them, and set out to make the deliveries. “Deliver” is a key word here; Robbins had a plan that if anyone was as prideful as his father, he would say, “This isn’t from me. I’m just the delivery boy.” It worked; the first woman he delivered to greeted him with tears and called him “a gift from God.”
It was the same attitude of gratitude my wife and I used to see when we first endeavored our seasonal giving. At one time, our Thanksgiving baskets – filled with turkey, pie, potatoes, corn, green beans, cranberries, sparkling apple cider and Girl Scout Cookies (why not, right?) – were received with tears and expressions of thanks. But as the years went by, we started to notice a shift in the way our gift was received. When it got to the point that one in 10 recipients failed to thank us, and instead started greeting us at the door with “just put it over there,” we decided it was time to focus our generosity elsewhere. For us, giving to foster children ensures that our gifts are going to vulnerable young people who still know how to appreciate a gift, as opposed to feeling they’re entitled to it.
It’s okay to be selective about who you will give to this Christmas. Thanks to what they have heard from their own government, too many people now feel they are entitled to a free meal. Choose a group that will appreciate your gift, so that both you and the recipient will be gratified.
Ed Hoffman is the host of the Main Event on AM590 which airs Saturday at 9:30 AM and Sunday at 4:00 PM. Follow him on Twitter @EdHoffman, and like him on Facebook by searching The Main Event AM590.
