I was simply blown away by an email that popped into my inbox this morning.
The message was from my contact in the Development Office at the NYU Langone Medical Center, where my youngest son, Matt, had asked family and friends to make donations in lieu of receiving gifts for his recent bar mitzvah. (The donations, which total more than $26,000, will fund a clinical trial at the NYU Cochlear Implant Center, to help develop waterproof and more durable cochlear implant technology-and as a cochlear implant user himself, Matt was personally intrigued with the research project.)
The email I got from the Development Office this morning read:
Just wanted to let you know that I received a check in the mail today for $50 with the following note:
“I was so impressed with the generosity of spirit by young Matthew Reiser, that I had to participate in this Mitzvah. Well done!
– (name of donor)
p.s. Read article in Westport News, Friday, March 9, 2012.”
How unbelievably kind and generous that a complete stranger who lives in our community was so moved by reading about Matt’s fundraising efforts in our local newspaper that she sent a donation! What a lovely altruistic gesture, and we are exceedingly grateful!
Now if only I could gently encourage other kids and teens to champion meaningful causes in honor of special occasions instead of accumulating more useless crap that will quickly be forgotten or broken, I might actually be helping to make a small but positive difference in the world. Hmmm…do I hear my next mission?
Love that! When there was the big earthquake in Haiti Kate had heard about it in preschool and was sad about it. I wanted to find some way she could deal with that feeling, so she and I baked cookies and brownies and had a bake sale in front of our house to raise money, which we sent to a relief organization there. She *loved* doing this and got so much friendly encouragement and praise from people who stopped by. We ended up taking the idea to her preschool and had another sale there. Now whenever she heads of something bad happening in the world, her impulse is to bake. 🙂
That is so sweet…and also hilarious! I’m sure she’ll remember doing this her whole life. Great way to start young!