Charities Blog

Giving Something Back

Impromptu Acts of Charity

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With the almost predictable regularity of the occurence of natural disasters in all parts of the world,  there is a need to establish help centers that can be activated within individual communities which form the core of every country in this world.  It is no longer enough to rely and depend solely on government or international aid since there are just too much to do  for one person, one organization, or one country to handle.  It is time to do what we can to help ourselves and the people around us so we can all be part of the solution rather than the problem.

We have all been witnesses to the great resiliency of man in repeatedly rising up from difficulty.  We have seen how this had been made possible by small impromptu acts of charity provided willingly and without motive by nameless people who will probably remain nameless forever in relation to claiming the credit for such noble tasks.  These acts of charity start from a mere desire to be of help to others who are temporarily unable to help themselves. 

We have seen how one small flame from a single individual is able to gather enough strength to become a blazing fire reperesented by an organization.  Every notable charitable organization started from something small and from recognizing a need that has not been acted upon by others.  Most of the time, people are called upon to work together not by some law or threat but by the genuine feeling of concern such as those that happens in disaster relief. 

Fundraising activities usually form part of unplanned acts of charity because of the need to have funding that will support the cause.  It is not uncommon for people who start an informal group for helping others to provide the seed money or at least be actively involved in finding the required funding.  Anyone of us can give our own impromptu acts of charity at our own level and capacity.

 

The Meaning of Charity

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In layman’s view, charity is giving donations or alms to the needy.  This is essentially right but charity goes beyond the common perception.  The act of charity itself has an accompanying aspect to material giving which is genuine concern for others. 

A person can give all the material things he can afford in this world to the poor and yet not be considered truly charitable.  This is especially so when the act of giving is based on the performance of certain conditions that will redound to the personal benefit of the giver.  If for example, the giver wishes to be publicly recognized for his charitable work just to score some points in a desire to get hold of a certain position, the publicity stunt tends to muddle the real purpose of giving.  But if the publicity is intended for the furtherance of a valid cause such as creating awareness to encourage more participation, publicity becomes an important tool in spreading charity as a life principle. 

Although every act of giving may be loosely classified as an act of charity in the same manner as the provision of unlimited kindness to others is, charity as an organized act of many should be considered for its merits.  For one, organized charity work allows for helping more people at any given instance.  Instead of helping on a person-to-person basis, which is basically good, the benefits of charitable work can be extended to more people when combined efforts are channeled to a specific cause. 

I am not about to say that we should totally stop in our personal acts of charity.  What I am actually leading to is to bring forth the wisdom in organized charity work for consideration of those who have the time, the willingness, and the means to participate in it.  There are a lot of charitable organizations already existing that could benefit from our help.  Just helping one can make a difference for many people.