Modest Needs Profiles In Courageous Generosity

More than a Milestone

2/10/2012 12:23:58 AM

Not too long ago, I mentioned that Modest Needs was on the verge of making its 10,000th grant. Well, late last month, thanks to the support of people from across the country, Modest Needs reached that milestone!

So what's the story behind the story of Modest Needs' 10,000th grant? I'm glad you asked, because, as it turns out, this grant not only showcases both everything we stand for; it underscores just how important the work we do together has become, especially in this difficult economy.

As it turns out, Modest Needs' 10,000th grant went to a woman named Dana, a single mom of two living in the midwest. For years, Dana been gainfully employed by a major financial institution and had always been able to take good care of herself and her two children. Everything was fine until, in January 2009, Dana learned that the bank for which she worked was 'downsizing.' She was one of the unlucky persons whose job was eliminated, and in a story that has become all too familiar these days, on 1 August 2009, Dana found herself suddenly unemployed through absolutely no fault of her own.

Dana immediately began looking for work, but in this economy, job searches that used to take weeks or months can now take years. Dana did all she could to quickly find a new job, but after several unsuccessful months of looking, the inevitable happened, and Dana and her children had no choice but to move in with Dana's mother while she did everything she could to find a job.

Ultimately, Dana's job search took nearly nine months. During that time, she lost everything she'd earned - her home, her retirement savings, everything. But the greatest loss she suffered during this time was the sense of stability that comes with having family members to whom we can turn in our times of trouble. Eight months into her job search, Dana's mother died. This devastating and untimely loss left Dana facing a stark reality: she and her children were on the verge of homelessness.

The one thing Dana never lost, though, was her will to fight for her family's future. Despite everything she'd endured (and people have been broken by less), she continued her job search undaunted. Finally, in April 2010, she found new employment. She began working again in May 2010, albeit at a salary that was considerably lower than she'd made at her previous job.

The moment she was employed, Dana began the process of putting her family's life back together. She excelled in her new position. She took a second job as a retail cashier to make up the shortfall between her new salary and her previous rate of pay. And she was well on the way to returning to something like a 'normal' life when, in August 2010, one of Dana's children suffered a concussion during a football game and had to be rushed to the emergency room.

Happily, Dana's son ended up OK. Not so happily, just three months after returning to work, and at a time when she was just beginning to recover financially from absolutely devastating year, Dana found herself slapped with $1,300.00 bill for the treatment her son received in the ER.

The irony here is that Dana actually had health insurance through her job, so normally, this bill wouldn't have posed much of an issue. But the best health plan Dana can afford on her salary is what they call a 'high deductible' plan. In order to receive any health coverage at all, Dana must first incur $4,800.00 in out-of-pocket medical expenses. Well, Dana had just barely begun working. She hadn't incurred any out-of-pocket expenses to that point in the year. So she had no choice but to find a way to pay this $1,300.00 bill - a bill she didn't expect and couldn't immediately afford - on her own.

Still, Dana didn't ask for help from anyone. She made payment arrangements with the hospital who'd treated her son and began paying down the bill as she could. Between the time she received the bill and March of 2011, she managed to pay the bill down to $820.00. Then, thanks to a couple of other minor emergencies that required her immediate attention, she was unable to make a payment towards this bill for a couple of months.

Dana explained her situation to the hospital, but apparently, Dana's explanation didn't matter much to the hospital. They just wanted their money. So they sent the bill to a collection agency. And we all know how collection agencies are. Their first response was to put a 'collection notice' on Dana's credit and demand immediate payment of the bill in full. And when Dana couldn't pay the bill in full that second, the collection agency began the process of seeking the judgment that would allow them to garnish Dana's wages.

That's how Dana - a person who was more likely to have been a donor than an applicant just a few years ago - ultimately came to Modest Needs. After losing her job, losing her career, losing her home, losing her mother, and then finally finding work and putting herself back on track, Dana suddenly found her family's future threatened by a garnishment that, if applied, would make it impossible for her even to pay her rent.

Once again, for the second time in two years, Dana was looking at the real possibility of having no way to provide even the basics for her family - not even a place to live. And why? Because her son had been injured during a football game, her insurance wouldn't cover the hospital visit, and the hospital that treated Dana's son didn't think Dana was paying down her bill quickly enough.

At this point, having re-lived (by writing about it) the experience of working with Dana, I just have to chime in with a personal thought. While I think most of us are personally saddened by the situations our applicants are facing when they come to Modest Needs, this application actually angered me. I wasn't angry at Dana, of course. I was angry that she would ever need to turn to us for help with this issue in the first place.

It would be one thing if Dana had an $82,000.00 medical bill, or if she had incurred this bill and simply not been willing or able to pay it. But when you're working with someone who has just returned to work herself - someone who has demonstrated that she's willing to pay the bill and making good on her promise as best she can - well, seriously. Does a hospital ever need $820.00 so badly that it's worth ruining the lives of a struggling family to collect that money a couple of months sooner than the hospital would've collected it anyway if they'd just let Dana continue to pay off the bill on her own?

In times like these, don't people who are struggling to do everything *right* deserve an occasional break?

I think so, and evidently, most of you agree with me because from the moment this application was posted to the Modest Needs website, you stepped in - and in record numbers - to lift this burden from Dana's shoulders.

Most of Modest Needs' successful applications are funded by between 20 or 30 contributions. This particular application was funded by more than 100 contributions, ranging from $5.00 all the way up to $200.00. The paid bill was out the door on 20 October 2010, within 24 hours of it having been fully funded. And your timing on this one could not have been any better.

Thanks to the speed with which you worked to offer Dana the help she needed, we managed to pay this bill in full before Dana could lose the first penny of her pay in an unnecessary garnishment action.

***

On 1 November 2011, CNN.com was kind enough to run a short piece covering Modest Needs' 10,000 grant milestone. They summed up our 10,000th grant like this: 'The 10,000th grant, made in late October, sent $750.00 to pay an . . . overdue medical bill.'

What CNN.com said is right, of course, but I wanted to share the story of our 10,000th grant with you in some detail because, in helping Dana as you did, you didn't just pay a medical bill. Through your own courageous generosity, you gave this family - a family that persevered even in the face of tremendous, unexpected personal loss - the opportunity to continue rebuilding their lives in confidence and peace.

To have done this for even one family is an achievement worth celebrating. To have done this for (now) 10,051 individuals and families simply by sharing whatever we each could afford - even in the midst of the Great Recession - that's not just a milestone.

It's a miracle.

The Meaning of 'Love'

2/10/2012 12:23:58 AM

Valentine's Day is the time we set aside to celebrate the people who matter most to us. And here in the United States, we take Valentine's Day seriously, to the tune of about $17 billion dollars per year.

How do we spend that money? Well, each year around this time, we send approximately 190 million Valentine's Day cards to one another. We buy about 58 million pounds of chocolate to 'butter up' our sweeties. And every February 14, worldwide, people send nearly five billion roses to remind their partners of just how much they're loved.

Today, though, in between chocolates and roses, I thought the thousands of you who support Modest Needs might like to see three very special valentines - valentines you probably didn't even know you'd received.

The first of these valentines came to you from a single mother of three children who turned to Modest Needs after suffering a series of horrific setbacks. Having lost her brother to AIDS and her father to colon cancer, she'd found herself struggling to care for her children and her elderly mother, who'd come to live with her shortly after her father's passing.

When this woman's landlord refused - illegally - to complete the repairs that would keep her home safe, she turned to those of you who support Modest Needs to ask for help to afford the cost of moving to a safe place to live.

In January of this year, Modest Needs' donors stepped in and helped to relocate this struggling family to a safe and clean apartment - at a cost of just $1,093.00. And here, in part (and lightly edited), is the early Valentine you received from the family whose life you helped to change:

'I don't mean to take up to much of your time, but you all deserve so much more than just words. I appreciate you; we love you from the bottom of our hearts. We could not have gotten this far if it was not for the love you carry around in your heart for other people.'

In early February, you received yet another valentine - this time from a very small non-profit organization that provides food, shelter, medication, and general assistance to those who are unable to live on their own but cannot afford traditional long-term care.

This non-profit - which isn't large enough to qualify for traditional 'grant' funding, came to Modest Needs to see if our donors might be willing to fix the three broken pipes that had left some of their residents without heat during one of the coldest winters on record.

The cost of this critical repair? Just $177.00.

Not surprisingly, Modest Needs donors funded that application within just a few minutes of it becoming visible on our website. And in doing so, you didn't just get one valentine; you got 18 of them:

''Sometimes when we are generous in small, barely detectable ways, it can change someone else's life forever.' That's not overstating: your generosity and kindness truly has changed lives, not just one but 18. That's 18 people who will continue to have food, assistance and, most importantly, love from the place they've grown to call home because I no longer have to worry about paying for heating bill. Thanks to you, we can continue merrily along our way, caring for those others have thrown away.'

And then, just a few days ago, you received another very special valentine, this one from a single mother who was left in the cold after the first months of this brutal winter produced the highest heating bill they'd ever seen. On this family's small budget, this hard-working mom just couldn't afford to pay $537.00 for heat, and she certainly couldn't afford not to have any heat at all.

With her heat and electricity due to be cut off on 2 February 2010, this woman found the strength to ask for the help of Modest Needs' donors, and again, you came through just in time. And what did you get in return?

Only this:

'I don't know what to say, but I know that God will bless each and every one of you for showing love to a stranger in need. [Your help has given] me so much faith in people and the good that is in each and every one of us.'

Over the past four weeks, Modest Needs' donors spent just over $1,800.00 on these three applications. In Valentine's Day terms, that's about the cost of six dozen long-stemmed red roses.

But whether you realize it or not, when you reach out to those in need, through Modest Needs or elsewhere, you aren't just giving people some money. You're showing compassion, kindness - and, yes, love - often to people who had come to believe that they were alone the world.

Maybe that's why, at Modest Needs, our donors get so many Valentines. After all, in Latin, the word that best describes Modest Needs - 'charity' - doesn't actually mean 'charity.'

In Latin, that word means 'love.'

Life's Little Emergencies

2/10/2012 12:23:58 AM

I think we can all agree that life - as wonderful as it is - can also be full of frustrations. You know what I'm talking about. Life's little emergencies, those day-to-day problems, some larger than others, that, depending on your mood and their severity, can just make you throw up your hands in disgust, look to the sky and want to scream, at the top of your lungs, 'Why me?'

I don't know about you, but for me, it always seems like, when it comes to life's little emergencies, it never just rains. It pours. And like all of you, I'm human. Sometimes, when it pours, I can get more than a little grumpy.

Case in point: not too long ago, my son (who lives about 2,000 miles from me) was in town for a visit. He wanted to go bowling, so, on a Sunday afternoon, we went bowling. After bowling more than 20 frames without incident, I went to pick up my bowling ball - the same ball I'd been using all day - and almost collapsed right there in the bowling alley.

Turns out, for absolutely no reason, I'd twisted my back. And in the process, I'd managed to pinch my sciatic nerve. Ouch.

What can I say? I hate being in pain. Nothing makes me grumpier than being unable to stand up (or walk , or bend over) without feeling as if someone is taking an ice pick and jabbing it into my spinal column.

So after one day of trying to 'grin and bear it' (not very successfully), I went to the doctor, who told me that there was nothing she could do - that in a few weeks, the pinched nerve would be likely to 'work itself out.'

'Great,' I thought. 'So now, I have two weeks of searing pain to look forward to.' That's just what I'd been hoping to hear. Not.

Anyway, by the next morning, I was mad at my body for not healing quickly enough. I was mad at my bed, for being too soft to make my back feel better. I was mad at my shower for not sending up the hot water fast enough. I was angry, period, and by the time I left for work, I was in one of those moods I was talking about. I was ready to throw up my hands and scream 'Why me?'

And then I went to the office.

One thing about working for Modest Needs is that reading the requests for help we receive on a daily basis can put what you think are your problems in perspective very, very quickly. But on this particular day, I happened to come across three requests for help that not only adjusted my attitude.

They made me start counting my blessings.

For example, I remember so clearly being mad that morning because the shower just wouldn't warm up. How annoying, right? Especially when you're already in a grouchy mood and you're in a hurry to get to work. I felt perfectly justified in being annoyed at my shower, all things considered.

And then, as I was going through our list of applications, I came across a request for help we'd received from a woman in New Jersey who has been living for years with Multiple Sclerosis.

Her disease has now progressed to the point that she can no longer lift her legs without assistance. In her home, she doesn't have a shower. She has a bathtub. And because of the progression of her disease, she can no longer get in and out of her tub to shower without help.

You know what she was asking for? Help to convert her tub into a 'stand alone' shower so that she could wash herself without assistance, and so that, when and if the time comes that she can no longer walk, she'll be able to wash herself in her wheelchair.

Moments later, I read a request for help from a single mom living in Florida. This woman has a large family - ten children. She's somehow managing to care for their children, even in this economy. But money is tight, and right now, all ten of her children are sleeping on the floor.

This mother of ten had asked for our help to get just one bed - a bunk bed - so her children could take turns sleeping on a mattress.

And as for that back pain? That back pain that had gotten me off on the wrong foot in the first place?

My attitude about my back changed pretty quickly when I read a request for help from a woman in Missouri who is suffering from end-stage liver failure. Her condition is terminal, and she's now in hospice. She has no friends, no family, no one with her in these final moments of her life.

Her one concern? When she passed away, she didn't want her body simply to be 'disposed of.' So she asked for our help - in advance of her passing - to pay for her own cremation.

As you might guess, after nine years of doing this work, we've all read an awful lot of really moving requests for help from Modest Needs. But these three requests, coming on a day when I'd been griping about my shower, my bed, and my back - well, within minutes, instead of concentrating on what now seemed like very minor issues, I was thinking to myself 'How can we help these women?'

So we featured these applications on Facebook. We mentioned them in our blog. And for my own part, like many of you, I give monthly to Modest Needs. That afternoon, I invested as much as I could in these three extremely moving requests for help.

And apparently, so did many of you.

Within just a few days of these requests for help appearing online at Modest Needs, they all were fully funded (in at least one case, within an hour or so.) Five or ten or twenty dollars at a time, you converted a tub into a shower, bought not one, but two bunk beds, and paid in advance for the final arrangements of woman, who, on learning you'd chosen to help her, wrote simply to say:

'Thank you to all of you who has made my final days peaceful, and restful, knowing how many people care about me.'

You know, it occurs to me that it can't have been easy for these folks to have come to Modest Needs and publicly ask for help. Let's face it: it's hard to say to anyone - let alone people you'll never meet - 'I can no longer wash myself,' or 'I can't buy beds for my children,' or 'I'm afraid that I'm going to die alone.'

But in finding the courage to turn to us as they have, these three remarkable women have given us two very special gifts. Of course, in sharing their stories, they've reminded us not to let life's little emergencies distract us from all we have to be thankful for. That much is clear.

More than this, though, in allowing all of us to help them as we have, with whatever we have to share, these women have reminded us that, even in the midst of what we think are our darkest days, we still have the power to be a source of kindness, inspiration and courageous generosity to those whose darkest days are perhaps a little darker than our own.

That, after all, is why we're here.

The Six-Dollar Sacrifice

2/10/2012 12:23:58 AM

Historically at Modest Needs, we've published two kinds of stories under the banner of 'Profiles in Courageous Generosity.' The first of those two kinds of stories showcases the tremendous impact that your 'small change' has had on one of our applicants; the second showcases the 'courageous generosity' of an applicant whose life you've changed for the better.

For the relaunch of 'Profiles in Courageous Generosity,' I couldn't decide which type of story would be more appropriate. But then I met Cindy. And thanks to her, today, you're getting the best of both worlds.

When Cindy turned to Modest Needs, she began her request for the help with these poignant words:

'I don't know how or why I am still alive. I've been disabled since the late 80's. My main illnesses are Chronic Late Stage Lyme Disease (spread throughout my body-including my brain) [and] Lupus. My life has sort of been 'over' for a long time.'

I think that's what struck me about Cindy's request for help, the reason I originally decided to make it one of our 'Applications of the Day.' As Cindy herself suggests, over the years, she's endured a number of losses that would've tested the strongest of wills. She's not only lost her health; she's recently and tragically lost her greatest source of companionship - her son.

As a result, Cindy has understandably spent much of her time lately both sad and lonely. Her one source of joy: she rescues neglected or abused animals and raises them with the utmost care. In the absence of her son, these animals are her constant companions—her buddies.

Cindy's dogs are the reason that, amidst her many losses, she has yet to suffer yet another devastating loss: the loss of hope.

Imagine Cindy's despair, then, when she discovered that one of her best friends, a rescue pup named Vickie Mac, required surgery on his knee for a condition that made him unable to walk without limping or crying out in pain.

If you now own or ever have had a pet, then you already know that when your best friend is in pain, even a small wince can be heartbreaking. And I think we'd all agree that the last thing someone who has just buried her son needs is a little more heartbreak.

Cindy's a responsible pet owner and normally would've been able to take her dog to the vet without any assistance. This time around, that wasn't possible. Having just been forced to shoulder the unexpected cost that no parent should ever have to bear - the cost of burying her child - she just didn't have the means to give one of her constant companions the care he so desperately needed.

And that's where you came in.

On 15 June 2010, Cindy's cause was Modest Needs' 'Application of the Day.' This, by the way, is a new feature at Modest Needs - once a day, via our blog and on Facebook, we now feature an application that we think really deserves careful consideration by our donors. If you haven't already, I'd definitely encourage you to make 'Application of the Day' part of your daily reading.

To make a long story short, within 24 hours of profiling Cindy's heartbreaking request for help, the cost of Cindy's request for help - $744.00 - had gone from not funded at all to fully funded. That, of course, is great news, but what's even better news is how that application was funded. It's not as if one or two donors swooped in with a few hundred dollars each to save the day.

Instead, 30 of our donors stepped in to make sure that Vickie Mac got the care he desperately needed each giving what they could (contributions in this case ranged from $5.00 all the way to $120.00) in an effort to make a 'world of difference,' not just to Vickie Mac, but to Cindy.

And that's exactly what these donors managed to do.

On learning that Modest Needs' donors had elected to fund her application for assistance, Cindy wrote:

'I am at a loss for words. Actually I am having difficulty swallowing at the moment. I am simply amazed at the generosity of the Modest Needs Donors. You guys have no idea who I am or how I struggle-but you HELPED me. You helped me on blind faith, [and in doing so], you have renewed my Faith in people & the world. God Bless Each and Every One of You. I am Forever With a Grateful Heart.'

But Cindy's 'thank you' didn't end there. Just after posting her testimonial at Modest Needs, Cindy found a new passion. According to her, she realized that she had the very same power to make a difference in someone else's life that you had made in hers.

And so Cindy, who lives alone and somehow manages to make ends meet on a budget of $761.00 a month, joined the ranks of Modest Needs' monthly donors with a $6.00 pledge, beginning 1 July 2010.

But that wasn't Cindy's first contribution to Modest Needs. That came on 11 June 2010 - in the amount of $14.00 - five days before Modest Needs' donors ultimately would fund her application. Ten of the fourteen points she received for her gift went towards the application of disabled person who has lumbar issues and needed a pedestal to be able to reach into her cupboard, or to put clothes in her washer and dryer - something Cindy understands from experience.

The other four points went to the application of a woman who was asking for help to afford, of all things, a vet bill.

***

Recently, I was lucky enough to be able to get to know Cindy a little bit better via email. During our correspondence, I asked her, I think, an obvious question: on $761.00 a month, with her other obligations, how in the world was she able to find a way to make a $6.00 monthly pledge, much less a $14.00 contribution to Modest Needs.

Her simple response will stay with me for a very long time. She said only this:

'I have always been able to depend on my Pups, but sadly, usually not on people. The people who helped me at Modest Needs have taught me to see things differently. I may not always have been able to depend on other people. But from now on, other people are going to be able to depend on me. I think that's what's really important'

***

As you know, I joined the Modest Needs team only a few weeks ago. At that time, I understood Modest Needs' mission to be one of helping people with short-term emergency expenses.

Thanks to Cindy, I now see things a little differently too. What I've learned is that Modest Needs isn't just about helping people to afford an emergency expense that they couldn't afford on their own.

It's about teaching people - by example - that no matter where we are in life, no matter what we're going through, no matter how much or how little we have to share, we all have the power to change a life.

Thanks to all of you, Cindy hasn't just learned that lesson. She's acted on it. And the decision to act - that's what makes power, well, powerful!

For some people, six dollars means lunch. But in making HER six dollar pledge, Cindy has made a sacrifice, the value of which can't be measured in terms of dollars and cents.

For Cindy and the people she'll help in the months to come, this six dollar-sacrifice is her way of passing on the kindness you've shown to her, of proving that we really can count on one another when times are tough. It represents the power of human kindness, a push towards hope, and the embodiment of courageous generosity.

Just Look at What You've Done . . .

2/10/2012 12:23:58 AM

When CNN contacted me a couple of weeks ago and asked if we would like for Modest Needs to be included in their special 'Twelve Days of Giving' series, all of us at Modest Needs were thrilled.

You see, as a result of the recession from which we are only now beginning to recover, throughout 2009, we've fielded a record number of requests for help at Modest Needs - many from people who have been 'givers' all of their lives, who never thought they'd be in a position to need the special kind of assistance that Modest Needs is designed to provide.

Simultaneously, individual donors - the people just like you whose kindness and generosity are the lifeblood of this work - often found that they just couldn't offer the same level of support to Modest Needs that they'd offered in years past. Particularly during the middle of year - June, July, and August - contributions to Modest Needs from individuals dropped off substantially.

Of course, Modest Needs was not the only charity that found itself in this position in 2009. But what you have to understand is that, because of the type of work that we do at Modest Needs, we work very closely, very intimately, with the people who turn to us for help.

As a result, we really get to know these folks, not as 'situations,' or as 'numbers,' or as 'applicants,' but as the people that they are - real people in the midst of real crises who genuinely stand to benefit from the assistance they've requested, not just today or tomorrow, but in the long term - provided we can to find a way to help them.

When you get to know people as well as we get to know the people who turn to Modest Needs for help, it's inevitable that you come to care for them personally. You come to think of them as friends. And in the same way that all of us at Modest Needs are filled with joy when we are finally able to say 'congratulations!' to someone who has gotten the help that he or she so desperately needed, having to say 'I'm sorry' to an honest, hard-working person who you just can't reach for lack of funding is simply a devastating experience - for all of us.

Too often this year, we've had to say 'I'm sorry' to persons we've come to know and care for over the course of our application process. And too often in those 'thinner' parts of 2009, we've had no choice but to listen as the people we couldn't reach have called us to say - often in-between sobs, and in the midst of an eviction that, last year, we could've easily prevented - how much they appreciate all that we and our donors have done to try to help them.

It's hard to go home and have dinner after fielding just one of those calls. Imagine fielding a dozen or so of those calls a day for three months, and you begin to understand what the summer of 2009 was like for us at Modest Needs.

So, as I said, I was thrilled when CNN contacted me a couple of weeks ago to ask if we'd like to be included in their 'Twelve Days of Giving' series. You see, we went into December with about 425 prequalified applications from deserving individuals and families 'on the books' here at Modest Needs - the largest number of prequalified applications I think we've ever had at once at Modest Needs. I knew that a story on CNN.com would result in more of these people getting the help they so badly needed than would otherwise have been possible.

Truthfully, I would've been absolutely thrilled if, after all was said and done, we'd been able to help just 10% of these folks. Given the kind of year we've had at Modest Needs this year, for us to have returned from the Christmas holiday with donors have funded forty applications - about the same number our donors funded over the Christmas holiday last year - would've been nothing short of exhilarating.

But it looks like you - all of you who have come together to support Modest Needs in the last week or so - had something better in mind. You were the mood to make miracles happen. And that's exactly what you've done at Modest Needs since 22 December 2009, when our CNN.com story first appeared on line. And while I could easily tell you how much good you've done, how many lives you've changed, in just the past ten days, I'd rather show you.

In terms of funded applications, this is what a really good, average day has looked like at Modest Needs this year:

This is what a fantastic MONTH has looked like at Modest Needs this year:

And this? This is what you did in just five days, between 22 December and 27 December 2009. This, my friends, is what your courageous generosity looks like:

All told, in just five days, people like you from across the country and around the world came together to fund - are you ready for this - 226 requests for help. Thanks to you, in the space of just five days, we were able to say 'Congratulations!' to more than half of the people who had been waiting for the help they needed prior to the Christmas holiday. You did all of this with an average contribution of just $45.00 - about what it would cost you to buy one 20oz bottle of soda a day for a month.

And if you think these pictures are worth a thousand words, trust me: the 'thank you' notes that the people whose lives you've changed have sent to you over the last five days, well, those are priceless.

We still have a little more than 36 hours left in the year, and as some of you work to make your final, tax-deductible contributions of 2009, I'd love it if we could find a way to change, I don't know, another 50 or 60 lives this year.

If you'd like to help us reach this last-minute goal (and together, we could easily make this happen!), you can do so by making the contribution of your choice right here, in two minutes or less, and then choosing whose life you'd like to change.

But whether or not we're able to reach this goal, one thing's for sure: via your courageous generosity, you have shown people from around the world that, together, we do have the power to make a real difference in the lives of real people just like us - no matter how much (or how little) we have to share.

In the process, you have given to all of us at Modest Needs the only thing we we wanted this year: the ability to say 'yes' to so many of the people desperately needed our help during what is already, for many, a difficult time of year.

If the end of 2009 can be any indication, then 2010 is going to be a wonderful year at Modest Needs. And from our family to yours, here's wishing you a new year filled with more health and happiness than your lives can possibly contain!

I'll look forward to hearing from many of you soon. Until then, though take care, be well, and Happy New Year!

The Future of Philanthropy

2/10/2012 12:23:58 AM

I'm a firm believer that the power of generosity and kindness far outweighs the power of money -- especially when it comes to donations. Perhaps that makes me an inefficient fundraiser. But when I hear stories like the story of 14-year-old Dylan Franks, I'm more convinced than ever.

Dylan, one of the most driven, compassionate young people I've had the pleasure of encountering, considers himself a zealous supporter of Modest Needs. He and his family have never applied for a grant; they've never donated toward our cause. But without a doubt, Dylan represents one of Modest Needs' most spectacular success stories, taking the phrase 'paying it forward' to a completely new level.

Imagine yourself at age 14, in the 8th grade. On what do you spend your time and energy? Video games, sports, evenings at the movies or the mall? That's quite literally child's play for Dylan Franks. Although he's as busy as any 14-year-old with social outings and extra-curricular activities, this budding entrepreneur has recently started his own grassroots charity -- the DoGooders -- to help needy individuals in his Santa Clara, CA community. And I'm extremely honored to tell you that the inspiration for this endeavor came to him by way of Modest Needs. Or at least partly.

It all started at his local recycling center. To help his aunt raise money toward a gift for her son (Dylan's cousin), he volunteered to round up some plastics and glass and trade them for cash at the recycling station. While there, Dylan noticed a few other families doing the same. But after a few minutes, he realized that these people weren't saving up for a gift like he was. They were recycling to scrape together grocery money. He was shocked. Immediately he decided to give his recyclables to those families.

'They needed the money more than my cousin needed this gift,' Dylan explained.

A few days later, Dylan overheard his mother, Denise, telling his father about a Modest Needs article she'd read on AOL. He listened to her talk about how Modest Needs had once been a kernel of an idea in my head, a tiny little website. Between the underdog example of Modest Needs and his eye-opening experience at the recycling station, something clicked. Dylan would pool together as much recycling as he could, turn it in for cash, and donate the proceeds to less fortunate individuals in his community.

He reasoned that 'if Keith Taylor can do it, I can do it.' And he was right. Not that starting up a charity when you're in the 8th grade is simple or straight-forward.

For 2 months, Dylan solicited clients for his recycling pickups, set up a dedicated phone number, designed flyers, and built a website with the help of family members. He regularly lugged his neighbors' recycling back to his garage for safekeeping (where it now takes up quite a lot of space, as you can imagine!). So far, after two trips to the recycling station, this exceptional young man has already raised $107.50 and landed more than 10 customers.

His next goal was to locate the right charity for his donation.

Dylan was open to all kinds of options, with only one non-negotiable pre-requisite. Just as we do at Modest Needs, he felt compelled to see EXACTLY how the money would be allocated. He needed it to go toward helping people, rather than whittling away at a local nonprofit's bottom line. Plenty of area foundations and charities couldn't give him enough control over the funds to satisfy him, and many balked at working with someone so young. Eventually, however, one very special organization approached him with just the right opportunity: the Penny Lane Foster Home.

This December, Dylan will be using the proceeds from his recycling business to purchase holiday gifts for the teenagers who live there. Why teenagers? His reasons sounded eerily familiar to me: because teenagers living in foster homes are so often overlooked by conventional philanthropy. (Just as the low-income families we serve are often ignored by the system if they live just above the poverty line, I thought to myself.)

'People donate toys and Tonka trucks and Barbie dolls, but they don't consider the older kids there,' Dylan told me. 'I'm their age, and I know that I wouldn't want a Tonka truck.'

Dylan's plan for gift-giving (of course he already has a plan!) is to purchase mall gift certificates so that these teens have the opportunity to choose something special for themselves for the holidays. He's even planning to approach the mall to inquire about a match for these donations.

'I like how Modest Needs was about helping people. It wasn't about big business. If someone needed glasses, you gave them glasses. I like that. I want to help one person at a time, too,' Dylan remarked.

After a few minutes on the phone with him, I was desperate to discover how Dylan had grown into such a remarkably giving person as such a young age. It should come as no surprise that his parents have a great deal to do with it. I'd already been supremely impressed by his mother, who'd first approached me via a beautifully written email I'd received the week before. Her sense of pride and admiration was evident:

'My boy has always had a great big heart for doing good, a brilliant mind for doing business, and he believes firmly that building one's character can only be obtained through Honorable Actions, Love, and Honesty. But I never thought that he would find something that would help him incorporate all of those attributes, especially in today's world. Every day, I see him working hard and getting people involved. He is opening up people's hearts, chipping away some of the rough edges life sometimes leaves on a human being's soul. I know he is proud and honored to be doing his small part in the world, one person at a time. So thank you so much for sharing your story on the net. It brought joy to our lives as well as helping my son to find the greatest part of himself, through random acts of kindness.'

As Denise explained, Dylan's penchant for philanthropy isn't limited to his DoGooders project.

'Dylan has always been charitable. He's the kind of kid who sees someone outside the group and hangs back to make them feel welcome,' she said. Like in his karate class. One boy there is deaf. And from day one, Dylan has stood next to him, communicating the sensei's instructions. No one asked him to do it; it's just his way. The sensei was so impressed, in fact, that he has invited Dylan to attend a class on becoming a sensei -- an honor usually reserved only for black belts.

'I look at my children and think how sweet and goodhearted they are,' Denise started, 'but it's also frightening.' After years of home-schooling both Dylan and his older sister, Denise takes comfort in the idea that they aren't 'hardened' like so many other teenagers. Dylan, for example, often says how he'd never want to work for someone who's dishonest. But we all know that the world isn't always a kind place, and Denise was growing more and more fearful about how Dylan would find his way. Until she read about Modest Needs.

'If there's a place out there for you, Keith, there's a place out there for my son. Modest Needs gave him a purpose. You showed that a random act of kindness can inspire amazing things. We see how large and successful Modest Needs has grown, and we look to you as a big brother. We are so grateful.'

***

Last week, I was honored to have been invited to attend the Clinton Global Initiative conference. On the first day of that spectacular meeting, I sat in the audience, literally stupefied, as Bill Clinton and Bill Gates sat together on a stage and extolled the virtues of Modest Needs - by name, and in front of an audience comprised of world leaders - calling our work, and the model that we use to do it, the 'future of philanthropy.'

To say that I was honored to see our work recognized in this way would be a tremendous understatement. But friends, I do not believe that any website, any organization, any cause, any mode of giving is really 'the future of philanthropy.' Rather, I believe that the future of philanthropy lies within the ability of organizations like Modest Needs to help people to believe again in their OWN power to make a genuine difference in this world - right here, right now, wherever they are, and whomever they happen to be - even if that difference happens one life at a time.

I'm proud that so many of you have chosen - and continue to choose - to make a genuine difference in the lives of others through Modest Needs, even in tough economic times, when our help - your help - is needed most. But the truth is that Modest Needs would be nothing, do nothing, achieve nothing, if it were not for each of you out there doing what you can, every day, to make a genuine difference in the lives of others, even if, for people like us, that means changing the world just one life at a time.

Ladies and gentlemen, to inspire the next generation to believe in their power to make a difference, THAT is the future of philanthropy. And if Dylan's story can teach us anything, it is that we can never know how far our own simple acts of kindness or the example we set via our work at Modest Needs and elsewhere will reach, how many people we'll inspire, and how many lives we ultimately will change.

Modest Needs is terrific organization, but it is not the future of philanthropy. Through the example that you set for others through your daily acts of kindness at Modest Needs and elsewhere, YOU - each of you reading this - YOU are the future of philanthropy.

Never forget that, and never let anybody tell you differently.

The future of philanthropy depends on it.

Kindness: the Best Medicine

2/10/2012 12:23:58 AM

Not too long ago, Martha would have described her life as being 'happy and normal.' She worked full-time as a housekeeper, never had a problem paying her bills, and spent her weekends going to church and working out in the yard in her hometown of Wetumpka, Alabama. She felt good in general for her 52 years -- lucky even.

But then, on 2 July 2007, everything changed for Martha when a regular annual mammogram turned up three spots of breast cancer. 'It was like being hit with a ton of bricks,' she said. 'Things started moving so fast. And my mind just shut down.'

On the day of her breast cancer diagnosis, Martha couldn't bear the idea of talking to anyone. Instead, she headed to the mall and walked around, for hours, in a daze. She felt completely devastated. It took her a full day to get up the gumption to break the news to friends and family. 'Everyone was telling me not to worry and giving words of encouragement,' she said. 'But it doesn't matter if you're a Christian, or if you're trying to stay optimistic... It's really hard not to worry.'

What followed her diagnosis was a seemingly endless series of doctor's appointments and tests -- each with its own co-payment, of course -- and a date set just weeks later for the removal of the infected breast.

To make matters worse, Martha realized that she'd need to be out of work for at least 2 months to recover from the surgery, with no disability payments or salary during the time she was off. She had no idea how she'd come up with the mortgage, especially with all the doctor co-pays and prescriptions starting to accumulate.

Although she's close with her children and brother and sister, none of them were in a position to help her out financially. But in a stroke of luck, her daughter Stephanie, who had come to take care of Martha around the operation, found Modest Needs online. She submitted an application to cover one month of her mother's mortgage payment ($239) while Martha was recovering from the invasive surgery.

At the time of her application, Martha feared that she would lose her home, right as her grueling recovery process was about to begin. 'It may not be much, but my little matchbox is a mansion to me,' she said. 'I couldn't imagine going through this anywhere other than in the comfort of my own home.'

When we read Martha's application and did the math, we realized that she hadn't asked for enough money. How could she return to the physical nature of housekeeping without more recuperation? Didn't she need two months' mortgage paid for instead of just one?

How could we let her face the idea of an eviction halfway through her recovery?

So we didn't. Or rather, you didn't.

We increased the amount of her grant to cover 2 months' mortgage payments. And then, Modest Needs' donors - people just like you - funded her application almost immediately.

'When that Modest Needs grant came through, and for TWO months' mortgage, it was like a blast of sunshine through the clouds. I don't understand why I have cancer. Or why I had to have a breast removed. But I do know that the Lord saw fit for Modest Needs to help me. And I won't ever, ever forget.'

With Martha's mastectomy successful, her path toward reconstruction has begun. It hasn't been quick -- or easy. Her left arm doesn't function normally, and she's in a considerable amount of pain each day. She'll require at least a few more surgeries before the reconstruction is complete. As it stands, she has thousands of dollars in medical bills to pay, and a list of doctors so long that she can't remember half their names. She still worries that the cancer will someday invade the other breast. With cancer, she tells me, there are no guarantees.

But as long as her house is being paid for, Martha can manage.

'That grant took a ton of weight off my mind. When I lay down at night, I think to myself, 'I'd never even heard of Modest Needs!' But you rescued me. I was a nobody, a stranger to you, and you rescued me. You were such a blessing.'

Like so many Modest Needs applicants, Martha is a religious person, and she believes that things that are meant to be, will be. I'll give her this: quite a few events did fall into place for her.

Take, for example, her mammogram. Although Martha is usually diligent about her annual check-ups, she nearly skipped the mammogram this year. She'd dropped into her doctor's office in Montgomery, Alabama, hoping for a walk-in appointment and thinking she'd go another year if they couldn't take her on that particular day.

As it happened, the doctor was booked solid. But Martha decided to schedule her mammogram for the following week anyway.

Why the change of heart, I wondered? Simple. 'Because the receptionist there was just nice as could be,' Martha remarked.

Talk about the power of kindness. Without that mammogram, Martha might not be here today.

And without the kindness of your donations, she surely wouldn't be this far along on the road to recovery.

360 Degrees of Kindness

2/10/2012 12:23:58 AM

When I established Modest Needs in 2002, my goal was simple: to help low-income families stay self-sufficient. I never expected that a miraculous cycle would develop, that the same people in desperate need of a few hundred dollars one month would become Modest Needs contributors the next. That so many of our funded applicants -- some on the verge of total destitution -- would start donating $3 or $10 or $100 a month as soon as they got back onto their feet, bringing to life the phrase 'paying it forward' time and time again.

Over the years, I've seen hundreds of examples of this cycle, but none more compelling than the story of Pamela, a wife and mother in Joliet, Illinois.

Pamela has experienced more heartache within the last 5 years than any one person should have to bear. When she first came to Modest Needs in 2003, her son had recently committed suicide. Understandably, Pamela was dealing with a level of grief that few of us can even begin to comprehend. And exacerbating that grief was her inability to achieve a sense of closure around her son's death. You see, at the time, she couldn't afford a headstone for him. And every time she visited his grave, that void became more and more painful.

Back in 2003, Modest Needs donors came through for Pamela and funded her application for a headstone, much to her surprise. It was the first time in ages that she'd felt a helping hand, after having had, as she put it, 'door after door slammed in my face.' She vowed never to forget the kindness of these strangers who had helped her get through the excruciating period following her son's untimely death.

Then, just a short time later, tragedy struck again. Pamela, who had managed to beat breast cancer back in 1996 through chemotherapy and radiation, was diagnosed again with the disease in 2004, a day before her 50th birthday. With the advice of her doctors, she decided that a double-mastectomy was her best chance at survival.

She had planned on getting breast implants after the operation, but a particularly nasty staph infection and the prospect of a new series of surgeries changed her mind. Instead, she decided that a prosthesis was the way to go after a long period of recuperation.

When she acquired her prosthesis, however, she was horrified to find that it weighed a whopping 20 pounds. And those 20 pounds felt a whole lot heavier after Pamela lost a significant amount of weight. It wasn't just uncomfortable; the prosthesis was actually causing her severe neck and back pain, and yet she 'felt like a freak' leaving the house without it.

'At the time, I felt horrible about myself,' she explained. 'I didn't want to leave the house, see friends, even go to picnics. I felt like I looked like, well, a boy, without the prosthesis.'

Much lighter, more advanced prostheses were available. They were just prohibitively expensive. The best one for Pamela's body, a 5-pound version, cost more than $5,000. And although her insurance company would step up to cover most of the cost, $315 fell to Pamela to fund. Being on a fixed disability income, she found that she just couldn't scrape together that much money.

So you came up with it for her.

That's right. In 2007, Modest Needs' donors did it again, funding Pamela's second application. After years of chronic back and neck pain, Pamela was finally able to enjoy her life again.

And then, last month, this woman who'd managed so many hardships with grace and resiliency received a third and crushing blow. Her beloved husband of 11 years, Cliff, died unexpectedly of lung illness at the young age of 52. Pamela was absolutely devastated. He'd been ill for the past year or so, suffering from lung problems and sleep apnea. But Pamela never guessed that he would leave her so soon. Cliff was the caretaker of his elderly father. He'd been a beloved grandfather. He was, as Pamela described him, a 'gentle giant' without a malicious word for anyone. In all the years she'd known him, she can't remember him once raising his voice to her.

With Cliff's passing came not only heartbreak but financial concerns. Did he have life insurance? What would Pamela do to help his elderly father? Where would she live? And most urgently, how would she pay for Cliff's funeral?

In an admirable display of generosity, Cliff's employer of 14 years -- Harrah's Casino, where Cliff had worked as a cage cashier -- offered to put $2,500 toward the cost of his funeral. Pamela was relieved; it was one worry off her mind. By this point she'd been researching her options and found that cremation was the least expensive choice, priced at about $1,700. If Harrah's was nice enough to offer, Pamela didn't want to spend their money frivolously. But even after informing Harrah's that she only needed $1,700, they insisted on the full $2,500. They asked her to choose her favorite nonprofit to receive the remaining $800.

You can guess where Pamela told them to send the money.

When she emailed me a few weeks back with news of this $800 donation, I recognized a sight I've seen so many times before: the cycle of giving coming full-circle again. And you want to know something truly amazing?

Pamela's $800 donation in honor of her husband Cliff is almost the EXACT amount we've granted to her over the course of her two separate applications -- $315 and $500, respectively. How's that for karma?

Except that, in light of our ongoing matching grant initiative, Pamela's $800 donation actually doubles to $1,600. So she'll be doing TWICE the amount of good that we were able to do for her.

In her email to me, Pamela simply and beautifully articulated her reason for choosing Modest Needs: 'Why did I pick your organization? Because twice when I needed help, you were there for me. I never forgot the help you gave me and always said that one of these days I would be in a position to give help back. I hope you can make someone's life much happier with this money, as you've made mine.'

When I followed up with Pamela on the phone, it had only been a few short, raw weeks since Cliff's death. And to be honest, if put in her position, I don't know if I would have even agreed to an interview during such a grief-stricken period. But Pamela jumped at the chance. She's clearly a remarkably strong person. Despite an overwhelming amount of trauma in her life, she continues to look toward to the future. She has made plans to move in with her daughter, and is spending her days moving Cliff's things out of his father's home.

She's one of an elite group of extraordinary people I've met through Modest Needs who've decided to create something noble out of their own personal tragedy.

In fact, Pamela's not satisfied with donating $800. As we end our conversation, she's emphasizing how much Harrah's liked Modest Needs' mission, and how they have the potential to donate significantly more. She would do whatever we asked to help persuade them to give more.

What I remember most vividly about our conversation, though, is the way she spoke about her late husband -- with affection, admiration, and a palpable sense of loss. I hope that in this donation she has found a least a small amount of comfort, in the knowledge that she has created a legacy of giving for Cliff, and for herself.

Because just as Cliff's love and friendship has made all the difference in her life, Pamela's courageous generosity will now do the same for dozens and dozens of others.

Piece by Piece

2/10/2012 12:23:58 AM

A few weeks ago, Modest Needs was barreling toward our most important milestone ever: our 5,000th funded grant application. And I confess that I was in a sort of giddy disbelief. After all, I vividly remember a time when we'd provided for just a few hundred applicants. I'm an optimist, but I never envisioned that we'd come so far so quickly. And here, in the Modest Needs office, the anticipation was palpable.

Five thousand isn't just a number to me, or an achievement worthy of a pat on the back. Because these are 5,000 funded applications represent (literally) many thousands of real human LIVES that we've changed. Many thousands lives people who've struggled through illness, loss, bad luck and long hours, who've felt abandoned by the system. Many thousands of individuals and families whose dashed hopes have been rekindled and whose self-sufficiency has been restored by the kindness of people like you.

Take Lucy, the very applicant who came in at number 5,000. She had just moved into public housing, a twin bed her only possession, when I spoke to her on the phone last week. She was covered in lesions and open wounds and suffering from near-exhaustion. It was, as she put it, 'the happiest I've been in years.'

Hard to believe?

Wait until you hear this remarkable woman's story.

Ten years ago, Lucy was earning $5,000 a month as an office manager and mortgage broker. She owned fine art, collected antiques, and felt totally comfortable financially. She would never have believed the unusual and horrific circumstances that would leave her withering away in a nursing home at the relatively young age of 59.

Lucy's health and financial problems first took root in 1999, when mysterious lesions began to surface on her face and body. Shortly thereafter she would come to be diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disorder called pemphigus, which causes the skin to attack itself. Since then, Lucy has been hospitalized 25 times for this chronic condition -- 18 times within the last 2 years alone. Her relentless disease has stripped Lucy of all her skin, head to toe, to the point that she now requires a walker, and after significant physical therapy she has learned to walk all over again.

'Even just the water pressure from a showerhead would tear the skin right off my body,' she explained. The steroid medication she took to keep the condition in check has increased her weight from 149 lbs to 350 lbs. Her hair has fallen out. She has developed life-threatening complications along the way, including a stomach ulcer and blood poisoning -- 'crisis after crisis after crisis,' as Lucy described it.

The most shocking and bizarre part of her diagnosis is the source of her debilitating condition. During the 1980s, Lucy lived with her husband in Washington state, where her husband worked as an engineer a nuclear power plant. Some years later, inspectors discovered that a significant radiation leak had occurred. And that, worse, the leak had infiltrated the town's water supply. For several years, the water in Lucy's home -- water she drank, cooked with, bathed and swam in -- had been contaminated with radiation. Today, that radiation poisoning no longer lays dormant in her body. Instead, it makes her susceptible to a variety of illnesses, including cancer. And, of course, pemphigus.

In 2000, Lucy joined a class-action lawsuit against her husband's employer, informed by dozens of lawyers that she stood to receive millions of dollars in compensation. But she hasn't seen a dime of that money, and she expects that she never will. When the Patriot Act took effect in the U.S., the legal team representing the nuclear plant where Lucy's husband had been employed (and specifically the government contractors there) denied Lucy's lawyer access to the scientific data he needed to prove her case. And so, like thousands of other Americans infected with radiation poisoning as a result of this unfortunate situation, Lucy waits.

For the past 2.5 years, she has been waiting in a nursing home, requiring round-the-clock medical assistance to keep her disease under control.

When Lucy came to Modest Needs this spring, she had been abandoned by most of her family and had lost her job, insurance, and savings. Even the tiny sum she received monthly from social security disability was being swallowed up by the nursing home to cover a portion of her medical costs. But the good news was that, thanks to her unwavering determination, Lucy had improved enough that she could be discharged. As you might imagine, she was positively bursting with excitement at the prospect of simply going home.

Right around the same time came another windfall. After 5 YEARS on the waiting list for public housing, Lucy's number finally came up. She had 70 days to move into an apartment being held for her. There was just one problem, and it was sizable: Lucy didn't have a dollar to her name. No security deposit for the apartment. No first month's rent. Nothing. How could she have saved any money if the nursing home had seized all of it? In fact, she was on the verge of personal bankruptcy.

In her desperate efforts to make the move possible, Lucy sought help from several local agencies. Eventually she came to Modest Needs, the final name on her list. Because the nursing home didn't make a computer available for patient use, Lucy would go to great lengths to submit her application. Her 70 days were running out. You were her very last hope.

'No one should have to experience life in a nursing home,' she remarked. 'The people there need healing and tranquility and quiet, and instead we are warehoused as patients, two and three people in one room. You learn to be your own advocate very quickly. The conditions are appalling. If I could give you one piece of advice, it would be to plan your finances so that you never have to resort to a nursing home.'

Because the nursing home where Lucy was living didn't have anything approaching Internet access, Lucy made the trek to her local Kinko's. She knew that Internet usage ran $24/hour there, but she felt compelled to take the risk. As it turned out, three of the four Kinko's computers were broken. The one working machine was occupied. And in what Lucy called 'divine intervention,' the manager there offered her the use of his computer, for free, when he found out why Lucy needed to use a computer. To her, it was a sure sign that things would ultimately work out.

And work out they did. Lucy scraped together the money for her apartment using a loan from a friend and one last credit card, but she didn't have anything left over to transport the few belongings she'd left languishing in storage. Within 36 hours of uploading her application, Modest Needs donors came through with $750 for a moving truck, and Lucy was finally on her way home.

I think that brings us back to where I started: on the phone with Lucy as she sat on the twin bed her niece had provided, covered in lesions, and absolutely ecstatic. She'd made it into public housing with only a few hours to spare in her 70-day window. The moving truck you covered would be bringing the remainder of her possessions the following day. And Lucy was expecting her first delivery of groceries any moment. 'I've endured absolutely terrible food for years. I haven't had a decent meal since 2005!'

Lucy recognizes that pemphigus will plague her for the rest of her life. But imagine the difference between recuperating in the comfort of your own home, or in the wretched atmosphere of a jam-packed nursing home. For the first time in ages, she has plans for the future -- specifically, to start up a home-based online business, and to lose the weight she gained from all those steroids.

'I wouldn't have been able to do it without Modest Needs,' she said. 'But just as important as helping me secure my belongings, you enabled me a sense of poise and dignity. As far as I'm concerned, the work you do is sacred.'

When I asked Lucy how she has managed to overcome so many obstacles -- physical as well as financial -- her answer resonated with me on many levels. 'Piece by piece,' she remarked, simply. 'One at a time.'

In that way, Lucy's story perfectly exemplifies the journey of Modest Needs. Our community has funded applicants in much the same manner as she regained her health -- 'piece by piece' -- with $5 and $10 donations building one on top of the other to fund one application, and then two, and then three, then hundreds, and now - thousands.

Lucy's resolve and resourcefulness will continue to inspire me as we move forward. But no less inspiring are you, the individuals whose good deeds and small donations have rescued her from this nursing home. So thank you, from me and from Lucy and from the many thousands of other people whose lives are transformed daily through your own courageous generosity.

5,000 grants down. An infinite number still to go.

The James Bond Chair

2/10/2012 12:23:58 AM

In 1992, Robi's life was forever changed when she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). She was only in her early thirties at the time, with a 2-year-old son, when her nerves started waging war on her body. And ever since, for the past 15 years, she has lived with increasing levels of pain.

In bed, if her husband's foot brushes against hers, the pain can bring her to tears. She relies on a wheelchair or walker to get around. The disease has infiltrated her auditory nerves and taken some of her hearing. The agony of sitting in a straight-backed chair can leave her almost unable to function.

But Robi has an unmistakable fighting spirit. She talks about the challenges of MS in strong, serious terms. And in between she interjects lighthearted anecdotes and cracks jokes, with a 'grin and bear it' attitude that would put most people (including me) to shame.

Robi has learned to live with her pain. But what she can't live with is the idea that MS is taking away precious time with her family.

And that's why Robi came to Modest Needs.

It couldn't have been a simpler request: a chair. A chair to let her sit and enjoy her family in the evenings. A chair to alleviate her pain. A chair that cost $762.

While her husband, Mike, and two children -- Mark, 18, and Madison, 11 -- watched TV in the living room every evening, Robi sat in a decrepit old recliner, suffering unimaginable pain just to remain in the same room with her family. As her MS advanced this year, she found that she could only manage about an hour in the chair, at which point she'd retire upstairs. Often, her children felt so guilty that they'd stop watching TV themselves to come be with her.

Not only was Robi's old recliner uncomfortable, it was also unsafe. Once in the chair, Robi couldn't hoist herself out without the help of her husband or son. There was nowhere to sit while the family was out for the day. 'There's so much wrong with my body that I get dizzy just standing up from a chair,' she remarked.

What Robi desperately needed was a chair designed specifically to take stress off her body, improve her circulation, and, most important, lift her safely from a sitting position to a standing one.

So Robi applied to Modest Needs. But she certainly didn't harbor high hopes.

You see, for years Robi has been let down by the system, by agencies, even by MS organizations. Most notably, she sunk $17,000 into legal fees while trying to adopt her daughter Madison, who at the time was a toddler who'd been abused, raped, and living on the streets. Social workers and the courts told Robi again and again that she couldn't adopt Madison due to her MS.

But -- and here's that warrior spirit again -- Robi studied up on the law and walked away with custody after a long and tedious fight. The adoption would inflict a financial strain that the family would wrestle with for years afterward. Still, Robi says without hesitation, the money was more than worth it.

After experiences like these, however, Robi felt jaded. 'I've gotten very cynical,' she says. 'It's hard to believe that anyone cares. That anyone would help.'

But people did care. Modest Needs donors, specifically. And Robi's application for that $762 chair was funded this June.

When the new chair arrived last week to her home in Utah, Robi was in tears. She had been convinced that she wouldn't receive enough to cover the full cost, or that something would go wrong. 'How can I adequately thank all these people I don't even know, who've helped me spend more time with the people I love?' she asked.

'Now I'll be able to sit at night with my family without pain. I won't have to be afraid of getting stuck in the chair or falling down anymore. Knowing that people care... It's one of the greatest things that's ever happened to me.'

This coming weekend, when it's blisteringly hot out in Utah, the foursome are planning to rent a movie and eat popcorn at home while Robi enjoys what her teenage son has dubbed the 'James Bond' chair. 'He says he's going to 'eject' me,' she says, chuckling.

Madison and Mark have grown up with Robi's MS. They understand that she can't do all the things other mothers can. Mark chose to pursue bowling rather than baseball because his mom couldn't stand the extreme heat to watch his games. (And he's now on a college bowling scholarship.)

There have been so many difficult conversations with 11-year-old Madison: Robi explaining what to do when Mom doesn't come to the door, or if she's lying on the ground when Madison comes home from school.

But now there's one less conversation she has to have. Nobody has to worry about what to do when Mom can't get out of her chair.

Because now - thanks to you - she can.

One Tooth Fixed; Many Lives Saved

2/10/2012 12:23:58 AM

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of speaking to an amazing Modest Needs applicant named Kathie. It was one of the most difficult and emotional conversations I can remember, if also one of the most rewarding. Difficult because Kathie's story -- specifically, the suicide of her 15-year-old daughter -- was so heart-breaking, with the pain coming across in every sentence she spoke. Rewarding because I was so proud that our Loews donors had stepped in to help such an extraordinary woman, a woman who has found the strength to transform her overwhelming grief into a public service, educating parents and children about suicide prevention.

All we gave Kathie was $800 for some dental work. Today, she's returning the favor to society in an exponentially larger way.

Seven years after her daughter Chrissie's tragic death, Kathie still has trouble speaking about it without breaking down. As she recounted to me, the day Chrissie died was just like any other weekday. Chrissie had called her mom to say she'd gotten home safely. Her father was at the house. Kathie told her to grab a bite to eat, and that she'd be home shortly. And so it was an absolute shock when Kathie pulled up to the house later that afternoon to find her husband screaming in the front yard that Chrissie had hung herself, and begging Kathie not to go inside.

The family was, understandably, devastated... but also incredibly baffled. Chrissie had been an honor-roll student. She was only 15 years old. But what neither parent knew at time was that, silently, Chrissie had been fighting a multiple personality disorder. They'd only learned the truth after discovering the journals that Chrissie had been keeping as part of her anorexia/bulimia therapy. Her parents read in shock as five different personalities manifested themselves in this journal, each with a completely different type of handwriting, and one with a disturbingly violent streak determined to do harm to Chrissie.

Immediately Kathie went online and started talking to her daughter's friends and their parents, trying to make sense of Chrissie's illness and her death. She learned as much as she could about the warning signs associated with suicide and the ways to intervene before things got too bad. She joined several online suicide bereavement groups. Gradually, over months and then years, Kathie became a sort of community expert on suicide prevention. Parents concerned about their own children began to seek out her counsel. She spoke regularly in her community about suicide -- to parents, grandparents, high-schoolers, and children as young as 8 years old.

'Even in grade-school, kids are desperate to be so perfect,' Kathie explained. 'I let them know what to look for... if their friends get really quiet all-of-a-sudden, let's say.' Furthermore, Kathie has maintained dozens of relationships with troubled teens online, all in an effort to make sure no other parent will suffer through what she has had to endure.

'Teenagers think that they're invincible. They think their parents care more about their brother or sister. Or that because their parents are strict, they don't love them. I try to let them know that's the furthest thing from the truth.' Often, Kathie said, she'll look around the room after a speaking engagement to see kids and their parents alike crying. Her goal is to just get them talking about the issue.

'For 2 years, all I could think about was, 'Why my daughter?'' she remarked. 'Then I realized that I'd never get Chrissie back. And the question has since become, 'What can I do?''

When Kathie cracked a tooth earlier this year, her suicide prevention speaking engagements suddenly became impossible. With no front tooth, her audience couldn't make out what she was saying at all. And the dentist's bill presented a serious financial challenge - $800. This, for a family who, since Chrissie's death, had lived off only about $900 a month in total.

'We've been through lots of financial setbacks,' Kathie tells me. First, there had been a hefty $1,300 funeral bill. Then, unexpectedly, Kathie lost her job. A career nanny and the breadwinner of the family (her husband is disabled), Kathie had requested a few days off around Chrissie's death from the family she'd served for many years. They'd obliged, but then told her not to bother coming back. Around the same time, Kathie's grandson was born with a serious heart defect, and she stepped in to provide childcare when her older daughter couldn't afford it.

Shortly thereafter, Kathie's own health began to deteriorate. Her asthma had morphed into chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, requiring oxygen around the clock. Chasing around after a roomful of toddlers was no longer an option. And so, at the time of Kathie's dental issues, the family's only income came from social security and a disability check.

If her application was simply for a new front tooth, that would have been enough. But in light of her activism work, Kathie's application became so much more important. It's no wonder that Loews donors responded so quickly to fund her request.

Today, Kathie is not only back on the speaking circuit in her community; she also organizes an annual run in Chrissie's memory and operates a scholarship fund. 'Kids have emailed me to say that they were considering suicide until they heard Chrissie's story, which changed their minds. That kind of thing makes it all worth it.'

And as if her work with suicide prevention isn't enough, Kathie has recently signed up as a monthly Modest Needs donor as well -- even on that very tight $900 monthly budget.

'The Modest Needs grant has made such a difference in my life,' she remarked. 'Suicide is a subject I never wanted to know anything about. And speaking about it doesn't take away the pain. Nothing will ever take that away. But it eases it. And if I can prevent it from happening to another family, then that's what I need to do.'

Seeing the World from Rock Bottom

2/10/2012 12:23:58 AM

As Keira approached the entrance to her town Wal-Mart recently, she was stunned when a local charity representative started asking her for money. At first, she didn't know how to react. Her family had been living off rice and Ramen Noodles for a month, buying $1 bags of vegetables for dinner. The pantry was almost totally empty, and she'd spent an evening explaining to her 10-year-old brother that they needed to devote money to food instead of Christmas gifts this year.

And suddenly, in the midst of her frustration, Keira remembered how, just a few short years ago, she'd been on the other end of that exchange -- donating, volunteering, giving.

How the times had changed.

Keira is 25 years old. She's college-educated. Her family has never once resorted to government aid. But when she came to Modest Needs this autumn, things were, in Keira's words, 'totally falling apart.'

Kiera and her family had made ends meet without any major issues until 2 years ago, when Keira's mother Agnes was hit by a car while on a crosswalk at her son's elementary school. Previously, her mother had provided a good portion of the family's income as a manager at Wal-Mart. But the hit-and-run accident had seriously injured her leg, and had since caused a condition called Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy, a chronic and painful complication affecting skin, muscles, joints, and bones.

Today, Keira's mother suffers from so much nerve damage that she can't even write her own name. She'll never be able to work again. And yet she still hasn't been approved for any formal disability income through social security.

As such, Keira, who is only 25 years old, became the family breadwinner almost overnight. She admitted that it has been a difficult and sometimes frustrating role -- and a heavy responsibility. But they're a close-knit family, and there's nothing she wouldn't do for them. Even at a very young age, Keira has got her life in perspective:

'Deep down, family is all that matters,' she remarked. 'When you die, you can't take the money with you. You can only take the love you have for your family.'

And that love is seeing her through some incredibly difficult news: that she almost certainly has Multiple Sclerosis.

Keira's brave and hopeful outlook was first put to the test this July, when complications from a spinal tap required surgery that left her laid up in the hospital for a few days and unable to work for 2 weeks. It was a substantial wage loss that turned devastating. Suddenly, putting food on the table became an incredible challenge for her, especially since no agencies in her area were equipped to help out families living just a few rungs above the poverty line.

'When I found out about Modest Needs, I saw it could provide exactly what we needed -- just a little push,' Keira began. 'But I felt a little embarrassed to apply, like I was begging for money. In the end, I swallowed my pride for my family.'

The 'embarrassment' Keira mentions isn't an unusual response; lots of hardworking applicants express some form of guilt over asking for help. But it's heart-wrenching to hear it from Keira, a young woman who has done everything right, who shoulders her family's financial responsibility with grace and resilience despite her own medical issues.

When the Modest Needs community responded to her application with a resounding 'help her!,' Keira felt a kind of relief she never expected. She jumped up and down in celebration. The $650 rent payment was all they needed to catch up from those days she'd missed work. The knots in Keira's stomach disappeared. She went grocery shopping.

And, according to Keira, her mother, who 'never ever cries,' broke down in tears.

'For once, after all the rotten stuff that has happened, it felt like God was smiling down on us,' she said.

Keira and her family clearly still face an uncertain future. But by giving them a 'modest' $650, you've shown them a kindness that has re-energized them -- financially and emotionally -- just in time for the holidayss

And today, Keira's doing everything she can to maintain the positive momentum. In fact, despite the physical challenges that lie ahead, she's planning to start law school shortly.

'I don't think we could be more appreciative,' she told me in closing. 'I feel so, so lucky. You see the world a lot differently from rock bottom.'

But rock bottom isn't where she is anymore. And that's all thanks to you.

About a Boy . . .

2/10/2012 12:23:58 AM

They say that money can't buy you love. But what if it could buy you friends? Or more specifically, the ability to make friends?

Brandon is in the 7th grade, at the point where friendships and cliques and puberty collide to make for that most awkward and stressful of times: adolescence. And if you think your middle-school years were tough, try a morning in Brandon's shoes. Because this 12-year-old has Asperger's Syndrome, a form of highly-functioning autism characterized by a severe lack of social skills.

Brandon can barely carry on a conversation with his classmates. He doesn't have any friends at school. But with the right therapy, he might. And you've given this very special boy that chance, for only $350.

As his mother Gabriella explains to me, Brandon's daily life is much more complicated than the average child. He gets so caught up in small details -- organizing pencils, let's say -- that he needs a teacher's aide to help him get to his locker and off to the next class. He can recite an A+ essay out loud, but his brain can't make the connection for him to write it. If he does try to write, he's such a perfectionist that he ends up wearing the eraser down to a tiny stub, until it actually rips through the paper.

Academically, his school and insurance company provide for lots of extra educational resources, including a one-on-one student aid. But as for his social life . . . there, Brandon is on his own. His insurance company doesn't deem it necessary to give him the tools to interact with people.

Of course, the insurance company isn't there to see Brandon fumbling through very basic social situations, incapable of understanding metaphors or sarcasm or jokes. They're not around to watch him sitting on his own while the other kids congregate in groups. They're not there, like his mother is, when he arrives home from school every afternoon feeling incredibly alone and needing to wrap up in a therapeutic 'body sock' in order to wind down.

'Brandon's at the age where he's starting to notice that all the other kids have friends except for him,' Gabriella tells me. He can see that he's different from the other kids. That's very scary for Gabriella, who explains that Asperger's kids have high instances of depression and even suicide. And no wonder.

Brandon was only 4 years old when Gabriella first started feeling as if something about him was 'off.' It took years -- not until Brandon was in 4th grade, in fact -- for doctors to diagnose his condition. His teachers used to assume he was just lazy, when he would get so frustrated that tears would start pouring down his face upon being asked a question in class.

Once the diagnosis was confirmed, Gabriella dove head-first into the literature, reading everything she could get her hands on regarding Asperger's. Since then, she has become somewhat of an Asperger's expert, and has also become acutely aware of the financial strain Asperger's can cause. She invests more in sheets and clothes than most mothers, simply because Brandon's brain gets so focused that he forgets to go to the bathroom until it's too late. She needs to be able to take off work at a moment's notice to get over to his school with a change of clothes on a daily basis.

And then, of course, there are the treatments that her insurance company rejects.

Last summer, for instance, Brandon attended a camp specializing in social-skills-building for Asperger's kids. It made a tremendous difference in the way he interacted with other children. This camp taught him how to handle social nuances we take for granted, like greeting another student in the hallway. When he came home from camp, Brandon even asked his mom 'what she wanted to do together.' Gabriella was flabbergasted and thrilled. As far back as she could remember, Brandon had never expressed any specific interest in social activity.

Naturally, when Gabriella heard about another Asperger's social skills class starting up with the same instructor, she jumped at the chance to sign him up. The timing was perfect; Brandon was having an incredibly hard time in his new school, and it was obvious that his social skills were the major hurdle. But the class carried a hefty $350 registration fee. And that money seemed worlds away to Gabriella, a single parent who'd just left her job as the director of a women's shelter to run a mentoring program. If she'd had more time, she could have saved up for it. But the Asperger's class was starting within a few weeks.

When Gabriella's insurance denied her request for assistance, she reached out to several local agencies seeking help. She wasn't about to sit by while her son's condition kept him from enjoying a rich, fulfilling life. Despite her continued efforts, the $350 escaped her, and she was starting to lose hope. That's just when a friend -- a fellow parent of a child with Asperger's Syndrome -- recommended Modest Needs, explaining that we'd funded a request of hers a couple of months back.

After only a few weeks, Modest Needs donors came through with the $350. Brandon would be able to attend the class after all. 'It was such a relief,' Gabriella recalls. 'I just wanted him to be able to go so badly... I can't thank your donors enough.'

When I last spoke to Gabriella, the class was about to start up, and she and Brandon had made a visit to the facility to prepare him for what to expect. He was apprehensive about entering a new situation, but Gabriella was completely confident. It would be a place where, for at least a short time, Brandon could feel like he fit in. And if he stood any chance of making friends in the future, this was a crucial first step in the process.

'Brandon's such a loveable kid,' Gabriella remarked. 'The aids at school adore him. He'll tell you in the most elegant language possible how your hair is shiny and beautiful like the golden sun. He might go on and on about how much he loves your shirt. But on the playground... he's just clueless.'

I'm hoping that's not the case for long. Imagine life without the ties that bind us together. Imagine feeling like an outsider for all of your days. It's a fate that no one should experience -- and certainly not an adolescent.

With the proliferation of autism-related diseases surfacing within the past 10 years, it's astounding and disheartening to me to realize that insurance companies don't recognize that social disorders require therapy every bit as much as a physical injury might. (What's more basic and important in life than the ability to relate to other people?) But until they do, I'm proud to say that we'll continue doing what we can to give these kids a chance at an emotionally rewarding life.

'As parents, we all want our children to be successful,' Gabriella remarked. 'And I don't mean just academically or financially. I just want him to have a partner, good friends. Relationships are what make life wonderful. He shouldn't miss out on that.'

And thanks to your generosity, he won't.

The Long Road Home

2/10/2012 12:23:58 AM

It has been almost a year since Anna's 18-year-old daughter Melissa suffered third-degree burns to both her hands. A year of physical trauma, emotional struggle, and financial turmoil. Anna tells me that she and her family are stronger for it, and that the experience has shown her the strength of her daughter's convictions.

But without your help, she doesn't know where they'd be right now.

It all started last fall. Melissa was in her senior year of high school in upstate New York, considering a career in the culinary arts. One day, while learning to make hard candy in a cooking class, she badly burned both her hands and wrists with boiling-hot sugar syrup. After being rushed to the emergency room via ambulance, doctors dressed her wounds but underestimated their severity. At the time, no one realized how deep her injuries had gone.

Anna has since become quite well-versed in the lingo of burns. First degree, she tells me, is indicated by redness. Second-degree is more serious, and shows blistering. Third degree actually burns beneath the nerve endings of the skin. It's as bad as a burn can get. And that's what doctors should have seen when Melissa arrived at the emergency room and mentioned that she wasn't in a huge amount of pain.

After the incident, Melissa missed a few weeks of school, and Anna spent her days attending to her daughter's wounds. Luckily, Anna's husband, a bricklayer by trade, had insurance covering about 80% of Melissa's medical bills. It didn't do much to offset the host of supplies Melissa needed, however: gauze, prescriptions, saline, and more.

When Melissa's hands finally started to heal, the family assumed that the worst was behind them.

Little did they know it hadn't even started.

This past February, 4 months after the accident, Melissa's blisters resurfaced -- a sure sign that her skin wasn't recovering as well as doctors had hoped. As it turned out, because the burns were third-degree, Melissa's affected skin was essentially unsalvageable, ruined. For her hands to heal properly, she would require a complex skin grafting surgery that would remove the damaged skin and re-apply new. The family physician referred Melissa to a specialty burn clinic in Vermont, almost 200 miles away, for the procedure.

Within the next 6 months, Anna and Melissa would come to know this burn clinic extremely well. First came the surgery, for which Melissa was confined to the hospital for 5 days on massive pain medication, and hooked up to a 'wound vacuum' that encouraged the new skin to adhere. While there, this teenager would learn to lose all modesty; without the use of her hands, she was completely dependent on help from other people, even to complete the most personal of tasks.

Anna raved to me about the burn clinic in Vermont -- the cutting-edge technology, the caring doctors and nurses. She was incredibly grateful when Melissa's skin graft was successful. Albeit incredibly expensive.

The surgery alone cost an astounding $17,000.

Then, for months afterward, Melissa and her mother would make the 200-mile drive to the burn clinic for follow-ups -- twice a week at first, then weekly, and now every few weeks. 'With gas at $3 a gallon, motels to stay overnight, food stops along the way... it was amazingly expensive,' she admitted. Anna's husband could only take limited time off, since he didn't have the luxury of paid sick or vacation days. As an added expense, Melissa also needed home care during a few particularly grueling phases of the healing process.

Saddled with these numerous trips to Vermont, it didn't take long for Anna to max out the credit cards and fall behind on everything aside from their insurance payments. Desperate to make ends meet, she accepted money from every family member who offered: her older daughters, her parents, her husband's parents. Her husband, she claimed, is the kind of person who'll give money to anyone who asks. But this was his first experience on the receiving end.

'We'd always lived modestly,' Anna remarked. In fact, to reduce their consumption of costly fuel oil -- necessary for hot water and cooking gas in addition to heat -- the family had historically heated their home using primarily wood. This spring, however, due to her oil company accidentally giving them more fuel oil than they were used to, Anna's bill soared to $707, right at the height of their financial struggles.

The oil company was adamant: no more deliveries until the $707 bill was paid. For Anna, the idea of losing her hot water and ability to cook for her family was heartbreaking. She was a caretaker by nature. She'd raised 4 daughters, and now watched her 15-month-old grandson on a regular basis. She couldn't imagine having to go without hot water and gas. But she also couldn't imagine where she'd get the money, either.

Until she found Modest Needs.

Anna had already been turned away from a bevy of local agencies when she happened upon our website one evening. Skeptical, she applied nonetheless. And within 2 or 3 days -- what must be one of the shortest turnaround times in our history -- Anna received a note telling her that her $707 application had been funded. 'I probably never would have come to Modest Needs if it were just my husband and me. But when you have children, you'll do anything to take care of them,' she said.

And Modest Needs didn't just pay off that one bill that was plaguing her; we served as a stepping stone to further assistance as well. Through our website, Anna learned about an agency offering subsidies specifically for the families of burned children. Fortunately, she managed to secure hundreds more dollars in gas cards and travel expenses to go toward all those long-distance trips to the burn center.

There are so many wonderful parts of Anna's and Melissa's story. First off, I am inspired and delighted by the fact that you, our community, responded so swiftly to this deserving family's $707 request.

And when I imagine myself as a teenager -- immature, insecure, dramatic -- the idea of Melissa facing her injuries with such bravery and grace becomes that much more astounding.

As for Anna... Not until we get to the end of our conversation do I realize that Anna has not complained once while telling me the story of her daughter's accident. In my mind, there seems to be a lot to complain about: the oil company's mistake, the pain her daughter has had to go through, the missed diagnosis when Melissa first arrived at the hospital, the relentless accumulation of bills, the scars that exist today on her daughter's hands. But Anna doesn't complain. Not once.

Anna's fiscal recovery will be a long, arduous process -- not unlike Melissa's physical recuperation. But with the fuel oil bill off their shoulders, the mortgage and medical bills feel somewhat less overwhelming. Anna admits that the approaching winter season is a source of some concern, what with rising fuel costs and fewer hours for her husband during the very cold months. But she's confident that this year will be nothing like last.

And that the worst really is behind them now.

'Emotionally, we're so much stronger,' she said. 'I hope that the donors realize that every little penny helped us. To some people, a few hundred dollars is nothing -- a drop in the bucket. To us, it was absolutely everything.'

A Trailer: $699.00. Saving four lives? Priceless.

2/10/2012 12:23:58 AM

Fear is no stranger to the vast majority of our applicants. Fear of losing their jobs, their homes. Fear of their children going hungry, or their health deteriorating due to a financial crisis.

But very few applicants experience the kind of paralyzing, physical fear that Suzanne, a mother of three, has had to face.

When Suzanne applied to Modest Needs a few months ago, she feared for her own safety, and the safety of her three children: 7-year-old KC, 11-year-old Angela, and 13-year-old Stephanie. The children's father, an angry, out-of-control alcoholic who'd been physically abusive towards them more times than Suzanne could count, was scheduled to be released from prison any day. She was petrified of being home when he got out. And she had no friends or family to turn to for help anywhere in the area.

After being split up from her children's father for 3 1/2 years, Suzanne had come to Minnesota to reunite with him in 2005 when he convinced her that he'd finally stopped drinking. He had been to rehab and cleaned himself up, he claimed. She was hopeful that they could all live as a family again. But shortly after her arrival, it was quite clear that this man was far from sober.

'He drank from morning until night,' she said. 'It was so bad that when he dropped the kids off at school, they'd be tripping over beer bottles as they got out of the car.' His drinking had once even caused a head-on collision, and significant injury to another family.

But the most serious issue was the violence. And, according to Suzanne, its toxic effect on her children.

One time, for example, their father was leaning over Suzanne on the couch, choking her, when 13-year-old Stephanie intervened by throwing something at him. Furious, he punched a massive hole in the wall.

The children themselves weren't spared the abuse, either. 'He would just wait for KC to come home from school so that he could spank him, and worse,' Suzanne said. She remembers once cowering away in a back room with little KC while his father raged. KC sadly confided to his mother that he'd only ever seen pictures of his dad. He never realized 'that he was so mean.'

The abuse was constant, and Suzanne felt far too frightened to contact the authorities. It was, as she put it, 'a nightmare, a living hell.'

That is, until May 11, the night when her children's father was arrested not only for DUI, but also for trying to outrun the police and resisting arrest. Almost a dozen police cars congregated in their front yard, but Suzanne was anything but embarrassed. 'It was what I'd prayed for,' she admitted. 'Him going to jail was the only way I could see myself getting out of this mess.'

Three weeks later, with the children's father in jail, Suzanne had successfully landed an accounting job, started repairs on her family's car, and obtained a rental to drive in the meantime. Even more importantly, she was frantically making plans to move her family back home to the Southwest. It was a race to save up enough cash to leave Minnesota before he was released from prison.

The only problem was, of course... money.

She'd essentially been financially abandoned when he'd gone to jail, with his dilapidated truck requiring so much work that Suzanne's paycheck was garnished heavily every month to pay back close to $5,000 in repairs.

And that's when you stepped in to help - just in the nick of time.

When Suzanne applied to Modest Needs for $699, the cost of a small trailer to carry her family's personal belongings on the 4-day drive from Minnesota to Arizona, the clock was already ticking. She'd sold everything of value that she owned. It would be only days before her children's father would be released. She worried incessantly. He repeatedly threatened her over the phone and warned her not to leave.

'I just can't imagine what he would have done had we been there when he got home,' she said.

Modest Needs was Suzanne's only hope - her only ticket out.

As such, she found herself glued to our website, checking the status of her application two and three times a day. And on one fateful lunch-break, she saw it: the smiley-face icon to designate that her application had been funded.

It had been only 3 weeks since she'd submitted her application. Ecstatic, she broke down in tears right there in the office. And by August 21st, she and her family were on the road, heading far, far away from the man who'd been terrorizing them for almost 2 years.

Today, Suzanne and her three kids are staying with Suzanne's sister in Tucson, looking for a place of their own. Suzanne's close to finding work -- 'Tucson is full of opportunity,' she tells me -- and all three kids are settling well into a new school.

Suzanne has never been so thankful or so relieved. Eleven-year-old Angela even admitted recently, 'we're better off without dad.'

Suzanne's story made me grateful for so many things -- but perhaps most of all that our community was able to step in as a support system where one didn't exist.

Modest Needs' donors may very well have saved Suzanne's life, not to mention the lives of her children. Thanks to you, for the first time in years, Suzanne has hope. She's not afraid.

And as for her children, I know that you've reminded them that, as cruel as their father might be, kindness and caring live on in abundance in the arms of each of you - the strangers who probably saved their lives.

One Father's Story

2/10/2012 12:23:58 AM

The day I spoke to Steve on the phone, he was doing what thousands of fathers all around the U.S. were doing: gearing up for a Labor Day barbecue. But Steve's family party wasn't just about grilling hamburgers and hot dogs, and celebrating a day off from work. It was about celebrating life -- Steve's 32-year-young life -- as he prepared to undergo major surgery to carve out the cancer that had plagued him since 2005. It was about looking toward a brighter future in the midst of a very tenuous present.

Steve has been living with cancer for 3 years. During that time, incredibly intense rounds of chemotherapy have brutalized his body. They've left his immune system in shreds, compromised to the point that he had to be quarantined, and that a tiny ingrown hair once caused a massive staph infection. In another instance, he missed a day of medication and became so sick that he almost blacked out. But despite Steve's resilience and optimism, chemotherapy has proven unsuccessful. What originated as testicular cancer has metastasized into multiple tumors throughout his stomach area. And surgery is now Steve's best hope for recovery.

According to Steve, chemo hasn't been the worst part about cancer; watching his family deal with the uncertainly has been. Comforting his children when they worried he wouldn't be around the next day. Of particular concern is Steve's 12-year-old son, whose mother died 5 years ago, and his fiancee's two children, ages 11 and 14. Oftentimes the kids cry, and when Steve asks them why, they shake it off and say it's nothing.

'If you're the one who's sick, you're the one who has to be strong,' he remarked. 'You've got to act like nothing is wrong.'

In Steve's case, the inevitable financial challenges posed by his cancer pale in comparison to the more formidable objective -- just sticking around to watch his children grow up. But they exist nonetheless, and the financial burdens only make his recovery that much more arduous. Steve doesn't have insurance. He relies upon Medicaid to cover the bulk of his medical bills. But when he's unable to work -- during chemo and other cancer treatments, for example -- there's no disability check.

There's nothing.

'I love to work. I love my job,' said Steve, an electrician by trade. 'I know what it's like not to be able to work or feed your kids. When you have chemo, you can't even get a scratch. You're stuck in your house. I'm so happy to go to work. But working isn't the issue now. Getting paid is the issue.'

When Steve's only family car broke down earlier this summer, with a hefty $865 repair bill, it became one more immense stress on top of all of the medical concerns. It was a car he'd used to travel to the hospital, to take the kids to school, and to get to work when doctors cleared him to do so. He and his fiancee, Shelley, were making do, cutting back to pay the bills, but this $865 was just too much.

Steve was adamant that Shelley stay in school to become a paralegal. 'She's super-smart,' he gushed. And, perhaps more gravely, 'I want her to do as well as she can. She'll be the one to provide for the kids if something happens to me.'

Shelley, who Steve affectionately calls his 'computer geek,' was the one who found Modest Needs' website during this very difficult time. And just weeks later, thanks to your generosity, Modest Needs was able to fund this family's application.

Like so many applicants, Steve couldn't believe it when the grant came through. 'I come from a place where you're on your own,' he said. 'Three years ago, I started to see a completely different world, where people are willing to help each other out. And it has really changed my relationship with my own family -- the power of that kindness. It's hard to convey unless you're with someone face-to-face, but we're just so, so thankful.'

Now, with the car fixed, Steve and his family can focus on the bigger picture: getting him better, and spending as much time as possible together. In a few days' time, he'll be taking that newly-repaired car to the hospital in Gainesville, Florida, for an incision that will stretch from his belt line to his sternum, designed to cut out his lymph nodes and the cancer that accompanies them. With luck, this surgery will eradicate the cancer forever, and Steve will be driving back to work in about 2 months.

But thanks to the kindness of the Modest Needs community, Shelley and the kids will be with him at the hospital, just in case something goes wrong.

'It's funny,' Steve remarked. 'The little things that used to bother me just don't matter anymore. If the kids leave their dirty clothes all over the house, I'm like 'who cares?' I don't take things for granted. I'm just going to love my family and hug them as much as I can. What else can I do?'

Well, I know what else Steve can do. Thanks to your courageous generosity, he can live a long, happy and healthy life, surrounded by people who care about him.

And you're right, Steve. That's a gift that no one should take for granted.

Losing a Job, but Not a Home

2/10/2012 12:23:58 AM

Purchasing a house of their own had been one of Dave and Jill's proudest accomplishments. It hadn't been easy, affording this home they've lived in for 9 years on Dave's modest salary. But it was comfortable, and it was theirs. And most important of all, it gave them enough space to live as a family, with their teenage daughter, Courtney, and Jill's ailing mother.

So imagine their horror when this spring, they thought they might lose that home, all due to a measly $672.

The problem started, like so many other Modest Needs applicants, when Dave lost his job.

Since the age of 18, for almost 20 years, Dave had been employed as a 'straightener' at a local metal casting factory -- grueling, physical work that was slowly breaking down his dominant arm as he hammered metal into shape day in and day out. Over the course of his time there, Dave was injured five times, suffering through multiple surgeries. But he always went back, no matter the pain, to keep a paycheck coming in.

When Dave was injured most recently this past January, he reported to the factory's doctor, who cleared him for work immediately even though he couldn't even lift a hammer. Then, when the pain became too much to handle, Dave saw another doctor who told him that he had carpal tunnel syndrome along with serious nerve damage in his elbow. And so followed another surgery.

Except that this time, going back to work as a straightener afterward wasn't an option.

After his surgery, the doctor prohibited Dave from lifting anything over 10 lbs -- or 5lbs repetitively -- and warned him that further stress could make his nerve damage permanent. His arm was, as his wife Jill put it, 'ruined.' Dave hoped for a different job at the factory, one that wouldn't put so much strain on his dominant arm. But management couldn't, or wouldn't, find a place for him. And so with the deterioration of his arm came the deterioration of his family's financial health as well.

Jill came to Modest Needs during an incredibly difficult time; Dave's disability benefits hadn't yet kicked in, but he wasn't receiving a paycheck anymore, either. She read through other Modest Needs applications and felt guilty asking for the money, when so many other people needed it. But when their $672 real estate tax bill arrived, Jill became desperate. If they didn't make the payment soon, their beloved home would go into foreclosure. Even worse, the family would have to split up.

'If we'd lost the house, it would have been nearly impossible to find an apartment to accommodate my mother, who struggles with diabetes, heart disease, and neuropathy,' Jill said. Recently her mother had suffered a heart attack, and luckily Jill had been home to get her to the hospital in time. 'If she'd been living somewhere else, alone, who knows what could have happened.'

Once again, Modest Needs donors came through. And within a few weeks of their application, Dave and Jill's threat of foreclosure -- and their family's imminent separation -- was no longer.

'I was just so thankful,' Jill remarked. 'It would have changed everything if we'd lost the house.'

Despite a challenging road ahead for the family -- it's never easy to recover when an unexpected disability robs the primary earner of an essential skill -- the $672 Modest Needs grant has set in motion a series of forward-looking life changes. Dave has applied to become a bus driver this fall. Jill also hopes to land a position as a teacher's aide at her local Head Start program.

The threat of losing their house probably isn't the only financial burden that Dave and Jill will face this year. Their daughter, a senior in high school, understands the gravity of their financial situation, but has a normal teenager's wants and needs: back-to-school clothes, senior prom, senior pictures. Jill's aging mother continues to battle serious health problems.

But now, thanks to the kindness of Modest Needs donors, they've gotten through the worse of it. They'll be comforted with the knowledge that there are people out there who are willing to lend a hand when you're in your darkest hour.

And most importantly, they'll be prepared to face any new challenges that come their way, because they'll be together.

Healing Heads - and Hearts

2/10/2012 12:23:58 AM

When Niccole got the call from Modest Needs with news that her application had been funded, she didn't even make it out of her cubicle before bursting into tears. But for a change, these were tears of joy. Tears of relief from a mother who'd been watching, helpless, as her insurance company had refused to help her little boy in need.

The trouble started this past April, when Niccole's then 4-month-old son was diagnosed with Plagiocephaly, a deformity of the skull caused by sleeping too often on his back. With his diagnosis, Niccole had become wracked with guilt. As a first-time mom, she had never been informed that her son's sleeping position could wreak such havoc on his little skull, and in fact had always been told to lay babies on their backs to reduce the risk of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). Furthermore, because Richard had been such a good-natured baby -- consistently jolly, and an excellent sleeper -- Niccole had never dreamt that there could be a problem.

Fortunately, Richard's condition was treatable, but only if that treatment came immediately. It would simply require him to wear a helmet-like device called a 'DOC band' that would gently re-shape his head before the bones in his skull had the chance to harden completely. But there were two catches: first, the helmet needed to be in place by the time Richard was 1 year old; and second, it cost $2,500.

With 8 months to work with, Niccole confidently approached her insurance company, providing every piece of documentation she could, including a letter of medical necessity from her pediatrician and evidence of the myriad of medical problems that would plague Richard in the future if his head weren't corrected. But to Niccole's shock, her request was denied.

She appealed immediately, submitting further documentation -- everything she could think up. Her employer even contacted the insurer on her behalf. But weeks later, bad news arrived again.

It was what the insurance company termed a 'benefit exclusion.' If Richard had needed the DOC band to recover from surgery, insurance would cover the cost. But not in this case. For all practical purposes, Richard's band had fallen into an insurance loophole. Niccole was infuriated, surprised, and devastated all at once. The stress caused massive friction between Niccole and her husband, and even contributed to their ultimate divorce.

Meanwhile, precious months were creeping by. Richard's skull was growing progressively worse -- flattening in the back, with his ears protruding. And Niccole was sinking further and further into depression, feeling helpless and frustrated. She applied for loans, and a credit card specifically for medical expenses. But like so many Americans, her less-than-stellar credit kept those options out of her reach.

'When you become a mother, your whole focus, your whole life, becomes that baby. I couldn't even concentrate at work. And it was killing me to look at him, this baby who's normal and smart and so happy,' Niccole admits. 'I couldn't bear the thought of kids making fun of him when he was older.'

When we received Niccole's application at Modest Needs, we were flummoxed. The maximum Modest Needs grant is normally $1,000, and Niccole clearly needed $2,500. Not in 6 weeks. But NOW. She had applied asking for $1,200 - the maximum she could request under our floating 'maximum grant' program - with a payment plan to cover the remainder herself. But we couldn't in good conscience stick Niccole with another $1,000 bill after all she'd been through.

Luckily, we stay friendly with a host of other nonprofit organizations whose missions closely align with ours. It didn't take more than 5 minutes to convince one particular foundation to chip in. After hearing Niccole's story, the foundation's only question was, 'How much should I write the check for?'

A few days later, after getting the good news, Niccole was already setting up a fitting for Richard's helmet. If all goes according to plan, his skull should be completely normal by the end of the year.

'I haven't been so happy since Richard was born,' Niccole said. The weight that had been slowly crushing her for months was finally lifted. 'My friends and co-workers can see the difference in me,' she remarked, 'emotionally as well as physically. There's just no way to thank you enough.'

I wish that all of you could spend 2 minutes on the phone with Niccole. If there's such a thing as 'raw' euphoria, Niccole's got it. She told me repeatedly me how grateful she is, how happy, time and time again. I could sense the presence of her wide grin on the other end of the line. And with every sentence, it felt as if she was desperately grasping for the right word to unleash the enormity of her overwhelming thankfulness.

'I'm still not done with my insurance company,' she remarked as we were wrapping up our phone call. 'I'm making one last appeal so that I can get that money and send it back to Modest Needs -- to help someone else.'

Insurance money or not, I tell her, there's really only one thing we would ask for.

A photo of Richard on his first birthday.

The New Sounds of Summer

2/10/2012 12:23:58 AM

For 3 years, Karen Reeves struggled to give her daughter something we all take for granted: hearing. But not because 8-year-old Rachel, who was diagnosed with hearing loss as a toddler, was beyond medical help.

To the contrary, Karen wasn't haranguing doctors and seeking out new treatments. She was simply fighting to afford a device that would vastly improve the quality of Rachel's daily life.

It wasn't a matter of medicine or technology. It was a matter of money.

At home in Rochester, Rachel's significant hearing loss kept her from fully enjoying the basic activities that kids her age should -- watching television, chatting with friends, going to summer camp. Communicating proved difficult in innumerable ways.

At school, however, it was a different story. There Rachel was lucky enough to have use of an 'FM transmitter.' The two-piece device was simple: Rachel placed the 'receiver' onto her hearing aid, while her teacher spoke into the 'microphone' end. The transmitter amplified her teacher's voice so that Rachel could understand everything clearly.

'If it weren't for the FM transmitter that the school provided, there's no way she would have been enrolled in a mainstream classroom,' Karen said.

Despite the challenges of hearing loss, Rachel excelled at school. She brimmed with creative energy -- not only in visual arts but even in music, where she grew to love the piano. She made loads of friends, most of them with full hearing. Kids routinely passed around her FM transmitter so that they could communicate one-on-one with her.

But for liability reasons, the school wouldn't allow her to take the FM transmitter home. And that's when Karen's crusade to buy one began.

'When Rachel couldn't use the transmitter -- at night, on weekends, and most importantly over the summer -- she regressed,' Karen said. 'In order to produce good speech, she needs to hear good speech 24-hours-a-day. And without the FM transmitter, she wasn't hearing enough good speech at home.'

If Rachel missed hearing one word, whole sentences wouldn't make sense, and then whole conversations. She had a hard time on car rides, at the mall, watching movies.

For years Karen tried desperately to find a way to obtain an FM transmitter for her daughter's home use. She went to hearing loss associations, applied for grants, lobbied her insurance carrier, you name it. At $1,000 per piece, the transmitter was just prohibitively expensive.

About a month ago, Karen applied to Modest Needs not knowing exactly what to expect. Summer vacation was approaching. Three months without use of the FM transmitter would certainly cause Rachel's speech to suffer. Karen had managed to scrape together enough for one piece of the FM transmitter, but still couldn't locate the funds for the essential 'microphone' component.

We certainly weren't surprised when Modest Needs donors gave Karen's application with very high marks. Even though we receive applications like Karen's all the time, it's surprising and disturbing to see how a relatively small amount of money can make such an amazing difference in someone's life.

I mean, really, doesn't $1,000 seem like a tiny price tag for an 8-year-old's hearing and speech development?

Well, the Modest Needs community thought so. And within a few weeks, Karen had received the check she'd been waiting on for 3 years.

'I thought it was just too good to be true,' Karen admits.

Mom and daughter picked up the new FM transmitter on June 29th, and both were flabbergasted by the quality and clarity of the sound. It's even better than the one she uses at school.

'Rachel can hear me, even when she's upstairs,' Karen gushed. 'She can hear me when I whisper into it. She's so excited that she walks around the house, talking to herself!'

Most importantly, though, when Rachel enters third grade in the fall, she'll hit the ground running. And over the summer, she'll be taking her new transmitter to summer camp and on plenty of sleepovers.

Life will be easier for mom, too. 'Having a child with hearing loss requires a lot of concentration,' Karen reveals. 'Sometimes it can get tiring. You get frustrated, even though you shouldn't.' On long car rides, for example, Rachel couldn't understand her mom unless Karen turned her head toward her. But this summer, when the family makes the 6-hour trip to visit Karen's parents, conversations will flow freely.

The only downside of the FM transmitter? Rachel's 5-year-old brother, Christopher, is a tad jealous and wants one for himself. And, of course, he's eager to talk into her ear all day long. You know how little brothers are.

'I feel really, really proud to be able to give this to her,' Karen said. 'When you've been thinking about this for so many years, and you see her face when she's wearing it...'

That was when Karen's voice trailed off into whispered tears.

I suppose that even for someone with perfect hearing and speech, occasionally, there are just no words to describe the life-changing power of a stranger's personal kindness.

The Mob Mentality

2/10/2012 12:23:58 AM

The Internet has always been Modest Needs' lifeline and my most important connection to all of you - donors and applicants alike - who participate in this work with us. But I recently had the unique pleasure of breaking free from cyberspace to meet with a group of donors in person. And what a group it was!

Last week, I visited the Loews Hotel Miami Beach to introduce Modest Needs to about 300 of its employees -- everyone from top managers in crisp summer suits all the way to waiters, housekeepers, and groundskeepers. And over the course of a couple of hours, these people generated more positive energy than I thought one room could hold.

This is the story not of one person's extraordinary act of kindness, but of hundreds':

As part of the events celebrating the launch of Modest Needs' partnership with Loews Hotels and their team members nationwide, the Loews Hotel Miami Beach invited its staff to learn more about Modest Needs at a little rally, complete with a royal-sized spread of food and a prize raffle.

I was hardly the focus of this event. Of course, I spent about 20 minutes talking about Modest Needs - what we do, how we work, and how our donors (yes, all of you!) make a difference in the lives of hardworking, low-income families at the time they need it most - and everyone at this rally was very excited to learn that they'd be working with Modest Needs to help us help others over the coming months and years.

But for many of the employees, I suspect, the real highlight of the day was the much-anticipated raffle which 'closed the show.'

The first four prizes that were raffled off were, well, modest: $25 gift cards to Target and the local Publix supermarket, a cordless phone, and a DVD player. But you wouldn't have known it by the audience's reaction each time a new prize was announced.

When the winner of the $25 Target gift card heard her ticket number called, for example, she ran down to the front of the room in a scene that reminded me of the Price is Right. Arms flailing, all smiles, with a gust of cheers and clapping from the crowd, she accepts this 'modest' gift card with the excitement you'd expect to see from someone who has just won a 'Showcase Showdown,' including twin Mercedes!

The other three prizes follow with equal fanfare. And then, it's time for the big one.

Standing at the front of the crowd, the hotel manager pulls the grand prize, $250 in cold, hard cash out of his pocket and explains that Loews Hotels nationwide will be collecting spare change from employees to give to Modest Needs. 'So before we raffle off this $250,' he starts, 'what do you say we give $50 to them?'

There's no hesitation on the audience's part. Cheers fill the room as he plops a $50 bill into the Modest Needs 'change box' (which is really about the size of a treasure chest) that has now been placed at the front of the auditorium.

There's a fleeting moment of disappointment when the manager announces the grand-prize winner: sadly for that person, he or she has 'slipped out' of the meeting a little early and misses out on the $200 prize. 'How about we toss another hundred in the jar, then?' the manager asks the crowd.

And of course, the audience concurs without hesitation. They cheer again. Again, the manager of the Loews Miami Beach drops a hundred-dollar bill into the Modest Needs change box, bringing the grand-prize total down to $100.

By this point I'm doing some math in my head. Although Loews compensates its employees well by all standards, for many of the folks in this room (and many of us, for that matter), $250, coming to us from out of thin air, would be like winning the lottery. Yet these folks don't seem as excited about the possibility of winning that money as they seem to be about the prospect of helping someone with it.

Five years of working with Modest Needs has taught me to expect the best of people, since that's what I usually see. But I'm not used to seeing people cheer at the thought of giving money away! And then, just when I think things can't get any better - well, something happens that no one would ever have expected.

This, it turns out, is really the highlight of the rally.

Finally, the manager of the Loews Miami Beach hotel draws a new raffle ticket. He calls the number. And out of the crowd - to the elation of his peers - jumps a man who I later learn is named Francois. Turns out he's a laundry supervisor for the Loews Miami Beach.

My first impression? 'This is guy who really sweats for every dollar that he earns.'

Honestly, as this guy comes barreling towards the stage to pick up his prize, I'm thrilled for him. In fact, everyone in the room - his friends, his colleagues, even though they didn't win - they're all thrilled for him. And you can't help but be excited for this guy because his own excitement is contagious.

As this man approaches the stage, I find myself wondering what he's excited about, what he's planning to do with that $100. Is this a week's groceries? Is it part of the rent? Is it a little extra for his wife and children? What's got this guy so excited? What is he planning to do with that money?

But finally, together, we all discover what this guy is thinking about - because, you see, he doesn't actually take the $100.

Instead, he gestures to the manager to throw $50 of his newfound bounty - fully half of his windfall - into the Modest Needs change box at the front the room.

The opportunity to really help someone else: that's what this guy had been thinking about the whole time. That, as it turns out, is the reason he'd been so excited.

The audience literally erupts in cheers and tears at this man's courageous generosity. And, as the rally draws to a close, I watch through misty eyes of my own as a line of newly energized Loews employees -- housekeepers, porters, front desk attendants -- forms behind the Modest Needs change box, their hands digging deep into their pockets . . . .

You know, it's funny. When you hear the term 'mob mentality,' you can't help but envision a negative atmosphere of some kind -- angry fans at a football game, or violence erupting at a protest rally.

But at the Loews Hotel Miami Beach last week, I saw 'mob mentality' spring from one person's courageous generosity. I watched the spirit of generosity become infectious, as people who'd never heard of Modest Needs before, inspired by a single man's altruism, lined up so that they could change the life of a person they knew they were never going to meet.

And most importantly, I witnessed 300 people who, simply by doing what they could, redefined for all of us what it really means to be a winner.

The Giving Ladder

2/10/2012 12:23:58 AM

Since the launch of Modest Needs as a personal project in 2002, the question I've most often been asked about this work is, 'Why do you think that Modest Needs has been so successful?'

That's actually a good question because, over the past five years, I've come to understand that virtually every aspect of our work - from our mission itself to the way we fulfill it - defies the charitable 'status quo.'

Of course, if I stammer for a moment, I can usually come up with an answer to this seemingly simple question that satisfies whoever is asking it. But honestly, especially knowing what I know now about why charities are supposed to work, I've never really been able to come up with an answer to that question that satisfied my heart..

That is, not until late last month.

On 18 March 2007, ten carefully selected charities from the New York area - including Modest Needs - were invited to participate in a 'charity mall' that was hosted by a local house of worship. The goal of this event was simple: it was designed to teach children in Kindergarten through 6th grade about the importance of helping others.

Honestly, I had dreaded this event for weeks because I just had no idea how to communicate Modest Needs' mission to young children. In the end, we opted for simplicity. We used poster board to make what we called 'The Giving Ladder.' We attached to that ladder a single request for help, from a person in North Carolina who'd lost a couple of weeks' wages in the course of caring for his wife, who had ovarian cancer. He'd since gone back to work, but he'd gotten behind on the house payment, and the bank was threatening to foreclose on the family home.

The amount this family needed to save their home? $473.30.

One by one, as these children walked by with their parents, we explained in the simplest terms what we do at Modest Needs, and we told them about this particular family's request for help.

And one by one, we watched as these children took their own money - mostly from their allowances - and dropped one or two or three dollars at a time into a little bag we'd been given by the charity mall organizers for that purpose.

Each time a child gave in this way, we moved a little image of the family that we were working to help up just a bit on our 'Giving Ladder.'

The charity mall began in earnest at about 8:30am. By 11:30am, in increments of between one and five dollars at a time - all from children aged 5-11 - we'd raised $470.00 of the $473 and change necessary to fund this application.

Around 11:45am, just as I was about to take a short break (we still had over three hours to go, and I was already exhausted), two little girls came up to our table with their mother. These children were introduced to me by the event organizer as 'very special children.' I had no idea why these children were special, but I told them about Modest Needs and about the family we were working to help that day.

Between them, these two little girls gave the last of the money we needed to fully fund this North Carolina family's request for help. I told them this, and you just couldn't have measured the breadth of their smiles.

But it was their mother who seemed the most moved by what her daughters had done. She asked if we had other applications she could read. I'd brought some with us, and she thumbed through them, reading each application carefully, and with misty eyes.

I didn't see this person again until around 1:45 in the afternoon. But as we were packing up to leave, from out of nowhere, this mother of two returned to our table and handed us a check $126.49 - exactly the amount necessary to fund a request for help she'd seen from a family in Missouri that had gotten a little behind on a utility bill.

As she passed the check over our table, I came to understand why she'd read those applications so carefully, so quietly. Almost under her breath, she said:

'You know, my husband was killed in the 9/11 attacks on New York. That time - that was the hardest time of my life. To lose my husband, for my children to lose their father, that was hard enough. But then, for the first time in my life, to not know how we were going to buy food, let alone pay for the house, or for clothes . . . . '

She paused.

'We made it though that time because people I didn't even know offered to help us. And that's why I'm giving you this check. I know what it is to depend on the kindness of strangers.'

***

Today, Modest Needs turns five years old. Over those five years, and against all odds, those of you who support Modest Needs have raised more than $1 million - mostly in $5, $10, and $20 increments. With an average grant of only $317.00 per family, as of today, you have stopped the cycle of poverty for exactly 3,206 individuals and families. And over time, more than two-thirds of the people you've helped have returned to Modest Needs - not as applicants, but as donors.

Charity think-tankers may puzzle for years over the phenomenal success of a charity as unconventional as Modest Needs. But especially today, on Modest Needs fifth anniversary, I think you and I understand it all too well:

No matter who we are, where we come from, or where we are right now, at one point or another in our lives, we all have learned what it is to depend on the kindness of strangers. And if Modest Needs has proven anything at all, it's that once you've learned this lesson for yourself, you just can't wait to become the next rung on a Giving Ladder that already has changed your life.

To those of you who already support Modest Needs - and to those of you who will begin to support this work in the days and months ahead - thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for what I hope has been a life-changing five years for all of us.

And for all of us, may there be many more.

For James

2/10/2012 12:23:58 AM

In mid-August 2006, on a day that started out like every other day, I received a personal letter so unusual that, at first, I was unsure exactly how to answer it.

The letter came to Modest Needs from Chicago, from a woman named Heidi. Her simple, unassuming note (which I've lightly edited to save space) said only this:

***

At the beginning of September, I will be driving from my home near Chicago to Portland, Oregon to scatter my late husband's ashes near Mount Hood. When I'm in Oregon, I would like to donate my car to a worthy individual whose life it can have a real impact on -- not just drop it off at the office of some enormous charity knowing that it's going to be auctioned.

It's a 1994 Honda Civic EX Sedan, and by the time I get to Portland it will have just about 180K miles on it. It's been very well-maintained and should have quite a bit of life left.

[My] overriding desire is to give [this car] to someone whose life it can really improve. If you have any pending requests in the Portland area that might be a good fit, or if you have any suggestions as to people I might contact, I would be very grateful for your input.

Thanks very much for your time.

***

Now of course, you all know that granting what I'd call 'personal wishes' doesn't fall within Modest Needs' very special mission. But that hasn't stopped well-meaning people who don't know much about Modest Needs from asking for our help to grant such wishes anyway.

Over the past four and a half years, I can't even count the number of letters we've received from people 'wishing' to go on a vacation, or wishing for a video game, or wishing for something else that doesn't qualify as a request for help with a short-term emergency expense.

But in all of this time, Heidi's is the first letter I think we've ever received from someone asking for help to grant a wish of this very special type: a personal wish to step into someone's life and change it dramatically with a gift that goes far beyond the types of help we generally can offer at Modest Needs.

Honestly, I was a bit taken aback by the nature of this letter - and it takes a lot to leave me speechless. But not wanting to waste any time, I responded right away, told Heidi we'd do our best to find just the person she was looking for, and then published a short note in our August 2006 newsletter to let people know about this very special opportunity.

Shortly after publishing the August 2006 newsletter, I received a note from a woman named Michele, who'd heard about Modest Needs - as many people do - from a friend of a friend online.

She'd written to ask about the car. Hers was the only application for the car that we received, but her story was all too familiar.

Michele and her family - four of them altogether - had been living in Alabama in August 2005, when Hurricane Katrina tore through the Gulf Coast Region. Michele's husband - Randy - is an artist. He creates glass sculptures. So I don't think I have to tell you what kind of damage Hurricane Katrina did to this man's studio, to his livelihood, and to this family's life.

With absolutely nothing left for them in Alabama or Louisiana (Randy had made much of his living in New Orleans), Michele, Randy and their children had moved to Eugene, Oregon last year in hopes of starting over. They were well on their way to getting back on their feet when the transmission of the old van they'd used to get to Oregon in the first place - their only mode of transportation - simply gave out.

Approximate total cost to fix this transmission? Twice the value of van itself - and much more than this family could possibly afford to spend.

In the meantime, the family had been making do with a small motorcycle.

Almost immediately, it was clear to me that we had here the makings of a life-changing experience for all concerned. By helping this family, Heidi would get the chance to fulfill her wish - and by helping Heidi to fulfill her wish, the Modest Needs family would be doing its part to give this Oregon family the fighting chance they needed as they worked to rebuild their lives.

We did the fact checking and, satisfied that everything was in order, I wrote to Heidi to tell her we'd found her family. I introduced Heidi to Michele, and they began making arrangements to meet. And that's where this story would've ended, if my curiosity hadn't gotten the better of me.

Given the unusual nature of Heidi's request, I wrote to ask her if she'd tell me what had moved her to want to make this extremely generous donation. I will never, ever forget reading the letter she sent in response. Lightly edited, here is that letter - the very definition of 'Courageous Generosity':

***

September 2nd is the second anniversary of my husband's death. On that day, I will set out from the accident site at the time of the collision and drive cross-country, arriving about four days later in Portland.

Though we've always lived in Illinois, I'm driving to Portland because James, my husband, fell in love with the place when we were there in 1992 and tried for more than a decade to convince me to move there. Making it his final resting place is my chance to give him something he always wanted.

I want to donate my car while I'm there because inside me beats the heart of a poet, and there is something poetic about driving out and leaving more than just his ashes behind.

Why go to the extra trouble of donating this car through Modest Needs rather than just dropping it off at any one of dozen big charities? There are actually two reasons: one practical, one emotional.

The emotional reason is that I had that car for more than two-thirds of the 14 years I spent with my husband. It took me to visit him every weekend while he was away at school. It took me to our wedding, and it took me to the hospital that awful morning two years ago.

If I close my eyes, I can still see him next to me and feel his hand on my shoulder as I drive.

It would be a sad thing indeed to hand that car over to an anonymous tow truck driver. Giving it to someone who will drive away with a huge smile and a happy heart is a much better ending -- don't you think?

***

Attached to this letter was a picture of James and a copy of the newspaper article chronicling the accident that took his life.

At the time of his death, James was just 34 years old. He was riding to work on his motorcycle (wearing a helmet and protective gear) as two young men coming the opposite way fought for position -- a lane was ending and both stubbornly refused to yield. They collided, sending one into a broadside skid across the center line and directly into his path.

He had no chance to avoid the impact.

I've now read this letter many times. And each time I read it, my reaction is the same. I find myself trying to imagine James, Heidi's husband. I come away from this letter sorry that I can know James only through his legacy. But what a legacy it is - for all of us.

Despite a senseless death under circumstances that would make it so easy to feel nothing but hate, this man inspired such love, such compassion, such generosity in those who knew him that his wife's only wish was to carry on his legacy by changing the life of a stranger.

But Heidi has done much more than that. By honoring her husband as she has, Heidi has reminded us of the life-changing power of compassion. And by sharing her husband's story with all of us, she's encouraged us to offer up to others the compassion they deserve by virtue of their humanity - even at times when 'compassion' is the last thing we ought to be feeling.

James, on behalf of the people whose lives you touched while you were here, and on behalf of those whose lives you don't even know you've changed, this one is for you.

Thank you.

Modest Needs Makes a House Call

2/10/2012 12:23:58 AM

I think that everyone who supports Modest Needs - myself included - gets a lot of pleasure out of knowing that every month, we're making a tremendous difference in the lives of dozens of individuals and families facing a short term crisis.

But the pleasure that comes from actually being able to see the difference we're making - well, that's a kind of pleasure that is too rare to be taken for granted.

On 18 July 2006, Modest Needs received an application from a woman named Bendetta, who lives with her three sons in Southern California. Taken at face value, Bendetta's request seemed simple enough. She came to Modest Needs seeking our help to purchase a bed for one of her children.

But in the course of performing the due diligence on this application, we learned that in recent months, life for Bendetta had been anything but simple. Like too many people in this and other countries, Bendetta and her children had been victims of domestic violence.

After suffering for some time at the hands of an abusive husband / father, Bendetta was forced, in February of this year, to flee from her home. She was able to take with her only her children and whatever possessions they could pack into her small car.

Needless to say, they've never looked back.

Happily, Bendetta is not just a hard worker; she's a resourceful person. Even in the midst of this turmoil, she kept her full time job and was quickly able to find a new home for her family. There was just one problem: the apartment she found - the best apartment she could afford for her family on her budget - was not furnished. No tables. No chairs.

Not even a bed to sleep in.

Since fleeing an abusive relationship in February 2006 - for five full months - Bendetta and her three children have been living in a safe but absolutely bare apartment. They've been sleeping on makeshift pallets on the floor of their new home.

Yet, for all of this time, neither Bendetta nor her children has ever complained about their situation, nor have they asked for help from anyone. Bendetta continues to work full time, purchasing necessities for her family as she can afford them. And her children - all three of them - they're just happy to be in a safe place with their mom.

Honestly, I don't think we'd ever have heard from Bendetta had it not been for an emergency related to her middle son, who is ten years old and - like her other two children -an honors student. In June, this child began to experience an unusual pain in his foot. Bendetta took him to the doctor, and a short time later, she learned that her son had a tumor.

Bendetta's son ended up in the hospital, where doctors performed surgery to remove the tumor. At the time of her application to Modest Needs, the biopsy had not yet come back, but Bendetta knew - I think we all know - that her son really needed to be in a bed when he came back from the hospital.

That was her reason for turning to Modest Needs. She requested our help to purchase a bed for her middle child, so that he would be comfortable when he returned from the hospital.

Needless to say, all of us at Modest Needs were moved by this application and did our best to put it forward for our donors as quickly as possible. And your response to this application was almost exactly what I expected it to be. Not only did all of you give this application one of the highest scores since we implemented 'donor review' at Modest Needs, most of you left notes attached to this application saying nearly the same thing:

'Whatever it costs, make sure that every member of this family has a bed.'

Normally, at this point in a 'Profile in Courageous Generosity,' I would tell you about the outcome of this application. This time, it thrills me that I don't have to.

Suffice to say that, I was actually in Los Angeles last week, and I thought that under the circumstances, it would be fun to make a house call. In tandem with Utopia, a furniture store in the OC kind enough to provide these beds for us at cost, we arranged to hand deliver to Bendetta and her sons four beds that we were able to provide, thanks to your courageous generosity.

But that's not all. As luck would have it, KCBS and KCAL - the CBS affiliates in Los Angeles - learned that we were going to be making a house call and asked if they could send a reporter to cover the story. Of course, we were happy to have them. And what a story it turned out to be!

Follow this link to watch your 'small change' and courageous generosity at work in the lives of Bendetta and her children, as reported by KCBS and KCAL 9 in Southern California on 24 July 2006. (Video will run in Widows Media Player in a new window.)

And thank you, as always, for the miracles you make possible through your generous support of Modest Needs.

Enjoy!

A Left-Handed Glove

2/10/2012 12:23:58 AM

One of the hidden costs of living paycheck-to-paycheck is that, often, the people most in need of a 'good deal' end up paying more for almost every major purchase they make. When you're on a limited income or have a less-than-perfect credit rating, home mortgage finance charges are higher. You can't take advantage of the 'up-front' savings of paying for services six months or a year in advance. And if your car suddenly dies, you're in no position to go shopping for the best deal.

That's why, in the United States, we have an entire billion-dollar a year industry that specializes in 'dealer-financed' auto loans.

To people who must have a car but who lack the credit rating or income necessary to finance their purchase through a conventional dealer, dealers who also act as lenders - people who operate 'Buy Here-Pay Here' auto-dealerships - are often the only viable option. Taken at face value, dealer financing also seem like a good deal (no pun intended). For a minimal down payment and what appear to be small, weekly payments at a fixed (but very high) interest rate, you can drive off the lot in the car of your choice.

Of course, there are many good 'Buy Here - Pay Here' dealerships - solid, reputable establishments that provide a valuable service to members of their communities. But unfortunately, there are also unscrupulous auto-dealers of this type who exist take advantage of their customers.

You see, unscrupulous auto dealers who engage in dealer financing arrangements know that, nine times out of ten, the persons who can't get standard auto financing will end up being late on a payment at least once. So, they require their customers to sign a finance contract that allows the lender to repossess the car the second a scheduled payment is a technically 'late.'

And that's exactly what unscrupulous 'Buy Here-Pay Here' dealerships do.

Once the lender has repossessed the car, the finance contract allows for the addition of all kinds of fees - towing fees, contract renewal fees, etc.- to the single 'late' payment. When borrowers come to reclaim their cars, they're told that their loans can be renewed once they've remitted the 'late' payment plus all of the associated 'fees' - which by themselves can total three or four times the car's scheduled payment.

Of course, these lenders know that the persons to whom they market their services won't be able to pay these additional fees. And when they can't, after a week or so, the lender 'accelerates' the note to be due in full immediately, terminates the finance contract, keeps the car - and then resells the very same vehicle to another unwitting customer.

The dealership then repeats this process, 'selling' the same cars to different customers over and over again, until these cars no longer run and must be sold as scrap.

If all of this seems like an 'unscrupulous' business practice - well, in my opinion, it is. But in most states, it's also perfectly legal. In Texas, for example, persons who have no choice but to purchase a car under these terms also have no legal recourse to action once they realize they've spent thousands of dollars to rent an inferior used car for a few months - all because of a single, barely-late payment.

Tara, a hard-working single mother living in Lewisville, TX found this out the hard way. But in her case, the unscrupulous antics of an auto dealer didn't just cost her a job.

It nearly cost her eleven year old son an arm.

Like most single mothers, Tara faced a number of challenges unique to her situation. With two young children to support, and with no assistance of any kind from the father of her children (despite a court order), Tara had to work at least one part-time job to afford the daycare costs that would allow her to work the full time job that actually paid her family's bills.

Obviously, because she lives in an area without good public transportation, Tara couldn't support her family without a car. And when the car she had been driving finally died, she had no choice but to go the 'dealer-financed' auto route. Ultimately, she did end up with a drivable car - and payments of $247.91 every two weeks at an APR of 21%.

Sound ridiculous? Of course it is. But when you're living paycheck to paycheck and you have to have a car to get to take care of your family, you don't have the luxury of negotiating.

In any case, thanks to her solid work ethic, Tara was able actually to afford this car, and her regular bills. In fact, she was sometimes able to make payments on her car two weeks at a time, in advance. Everything was fine - until suddenly, in the type of chain reaction we all fear, the bottom fell out of Tara's life.

Without warning, Tara was downsized from her part-time job. In order to keep her full time job while she looked for replacement income, she had to allocate one car payment to daycare costs. This meant she couldn't make one of her car payments as scheduled . . . and despite the fact that she was actually current on her payments at the time, her lender 'exercised his rights' and repossessed her car.

With her car repossessed, Tara had no way to get her children to daycare, or to get herself to her job. This meant she had to miss time at work. With no way to get her car back - and no way to look for new part time work - within a week, she'd lost her full-time job as well.

Tara came to Modest Needs seeking our help to get her car back from the 'Buy Here - Pay Here' dealership that had repossessed it. At the time she contacted us, she'd already managed to find a new full-time position but had no reliable way to get to work on her own. She owed two car payments - plus all of the additional fees that had been 'tacked onto' her account - for a total of $635.71.

Our donors overwhelmingly indicated that they wanted to help Tara, so we contacted the auto dealership to tell them we'd be making this payment on her behalf. And guess what? Upon learning that Modest Needs was ready to help, the lender accelerated the car's note to be immediately due and payable in full.

That's right. The minute we called her lender to intervene on Tara's behalf, this Dallas-area auto dealership sprang into action and took every step they could to ensure that, short of paying off her entire auto loan (at a cost of over $13,000), Modest Needs would not have the power to help her.

Needless to say, I was outraged. I called everyone I could think of - from the Attorney General of Texas to every local Dallas TV station I could find - and everyone I spoke to said the same thing: 'That's a sad story, but in Texas, that's perfectly legal. There's absolutely nothing anyone can do.'

I was frustrated, but after doing everything I reasonably could, it looked like the 'good guys' just weren't going to win this one. We just didn't have the budget to pay off Tara's auto loan in full, and the auto dealership absolutely couldn't have cared less about the entire situation.

Discouraged, I called Tara to give her the bad news. And that's when she told me about her son for the first time.

It turns out that Tara's urgent need for transportation wasn't only about her ability to continue working. What Tara hadn't told us in her application was that her oldest son, Emmet, had been born with a congenital limb deficiency. Shortly after birth, his left arm had been amputated below the left elbow.

Without insurance to cover a prosthetic, Emmet had lived his entire life with only one usable arm. But Tara was determined to give her son the one thing he wanted most: a left hand. To that end, a year or so ago, she'd applied on his behalf for a prosthetic limb from the Scottish Rite Hospital for Children, an excellent medical facility about a 60 minute drive from her home.

After a lot of hard work and a long wait, Tara's son Emmet had finally been approved for his protesthesis. At last, this little boy was going to have two hands, just like everyone else. The only problem: the waiting list for those prosthetic limbs is enormous, and Tara now had no way to get her son to the hospital. She no longer had a car of her own, lacked the credit card or means to rent a car, and knew no one who could afford to take time from work to take her and her son on a 120 mile round-trip, several days in a row.

Through the tears of a mother, Tara told me that Emmet had been scheduled to receive his prosthesis in exactly seven days. Without transportation, she wasn't just going to lose her new job; her son wasn't going to be able to keep the appointment that would give him a left hand of his own. And that's the one thing that hurt her most, she said: the thought of the look on his face when she told him that he wasn't going to be getting that new left arm after all.

And that was it. The last straw. As I listened on the phone, tears streaming down my own face, I decided, then and there, that we couldn't let this happen. We weren't going to let Tara lose her job, or let her son miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity - over the businesses practices of an unscrupulous auto dealership.

One way or the other, Tara was going to have a drivable car of her own, free and clear, within one week. And Emmet was getting his prosthetic arm. Period. End of story.

The problem was, even our maximum grant of $1,000 just isn't enough to buy a reliable used car. So, if Tara was going to keep her job; and if her son was going to keep that appointment; we were going to need more than courageous generosity.

We were going to need a miracle about as big as the heart of Texas.

Not exactly sure how we were going to pull this off at all (much less in seven days) I told Tara to start looking for used cars - cars that would run, no matter how they actually looked. For two days, we both searched and searched, but ultimately, we came up with nothing but junk.

And then, we hit the jackpot: a woman who lived about 15 miles from Tara was selling a used Acura. It certainly wasn't a new car - it had 220,000 miles on it - but it still ran fine, had no real mechanical problems, and a Carfax report showed it to be in good shape.

The problem? This woman was asking $2500 for her car - much more than we could possibly afford to pay her.

So I made a few phone calls to friends of Modest Needs in Texas. Thanks to their additional support for this purpose, we were able to generate an extra $500 for this application, but that's still a long way from $2500. But with time running out, I figured we had nothing to lose. I called the woman who had offered the car for sale. I explained the situation, and I told her that all we could offer was $1500 - our maximum grant, plus $500.

I didn't expect this woman to accept our offer, which was less than even the 'dealer' blue-book value of the car. And that's why I'll never forget her response.

After thinking for a minute, in a deep-Texas accent, she said, 'Ya'll are obviously good people, and I'm a single mother too. I'll give her the car for $1500. The rest of it - we'll just call that my gift to her little boy.'

In the end, thanks to the courageous generosity of the Modest Needs community and the help of a couple of people with hearts as big as the state that they call home, Tara got her car - a car she now owns, free and clear. She kept her job - a job that, to our knowledge, she has to this day. And one week later, her son Emmet was outside playing catch with his friends, something he'd done a thousand times before.

Only this time, he was wearing a left-handed glove.

Tabitha's Testimonial

2/10/2012 12:23:58 AM

Over the past four years, those of you who contribute to Modest Needs have done some pretty spectacular things with your 'small change.' During that time, for example, you've stopped the auction of a paid-for family home over a small property tax bill that the home owner couldn't pay after his wife suddenly became ill. You've saved the life of a cancer patient by making the COBRA payment that allowed him to continue his treatments when an unrelated emergency prevented him from paying that bill on his own. You've even restored the sight of a little boy who saw his mother for the first time, thanks to the special glasses that would've been out of reach for his family, had it not been for the kindness and compassion that so many of you demonstrate at Modest Needs each day.

There's no disputing that in each of these cases - and too many more to mention at once - that your 'small change' has truly made a world of difference to someone in need of our help. But overall, I think many of you will agree that the most poignant applications that we see at Modest Needs are those that seek our help to afford 'the little things' - the necessities that so many of us take almost for granted.

This is the story behind one such request for help - a request for help that came from a woman named Yasmira, who lives with her mother and daughter in a small apartment here in New York City.

Like many of Modest Needs' applicants, Yasmira is a truly remarkable person, someone who has dedicated her life to the service of others. Shortly after her high school graduation, for example, Yasmira decided that she wanted to serve her country, so she enlisted in the military. She excelled in her chosen field and planned to pursue a military career.

But when Yasmira discovered that she was going to have a baby, she was faced with a choice that no person should ever have to make: she could have her child, or she could have the career she'd prepared for all of her life.

Given her selflessness, it's no surprise that Yasmira chose her child.

Yasmira was honorably discharged from military service, and nine months later, she gave birth to a beautiful little girl named Tabitha. Unfortunately, the birth itself was not an easy one, and Tabitha was injured during her birth. As a result of this injury, Tabitha developed Erb's palsy and will need nearly constant care for the rest of her life.

But Yasmira is not one to give up. Even though a military career was no longer an option for her, Yasmira went back to school, where she studies between jobs to become a paralegal. Simultaneously, she's been prepping to take the NYPD entrance exams so that she can serve New York City with the same enthusiasm with which she once served her country.

Yasmira is obviously a hard worker. For five years now, with no help from anyone but her mother, she has done all of these things - and much more - with a single goal in mind: to provide the best life that she possibly can for her daughter. But New York is an expensive city, and sometimes, when you're caring for a disabled child on your own, even the most basic necessities can become frustratingly out of reach.

That's why Yasmira came to us for help. Ever since her daughter has been out of a crib, she and Yasmira have been sharing the only bed that they could afford: the worn twin mattress that Yasmira has had since long before her daughter was born. For three years now, the two of them have been sleeping on a single twin mattress, which is now so worn that the springs are beginning to show.

And that's all Yasmira asked for: our help to give her daughter the sweet dreams that all of our children deserve.

Of course, all of you who participate in Donor Review at Modest Needs voted overwhelmingly to fund this application. And this time around, since Yasmira actually lives in the city where Modest Needs is based, I thought it would be nice if we took the time to fund this request for help in person.

So, on your behalf, about two weeks ago, I went to a local Sleepy's store, planning to purchase a single twin mattress. As things turned out, I left that store with not one, but two twin beds. To make a long story short, when the folks at Sleepy's heard Yasmira's story and learned what we were planning to do, they offered us an incredible deal: two complete twin beds, for less than the best estimate Yasmira had been able to find for the single twin bed she had asked for our help to afford.

Last week, on the day after Memorial Day, I went to Yasmira's apartment, rang the bell, and delivered these mattresses to Yasmira and Tabitha on behalf of the Modest Needs community. There were hugs. There were tears. And best of all, there was a picture that Tabitha drew for us as her way of saying 'thank you.'

Above all, I wanted you to see this picture - Tabitha's Testimonial - because according to her, this is a picture of us.

This is what we do at Modest Needs - through the eyes of a five year old child:

Laying a New Foundation

2/10/2012 12:23:58 AM

Since August of 2005, people from across the United States - and indeed, from around the world - have watched as our neighbors in Mississippi and Louisiana have struggled to reclaim their lives from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. During the six months since the storm, we've seen a great many images from the region - images of roadways that haven't been cleared or rebuilt, of businesses that have not yet reopened, of homes that have yet to be restored.

But in the midst of the turmoil, the finger-pointing, and the heart-breaking stories still pouring in from the Gulf Coast states, there is one thing I think we'd all agree we haven't seen enough of.

That, of course, is progress.

While our nation struggles to determine how best to proceed with the rebuilding process, there remain many thousands of families whose lives are still in limbo. We've heard from a number of these families at Modest Needs, and one thing above all is clear:

What these families want - more than anything else - is to go back to their communities, repair their homes, and return to something like a 'normal' life.

Given the scope of the destruction that we've all seen in the Gulf Coast region, it's easy to feel as if there's nothing significant that any of us can do to speed this process along. We all know that 'small change' can fix a car, or send a sick child to the doctor. But can our 'small change' really rebuild even one home?

In fact, it already has.

A couple of weeks ago, we received a request for help from Larry, a father of four who was living in Waveland, MS when Hurricane Katrina hit. Larry's request for help is very typical of the applications for assistance that Modest Needs has been receiving from Hurricane Katrina's survivors since January 2006. It went almost exactly like this:

'Dear Modest Needs, Like many others, our home was flooded by Hurricane Katrina. Our home can be repaired, but I'm on a limited income. We have been in FEMA trailers for several months now, and we just want to go home. Our home is still standing but needs repair. If anyone has the resources to contact someone to donate wood and building supplies, this is much needed. We have 4 boys, 15, 12, 10 and 7 years old. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thank You for listening. God Bless.'

As a part of his application, Larry was kind enough to send pictures of his home, so that all of us could see exactly the progress that has been made on Larry's home over the past six months. We're publishing those for you here (with permission) because they really do speak volumes.

As you can see from the images at right, through Larry's home is still standing, it certainly needs quite a bit of work. Katrina's floodwaters so severly damaged the interior of Larry's house that it had to be almost completely gutted before repairs even could begin.

Larry's home has been gutted and ready for repairs to begin for the past four months. And yet, of two weeks ago, no further work had been done on Larry's home.

Like many of the Gulf Coast residents affected by Hurricane Katrina, Larry doesn't want - or need - a brand new home, or more time in a trailer or hotel. For four months now, all he's been looking for is a hand-up - help to purchase the materials that would let him repair his home, and begin the process of putting his family's life back together.

Unfortunately, that's a type of assistance that's very hard to come by. And that's why - as a last resort - Larry turned to Modest Needs for help.

Despite the fact that the materials Larry needed to repair his home cost slightly more than our maximum grant, those of you who read his application overwhelming agreed that this was one request for help that we should fund at all costs. So two weeks ago, on your behalf, we sent Larry the lumber and other building materials he needed to repair his house.

And today, thanks to your courageous generosity, there's one less Waveland family waiting for the chance to go home.

Repairs to Larry's home are finally underway.

***

By now, you've almost certainly read the oft-circulated, always inspirational 'Starfish' story, which tells of an old man who spends his mornings on the beach, flinging starfish that have washed ashore during the night back into the sea, where he knows that they will thrive.

One morning, the old man is interrupted by someone who ridicules him, saying, 'Look at this beach. There are thousands of starfish and only one of you. What makes you think you can possibly make a difference?' At this, the old man defiantly picks up yet another starfish and hurls it back into the ocean.

Smiling, he says, 'I sure made a difference to that one.'

Our small change may not have had the power to rebuild every damaged home in the Mississippi Gulf, but we sure made a difference to Larry. And my hope is that as we move through 2006 at Modest Needs, Larry's story will be but the first of many such Modest Needs miracles. After all, through your courageous generosity, you've given Larry and his family much more than lumber, drywall and nails. For their house - and for their home - you've laid an entirely new foundation: one set in the promise of hope, strengthened by the spirit of compassion, and the reinforced by the power of human kindness.

Homes built on so strong a foundation cannot help but thrive.

Even if we must build them one at a time.

Generosity's Greatest Reward

2/10/2012 12:23:58 AM

Usually, the publication of a new 'Profile in Courageous Generosity' will result in a barrage of email from the Modest Needs community. Sometimes, people write in to say how moved they were by a particular piece, or to say that a particular 'Profile in Courageous Generosity' has caused them to see the world in a kinder, gentler way.

All of these responses - both heartfelt and moving - are worth sharing, and I'm sorry only that I don't have the room here to publish them all, to share with everyone the warmth and compassion so evident in letters like these. But today, I want to share with everyone a particularly poignant letter I received last week in response to the publication of our most recent 'Profile in Courageous Generosity.'

It's a letter that really underscores the tremendous value of personal kindness, and should teach us all that the good work we're doing together at Modest Needs extends far beyond literal or figurative 'small change.'

Last week, I published the story of a woman in Michigan, who came to us seeking help with a small appraisal fee - a fee that we didn't know at the time would prevent the auction of her home, just hours before it was scheduled to take place.

You might remember the post-script to this story. Several weeks later, with her life returning to normal, this woman returned to Modest Needs, this time to determined to pass on the kindness that she said had changed her life.

In making this choice - and making it publicly - I know this woman inspired many of you. But shortly after the publication of this 'Profile in Courageous Generosity,' I received a letter from Brenda, a woman from upstate New York who had come to Modest Needs in February 2005, seeking help to afford the medication she needed to prevent pre-term labor.

How much, you ask, did this medicine cost? Just $30.00 - less than most of us spend each month on our morning cups of coffee.

I know that this amount of money - $30.00 - doesn't seem like much. But we've probably all lived through times when just $20 seemed to us like a fortune. When you're the family's primary breadwinner and in the midst of a high-risk pregnancy; when you're on a very limited income and then ordered to bed rest - well, it's times like these that friends and family matter most.

In the absence of friends or family members in a position to help Brenda even with this very 'modest' expense, I'm very happy that the members of the Modest Needs community were able to fund this very modest request for a medication that Brenda so obviously needed. But in the moment we wrote that check to a pharmacy in upstate New York for $29.95, I don't think any of us realized exactly what we were buying - or just how profoundly our 'small change' would affect the lives of this small family.

Below, I'm reprinting for you - lightly edited, for obvious reasons - the letter I received from Brenda, in response to last week's 'Profile in Courageous Generosity,' 'Reaching Out from a Different Place':

***

'It was one year ago today that I first learned of Modest Needs. I was pregnant with a very high-risk pregnancy, and terrified of losing my daughter. My husband and I were desperate to find a way to pay for the medicine that was the only thing preventing my preterm labor, but we qualified for no assistance from anyone.'

'I was desperate not to lose my daughter in the way I'd lost my son the year before, but we had no place to turn for help. When we'd just about given up, I found Modest Needs. The very next day, I applied for help and in no time was blessed to receive a check for the medicine I needed!'

'Here it is, a year later, and I have a beautiful, healthy, 10 month old baby girl! But when I look in her eyes, I don't see just the child I always wanted. I see the power of love, the promise of hope, and generosity's ultimate reward.'

'As you may imagine, a high-risk pregnancy is financially devastating. I'm certainly not well-off, and won't really recover for years to come. But today I cancelled a somewhat frivolous monthly charge to my credit card, and am instead donating the money to people who need your help, as I once did.'

'I'm honored to help out to the best of my ability, and look forward to playing a part in someone else's miracle.'

With much, much gratitude,

Brenda, and baby Ciara

***

I know that all of you who support Modest Needs are excited to learn that, through your kindness, another individual has discovered her power to be 'a part of someone else's miracle.'

But to see in the eyes of this child your promise of hope, and the power of your love to change lives - well, I think we'd all agree:

That is generosity's greatest reward.

Reaching Out from a Different Place

2/10/2012 12:23:58 AM

In November 2005, Modest Needs received a request for help from a woman in Michigan, struggling with a burden that none of us ever wants to face: the realization that her marriage to a substance-addicted spouse simply couldn't survive.

For ten years, this woman had demonstrated a rare type of bravery - a bravery born of both love and conviction. And despite her husband's addiction, she'd stayed by his side, doing everything she could to save her husband from his own worst enemy - himself.

During a decade of marriage, and despite her husband's inability to hold a job because of his addiction, this woman - also the family's sole breadwinner - had poured every spare cent she had into helping her husband beat his addiction to drugs. But finally, in September 2005, this woman discovered that her loyalty in the face of adversity had been repaid by her husband, not to her, but to his mistress: his addiction.

In September 2005, this woman discovered that the house payments she thought she'd been making, the bills she thought she'd paid, hadn't actually always found their way home. Turns out that, without her knowledge, her husband had drained their joint accounts, with most of their money going to finance his habit.

Faced suddenly with the realization that she did not have the power to change her husband, the realization that her husband's addiction was about to cost her everything she'd worked for all of her life, this woman did the only thing she reasonably could:

In an attempt to save both herself, her family, and her home - the lifetime investment she was now on the verge of losing - she filed for divorce from a person she loved very much, but simply did not have the power to save.

But an impending divorce was the least of this woman's problems. The desire of this woman's husband to finance his addiction had put her so far behind on her house payments that she now found herself standing literally on the brink of foreclosure. Despite working as hard as she could and earning a decent monthly salary, she simply had no way to cover - in addition to her regular monthly bills - the past due house payments she didn't know she had, not to mention the added cost of a divorce.

It is a tragedy that in this country, many persons are forced into bankruptcy and homelessness by the addictive or abusive behavior of a spouse. But this woman is one of the lucky ones, because for her, there was a way out that didn't involve a shelter.

Knowing that her husband had a serious problem, this woman been very guarded with her personal information, and her husband had not been able to destroy her credit rating. For this reason, she was able to apply for and receive approval on a new home loan - one that would lower her interest rate and monthly housing cost, catch up her past-due payments, and allow her to take the first step on the road to her own recovery.

There was just one problem: with all of these unexpected financial burdens coming at exactly the same time, she simply did not have on hand the additional $350 appraisal fee that her lender required, in advance, prior to the closing of the loan that would put her back on track.

With no one able to help her, this woman turned to Modest Needs. She asked for help with the $350 appraisal fee that stood between her and a brand-new life. And the reaction of this community - well, it was exactly what I knew it would be as soon as we saw the documentation attached to this request.

Our donors gave this application an overwhelming 'thumbs up.' We responded, funded the application as quickly as we could - and got help to this woman just in time to avert a tragedy that none of us even knew was coming.

Over the years, I've learned that at Modest Needs, the people who really need our help the most are often shy about telling us just how urgently our help is needed. In this case, what we didn't know - because this woman hadn't told us (I learned this only yesterday) - is that while we were working to fund this very 'modest' request for help, this woman's home had been scheduled for auction.

The $350 necessary to save this woman's home arrived just in time for her new lender to wire the appraisal fee to the appropriate party and stop the auction of her property - literally, within five hours of her lifetime's investment being sold to the lowest high-bidder.

For $350, raised mostly in 'small change,' the Modest Needs community was able to work together to reclaim this woman's home - and her independence. This, in itself, is a victory worth celebrating.

But that's not where this story ends.

Yesterday, I received a letter from this woman, writing again to thank us for helping to save her home. The letter ended with these words:

'[None of this] could've been done without the generosity of Modest Needs' donors. Small change really does make all the difference. Thank you, love, and peace.'

That letter was followed by notice of a brand new $30 monthly pledge -$1 a day, from a woman who two months ago, in a time of unthinkable crisis, stretched out her hand to us.

Today, that same hand is reaching out from a new place.

That same hand has joined us in reaching out to others.

On Location with Modest Needs

2/10/2012 12:23:58 AM

For nearly four years now, Modest Needs has stood as a testament to the power of personal giving. Together, with our 'small change,' we have changed countless lives for the better, but never before have we been able to reach as many persons uniquely in need of our help as has recently been possible.

To put things in perspective, your tremendous generosity over the past six weeks empowered Modest Needs to assist more persons in September and October 2005 than in the first seven months of 2005 combined.

Clearly, the tremendous contribution of the Modest Needs Community to the larger Hurricane Relief effort is something to be celebrated. Over the past six weeks, we have showcased the life-changing power of personal giving at Modest Needs in ways that have never before been possible. But talking about the good work we've done - that's one thing.

It's quite another to see it for ourselves.

On 13 October 2005, I had the pleasure of meeting Terri Bailey, a remarkable woman from Picayune, MS who is herself a 'Profile in Courageous Generosity.'

Terri's story, I think, will become more and more common as the hurricane relief effort continues in the Gulf Coast states. Like many persons whose communities were affected by Hurricane Katrina, Terri - a social worker and therapist by trade - found herself frustrated by the very limited and short-term presence of larger charitable organizations in her community. But rather than throw up her hands, she took action.

She temporarily closed her practice and dedicated herself full-time to the task of getting help to the persons in her community who she knew - from experience - needed help the most.

Inspired by Terri's hard work, dedication and courageous generosity, I took up a special collection from our donors and personally traveled to Picayune, MS so that all of us could participate directly in this very 'modest' but very personal hurricane relief effort.

From there, I spent five days traveling between Mississippi and Louisiana, hand-delivering on your behalf just over $12,000 worth of equipment, food, clothing and other essential supplies to hurricane survivors who had yet to receive significant help through more conventional channels - and who had no idea that we were coming to help them.

While I was in Mississippi and Louisiana, we met and assisted some remarkable people, including a solider who'd been called home from Iraq to find his own home completely destroyed, and the residents of a trailer park who survived the storm only to be evicted from their homes.

I also had the opportunity to witness, first-hand, the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina.

As someone who actually has seen the new Gulf Coast for himself, I can tell you that absolutely nothing you've seen on the news or in the papers can possibly convey the scope of the damage caused by this disaster.

But try, for a moment, to imagine entire communities - not individual homes, or subdivisions, or neighborhoods, but entire small towns - absolutely erased, every structure razed to its foundation, and debris fields that go on for hundreds and hundreds of yards.

Picture that image, and you're seeing what we saw in Pass Christian, MS - just one of the coastal towns we visited while on location.

Repeat that scene over and over in your mind, and you're seeing virtually the entire Gulf Coast of Mississippi, exactly as it appears today - six weeks after the storm.

Suffice to say that the trip I made on behalf of the Modest Needs community to Mississippi and Louisiana was, in every way, a life-altering experience for me. From the beginning, I knew it would be an experience that I'd want to share with all of you.

And so, as a special gift to all of you, the persons whose courageous generosity continue to make this work possible, I took a professional documentary filmmaker with me to Mississippi.

During the five days that we were working in Mississippi and Louisiana, we were able to capture images of Hurricane Katrina's destruction that you won't see anywhere on the news - because, thanks to a series of minor miracles, we were able to get into areas that even the mainstream media has not yet been able to go. We were able to preserve remarkable stories of survival from the people whose lives were most directly affected by the storm.

And, for the first time ever, we were able to preserve the reactions of the people in this area who needed our help the most as they actually received assistance they didn't even know was coming, from an organization many of them had never quite heard of before.

In all, during our time on location, we shot just over 600 minutes worth of footage showcasing the life-changing power of your courageous generosity. That footage is now in the hands of a professional editor, who is cutting it into two short films: a seven-minute documentary - which we'll post to the website as soon as it's ready - and an extended, twenty-minute documentary that we'll be sending on DVD to every person who has contributed to Modest Needs throughout 2005.

For nearly four years now, Modest Needs has stood as a testament to the power of personal giving, but never before have we had the opportunity to show you the impact of your kindness.

Once you see these films, set to premiere 1 December 2005, I think you'll be as proud as I am of the good that we're doing, and the organization we've created together - a place where 'small change' really does make 'a world of difference.'

Heirloom

2/10/2012 12:23:58 AM

Consider for a moment these three very special requests for help:

From Carrollton, TX - $250.00, for emergency dental care:

Four months ago, my 21 month old son fell down and broke off a tooth. Its pulp is exposed. My husband is working, but we cannot afford medical/dental through his job (over $500/mo for medical alone), and we do not qualify for public health aid because my husband is working. My son is in constant pain and cries all day, every day. It has been this way for four months, and I feel helpless. We just don't have the money to pay someone to pull this broken tooth. All I can do is watch and hope that his tooth does not become abscessed. Please help my son if you can.

From Riverside, RI - $395.00, to help a little girl walk correctly:

Our daughter, Madison, is 2 years old and she is the oldest of our triplet girls. She was evaluated, diagnosed, and is in need of Orthotics, which are inserts for the shoes in order to enhance her ability to walk and run without falling. Presently, and as she attempts to keep up with her sisters, Jordan and Danielle, she hits the bottom of her left foot with her right foot and falls. Her small calves bow out and she walks on the inside of her feet with her toes pointed inwards. We have been informed that Madison may not have the ability to be physical, to run and play like the other children, or play any sports as she ages without the Orthotics. The policy of the insurance company classifies this procedure as a cosmetic procedure and will not contribute towards the cost of the Orthotics. Can you please help us with this expense?

From New Castle, IN - $372.00, to give an autistic child a voice:

My son has autism as well as other medical issues, and he is nonverbal. My son uses the PECS system to communicate by handing a card with a picture or symbol on it to an adult for a desired item. I don't have the software to make the PECS, and with all of the medical expenses involved in the care of my son, we don't have the money to pay for this software. It's also not covered by any kind of insurance. He is 3 years old and would thank you if he could. Hopefully, with your help, he'll be able to. God Bless.

***

These three requests for help obviously have much in common. Each concerns the welfare of a child - and for that reason is especially moving. Each is truly 'modest' - no request for help in the bunch exceeds $400.00. And of course, these three requests represent a unique opportunity - the chance to forever change the life of a child.

These requests have something else in common, though. They are three requests for help that Modest Needs would not have been able to fund but for a special gift that has come to Modest Needs every month like clockwork for just over two years.

Since mid-2003, I think, around the 15th of the month, Modest Needs has received a check for $100.00. That check always comes wrapped in the same stationery, and each month, the short, unsigned note on that stationery makes the same, simple request:

'Please help a family with children.'

Of course, each month, we honor that request, just as we honor all such special requests. The three applications for help that you've just read? They represent just three of the children whose lives we've been able to change, thanks in part to these very special gifts.

But up until last week, I've never known the story behind them.

Because I know from experience that such stories are often very personal, I have never written to one of Modest Needs' donors to ask the question, 'Why do you give?' All the same, I have to admit that for some time, I've been very curious to hear the story behind these particular gifts, which have changed the lives of so many children at Modest Needs.

Last month - for a reason I understand only now, in retrospect - I felt especially compelled to write to the person who sends this gift so faithfully. I didn't mean to ask for the story behind this gift. I just wanted to let this person know that each month, that $100 gift really does go directly to a family with children.

The letter I received in response to that short note truly deserves to be shared, as it serves to remind us that human kindness has the power to reach, not just across our towns, but across time itself. Here, lightly edited to preserve the anonymity of this donor, is the story behind these very special gifts:

***

Ordinarily I would not share this with anyone, but here is how these gifts all came about.

At a less fortunate time life in my life, I was in need of a loan. An elderly gentleman helped me out quite generously, but passed away before I could repay the debt to him.

This man loved children but had none, so he used to come to the grocery store where I worked everyday and pass out $2.00 bills to kids that were just on a shopping trip with their mom. His face would light up and he had the biggest smile when he would hand them the $2 bill.

Clearly, this made him very happy.

This man trusted me so much that he didn't even have me sign a note of any kind. After he died, I struggled for many months, and even years, on how I could pay this man back in a way that he would approve of.

Then, three years ago, I read about Modest Needs in USA Today. I saved the article and later realized that this was how I could repay this generous and trusting man.

In his honor, I will continue to give in this way for as long as I am able. I am just so thankful that there is a place where I know I can really make a difference in the life of a family with children.

***

This elderly man may have died without ever having children, but through his kindness, he certainly left behind a powerful legacy. Thanks in part to his example, a toddler in Texas can eat without pain. A little girl from Rhode Island can keep up with her sisters. And a little boy from Indiana finally has a voice of his own.

But none of these miracles would've been possible at Modest Needs had it not been for another of this man's adopted 'children': one very grateful former clerk who took this man's kindness as her inheritance, cherished it as an heirloom, recognized its worth, and passed it on.

Pink Shoes

2/10/2012 12:23:58 AM

In light of last week's tragedy in London, I'm especially happy to share with each of you today a story that not only showcases the power of courageous generosity, but reminds us of the strength and joy that comes from finding the power to stand - even when standing is difficult.

***

Towards the middle of June, Modest Needs received a phone call from a social worker here in New York City. This call came on behalf of a little girl - a native of Africa temporarily in the United States - who had been born with both cerebral palsy and epilepsy.

Coming as she did from a poor family - and make no mistake: 'poor' in Africa is not the same as 'poor' in North America- this child's family had been unable to secure any kind of medical care for their daughter in their homeland. This left the family with essentially two choices: do nothing, and condemn their daughter to life as a beggar on the streets of her home, or get her to a country where medical care might be available to her.

These parents made exactly the choice I think we all would've made. They gave up everything they had - including a life together - so that this child's mother could bring her to the United States, a country where they knew she stood a chance of receiving the treatment that would allow her to live a normal life.

As with all true acts of courageous generosity, this act itself was rewarded. Thanks to the sacrifice of her parents, this little girl had gotten to the United States, where over the past year, she has received much of the medical care that she needed - types of care that simply would not have been available to her at home at any price.

Most remarkably, this little girl had received the gift of a very expensive brace, one hand-crafted specifically to fit the more misshapen of her two legs. That brace was fundamental to this child's welfare. It was the most important gift that she had received - a gift that would allow her to learn how to walk properly for the first time in her life.

And yet, for all of its importance, this brace had been gathering dust in the room this child shared with her mother. You see, having spent all of their money getting to the United States, this small family had little money for necessities, much less 'extras.'

This child could not use the brace she'd been given because her mother could not afford to purchase a pair of shoes. Nothing fancy. Nothing expensive. Just a simple pair of sneakers that would fit this child's feet, allow them to slip into the brace, and give this power to learn to walk properly.

That was the reason for the social worker's call to Modest Needs. Here in New York, there are hundreds of charities that can assist persons with many different types of special needs - sometimes to the tune of thousands of dollars per applicant at a time. But no organization can be all things to all people, and for larger organizations, a pair of sneakers - no matter their importance to the individual- just can't be a funding priority.

Having been turned down by everyone else she'd called, this social worker had called Modest Needs on behalf of this little girl, to ask if we might help her mother to afford the pair of shoes her daughter so desperately needed.

Not only did we assist, I had the rare pleasure of actually meeting this tiny family. The very next afternoon, on your behalf, I accompanied this little girl and her mother to a local shoe store.

There, thanks to your generosity, we purchased two pairs of pink shoes - the only new shoes this child has owned since her arrival in the United States.

And an hour later, I watched as this little girl left the shoe store - filled with joy just because she could stand without falling - and danced for all who would watch her on the sidewalk of a New York City street.

***

This piece is dedicated, with love and respect, to the residents of the UK, and especially our friends in London.

May each of you be filled with the joy of this child as you continue to find the strength to stand, never having fallen.

The Ripple Effect

2/10/2012 12:23:58 AM

For some time now, I've toyed with the idea of launching a column called the 'Modest Needs Hall of Shame.' I've resisted the temptation because, like most of you, I think there's already enough bad news in the world. But this much I can tell you: if Modest Needs ever were to launch such a column, the stories you'd read there wouldn't be about people.

Instead, our Hall of Shame would be populated almost entirely by corporations - stories of the companies that I've encountered over the past three years, usually in the course working to assist someone who has turned to Modest Needs for help with an emergency expense.

Sadly, Modest Needs we would have no problem populating a corporate 'Hall of Shame.' Take just the last 90 days, for instance. During that time, Modest Needs has encountered:

A collection agent in North Dakota who refused to accept our offer of full payment on an individual's small, past-due medical bill (less than $500.00), preferring instead to sue the applicant and ruin that person's credit for the next seven years -all in the interest of increasing his personal commission - and his company's profit margin.

A mortgage broker from Michigan who called to ask if we would add $1000 to the down payment of a woman keen to purchase her first home - knowing full well that, at her rate of income, the mortgage payment he was proposing amounted to over 58% of the woman's monthly gross. When I pointed out to him what should've been obvious, his response was, 'Well, once I get the house financed, what happens next (in other words, the inevitable foreclosure) is really not my problem.'

Worst of all - an apartment manager at a complex in North Carolina, whom I contacted when one of her tenants asked for our help with one month's rent so that she could remain permanently on her feet after returning to work, following a short bout of involuntary unemployment.

We investigated the situation more carefully, and it turned out that the tenant - our applicant - had managed to pay her rent to this complex every month, and in full, even while unemployed. She had gotten behind on her rent for exactly one reason:

Despite knowing her tenant's situation, the apartment manager had 'exercised her right' to take the tenant to court whenever she was late with the rent - each time tacking a 30% 'service charge' (the 'late fee' and 'court costs') onto this applicant's monthly rental balance.

These 'service charges' alone had cost the tenant an extra $1200 over a six month period.

Many of our donors suggested that Modest Needs assist this person, but at the time of the application, we simply didn't have the funding to pay both the rent and the current month's 30% 'service charge' on behalf of this individual. So I called the apartment manager to ask if, in the interest of helping this person to remain self-sufficient, she would consider waiving the late charges for just one month.

I will never forget that apartment manager's response to my very modest request. She said - and this is a direct quote:

'We're not in this business to help people, sir. We're in this business to make money.'

***

Like everyone reading this article, I'm sure, I find this type of corporate mentality absolutely outrageous. But I'm not including these examples of corporate nastiness here to suggest that all corporations are out to get the little guy (though experience shows that some clearly are.)

Rather, I'm mentioning these today as the preface to a story that I think underscores the far-reaching power of your courageous generosity, not just to touch lives - but to change minds.

Two weeks ago, Modest Needs received an application for assistance from Karen, a woman living in New Jersey. She'd written to us because, after a more than a year in her current residence - during which time she had never received an electric bill for more than $47.00 - she came home, in May 2005, to a whopping $800 bill from PSE&G, her electric service provider.

Karen was understandably alarmed by a bill of this size - one that amounted to virtually her entire monthly salary, and one that she had absolutely no way to pay on her own. She immediately called PSE&G's customer service to ask why the bill had been so high, and the customer service representative to whom she spoke told Karen that from July 2004 to April 2005, PSE&G had simply been 'estimating' her bill.

That's right. In nearly twelve months, PSE&G had never read Karen's meter. Not once. And when Karen asked the logical question - 'Why?' - it was the customer service representative's contention that, apparently, 'the meter reader had not been able to access her meter.'

This explanation didn't make sense to Karen, and she tried for several days to resolve this situation on her before turning to Modest Needs for help. Honestly, on first reading Karen's application, I found Karen's story a bit hard to believe. But when we received her supporting documentation, we were shocked by what we saw.

Indeed, Karen's bill had been estimated for almost a full year - a full year sandwiched between 'actual meter readings' in Spring 2004 and Spring 2005. Under those circumstances, it just didn't make sense for PSE&G to say that 'they [suddenly] couldn't access the meter' - for a year.

To make matters worse, we couldn't make sense of the charges on the bill. Using Karen's actual readings, we created estimates of our own. To be as fair as possible, we tripled her recorded actual usage during the summer months (when her air conditioning would've been in use) and quadrupled it during the winter, to account for heat.

Even so, after subtracting the amounts Karen already had paid on her bill (she had never been late), we just couldn't come close to the nearly $800 that Karen had been billed. It seemed likely to me that at some point during the year, the meter might've malfunctioned - but of course, there was no way to know this, since no one from PSE&G had actually read the meter for virtually any of the time that Karen had been living in her home.

Needless to say, I felt strongly that we should get to the bottom of this - and apparently, so did most of you. The dozens of you who evaluated Karen's application gave it universally high ratings and left comments like, 'We should pay this immediately!', and - more than once - 'Call local action news!'

So acting on your behalf, I made a phone call - not to local action news, but to PSE&G themselves.

Despite being very polite and honestly doing their best, the persons manning PSE&G's customer service line really couldn't help us - not because they didn't want to (every person I spoke to was remarkably kind), but because they weren't really in a position to know any more about the situation than we did, much less to do anything about it.

So, after two days of talking to PSE&G's customer service center - and not getting very far - I took things one step further by contacting PSE&G's corporate office. And at this point, to be honest, I was prepared to put up a fight.

After a couple of attempts to find the right person, I ended up speaking with a woman named Eileen - who works for PSE&G's corporate office, in their customer support department. I explained briefly who we were, what Modest Needs does, and the reason for my call: that we wanted to prevent the disconnection of a customer's electricity over an unexpected and abnormally large bill.

Given some of the corporations we've encountered in the past, Eileen's response really surprised me. She didn't ask much about the situation at hand, beyond what I'd already told her. Instead, after a brief conversation, she said, 'Your program sounds really remarkable. Please tell me more about Modest Needs.'

So I did. I told Elieen about our mission - to keep persons from entering the cycle of poverty by assisting them with involuntary, short term emergency expenses. I told her a bit about our origin, how we got started, how many persons we'd reached, how far we'd come in just three years. And when she asked about our primary source of funding, I told her that this remarkable work - all of it - was funded by compassionate individuals, with gifts now averaging just about $30 at a time.

Eileen seemed genuinely taken aback. She'd never heard of Modest Needs and was almost stunned to learn about this work. More than this, she was moved by the desire of strangers from across the country and around the world to help this woman - their customer - to stay 'on her feet' in the midst of a short-term crisis.

***

Eileen kept her promise. She did call back - but not to say that Karen's electric bill 'wasn't PSE&G's problem' or that PSE&G was 'in business to make money.'

Instead, she called to say that, at the corporate level, PSE&G had been so moved by your generosity that, in their own way, they wanted to be a part of this work! To that end, they took the extraordinary step of administratively reducing Karen's bill by $100 - the difference between the amount she actually had been billed, and the best estimate that we could create for a year of her actual usage.

Needless to say, your generosity took care of the rest of Karen's bill. And with the $100 we saved, we were able to fund an additional application - this one from a new college graduate, seeking assistance to afford the exams that would put her to work in her community - as a nurse.

If Modest Needs has proven anything over the years, it's that your acts of kindness here extend far beyond the persons we're able to assist because of them. They live on to create a ripple effect in the lives of persons who bear witness to this work.

In this case, the ripple effect of your courageous generosity didn't end with the two persons who came to us seeking assistance. From there, as always, your kindness has rippled outward to change lives, to create new ways of thinking and - this week - to inspire an entire corporation.

Bridging Mamie's Gap

2/10/2012 12:23:58 AM

In December of last year, just as the holiday season was getting into full swing, we began to experience a new phenomenon at Modest Needs: the 'agency referral.' Almost out of nowhere, we began to receive phone call after phone call from representatives of the most well-respected, well-funded non-profit organizations in the United States, all asking the same question:

'Is there some way that we can refer those individuals that we aren't equipped to assist to Modest Needs?'

Since that time, Modest Needs has logged about 280 'agency referrals' - requests for help from persons who have 'slipped through the cracks' of conventional giving. And I have come to understand - as never before - that these 'gaps' are actually more like canyons: just as dark, just as deep, and just as unforgiving to the people lost among them.

Today, as we mark Modest Needs' third anniversary, I want to share the story of just one such agency referral with all of you. Much of what you're about to read, I think, will surprise you, but I can think of no more fitting tribute to the life-changing power of personal kindness than the story of Mamie, a hard-working North Carolina woman who wrote to ask Modest Needs for $16 - the amount she pays for one month's rent.

This is Mamie's story:

Last October, at 52 years old, Mamie - who is single, who lives frugally, and who has provided for herself for her entire life -began to 'just not feel right.' She started to get unusual headaches. Her hands would sometimes shake, making it hard for her to write. Her vision was blurrier than normal, and she didn't feel 'so much like eating.'

At first, Mamie said, she thought nothing of it, just thought she was working a little too hard. But hard work is nothing new to Mamie, and when these symptoms began to interfere with her ability to make a living, she went to see her doctor.

After some testing, Mamie heard the words that all of us hope we will never have to hear:

'You've been diagnosed with cancer. Without surgery, you will not survive the year.'

***

That Mamie was alive to write to Modest Needs in February 2005 is a testament both to her personal strength, and the strength of the human spirit. With the help of the medical community, Mamie was able to beat a malignant brain tumor, and from what I understand, her doctors expect her to make a full recovery.

Eventually.

But eventually is not the same as now, and right now - temporarily - Mamie's surgery has left her unable to work even the odd jobs that have long supplemented her very small income.

When she realized that she wouldn't be able to work for a period time, Mamie applied for virtually every available type of social assistance. And in virtually every case, even despite a tremendous personal hardship, Mamie's applications for help were denied. She didn't qualify for Social Security Disability, for example, because her condition - thankfully - was not permanent, and she didn't qualify for TANF because she had no children at home.

After much persistence, Mamie was able to receive two types of public assistance: food stamps, which gave her a little something to eat, and subsidized housing, which reduced her already low rent to $16 a month. But with no income to speak of, and with no ability to work, even paying $16 a month was understandably difficult for Mamie. To a point, she was able to keep her home thanks to the kindness of her friends - but eventually, even they couldn't help, and she had literally nowhere else to turn.

Finally, as she faced the irony of beating brain cancer only to end up homeless, Mamie turned - not to Modest Needs (she doesn't have a computer or Internet access) - but to the American Cancer Society. Surely, she thought, this organization would be able to help her with one month's rent - $16.

But even the American Cancer Society couldn't help. LIke many conventional organizations, the American Cancer Society is permitted make grants to individuals only in very specific circumstances. In the case of the American Cancer Society, their charter permits them to assist individuals with only two types of expenses: nausea medication, and transportation to/from a doctor. When it comes to anything else, no matter how much funding they have, their hands are tied.

Rent is just not something that the American Cancer Society can do - not even for cancer surivors on the verge of homelessness as a result of their illness.

This is how Mamie came to learn of Modest Needs. The person at the American Cancer Society who took Mamie's call thought Modest Needs might be able to help. That person printed one of our applications from the website and mailed it to Mamie.

She sent that application to us.

And under the circumstances, we did what we do best.

We stood in the gap.

***

In February 2005, as a last resort, Mamie wrote to Modest Needs asking for $16 she just didn't have - enough to pay one month's rent, while she figured out what to do next.

On 1 March 2005, I had the pleasure of writing Mamie to tell her - thanks to your courageous generosity - that her $16 rent had already been paid.

For the rest of 2005.

Living the American Dream

2/10/2012 12:23:58 AM

Like many first apartments, my first apartment was a total disaster, complete with paper-thin walls, worn beige carpet, faulty wiring, and a hot water heater that flooded the apartment on a regular basis. The kitchen was absolutely infested with cockroaches, so many of them that I could literally fill a 'roach motel' to capacity overnight. And at night, I would occasionally wake to what I described to my friends as 'strange hissing sounds' coming from the walls of my bedroom.

I didn't think much of them - those strange hissing sounds - until one day, after a year of those hissing noises keeping me up, my kitchen cabinets and all of their contents came crashing to the floor, completely destroying everything in my kitchen.

Only then did my landlord - to whom I'd complained many times about the state of my apartment - send a repairman to assess the damage. And only then did I learn that these 'hissing sounds' actually had been the sound of termites eating away at the roof over my head.

***

Try to imagine, for a minute, the worst apartment you've ever lived in, the one place you couldn't wait to leave, the one place you'd have left immediately - if only you could've afforded anyplace else to go.

Now, try to imagine raising not one, not two, but seven children in that apartment.

That's exactly the situation Noelle was in when she wrote to us in January 2005, to see if we would be willing to help her and her children to live the American Dream.

Noelle is a newly single mother, struggling to raise seven children in a house that I don't think any of us would've wished on our worst enemy. If my first apartment was a dump, her home was a certified health hazard.

I know, because I saw the pictures she sent to accompany her request for help.

Noelle wrote to Modest Needs because the house she was renting for her family was literally on the verge of collapse. A hole had opened in her living room ceiling, exposing everyone in the house to the winter wind. The house was full of wiring so faulty that it routinely overloaded the few appliances she had, and at night, if she turned on more than one light at a time, the light bulbs in her home exploded.

After many months of attempting to convince an unresponsive landlord to make repairs to her home, Noelle finally realized that she had no choice but to move. What she didn't know was how she'd ever be able to find a house that she could afford to rent, much less how she'd be able to pay the deposit that any new landlord would require.

Still, acting as much on faith as anything else, Noelle began the search for a new home for her family. After several weeks, she finally found a home that she could afford to rent, one that seemed perfect for her and her children. She went to see the house, met with the landlord, explained her situation . . . and couldn't believe it when the owner of this home offered to SELL the home to her outright, for $2500 down and owner-financed payments of $265 a month - $90 a month LESS than she had been paying to rent a death-trap.

By the time Noelle wrote to Modest Needs to explain her unique situation, she actually had in hand $2250 of the $2500 down payment that would allow her and her children to move from a home that ought to have been condemned and into a home that she and her children would be able to call their own.

But $2250 is not $2500, and when you're a single parent with seven mouths to feed, $250 might as well be $250,000. . . .

With time short - she had until 1 February to say 'yes or no' to this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and no family or friends able to help - Noelle wrote to Modest Needs and asked, almost apologetically, if we could remove the $250 obstacle separating her family from a home of their own.

And thanks to your kindness, that's exactly what we did.

On 1 February 2005, Noelle and her seven children packed the remainder of their belongings, loaded their car, ditched the death-trap, and drove to the new home where, because of your courageous generosity, they have just spent the first month of the rest of their lives - a lifetime they will spend living the American Dream.

No Title

2/10/2012 12:23:58 AM

Giving Birth to Infinite Potential

Last week, I received a personal letter from someone we were able to assist in the first week of January 2005 that clarified for me - in a way that few other letters have - why Modest Needs exists, the importance of this work, and what we actually accomplish each time we are able to fund a request for help.

As such, it is a letter - and a story - that simply must be shared with this community.

The letter came from Jesse, a woman living in Washington State, and her request was simple: she asked for our help in putting a master's degree she already had earned to work for her family as a certified Childbirth Educator.

In order to work in this field, Jesse would be required to round out her already extensive education with one simple certification course. She had, in fact, already paid the $100 deposit for the course and had intended to remit payment for the remainder of it on her own, well in advance of her first scheduled class meeting.

And then - as has happened to all of us- the roof caved in. Between a bitterly cold winter (and the associated additional heating costs) and a short bout of quickly - resolved unemployment, this family simply didn't have on hand the funds necessary for Jesse to complete the course that would put her productively - and permanently - to work for her family's future.

What's worse, they stood to lose the $100 they'd set aside in better times to reserve a space for Jesse in the course.

In her request for help, Jesse explained quite eloquently her reason for turning to Modest Needs. She said (I've condensed somewhat, but these are her words):

'I am a natural teacher--I have a Master's in Education and taught public school for three years. When my second child was born and we discovered our first had a disability (moderate hearing loss and a severe speech delay), I knew that I needed to be with my kids at home. My husband works very hard to support us--we make ends meet most of the time. But I want to help out financially to our situation and thought that a childbirth educator course would be perfect--I could work nights and weekends while my husband is off and can take care of the kids. [More importantly,] I think that I can do a lot of good by supporting women in their time of greatest vulnerability - and greatest strength. I thank you for your consideration and time.'

For obvious reasons, Modest Needs' readers universally felt that this request ought to be funded if at all possible. And thanks to your generous support, it was possible.

Jesse's request is just one of 44 requests for help that we've been able to fund successfully in the past 45 days - a record for Modest Needs.

As is the case every time we offer to fund a request for help, I asked Jesse to provide us with documentation to substantiate all that she'd told us about her situation in her request for help. Along with these documents, she sent a personal letter - and it is that letter I want to share with you today, in its entirety - because though it came addressed to me, it is really a letter to all of you, without whom this work would not be possible:

It reads:

***

Dear [Modest Needs],

As I sit here tonight and ponder the gift you've given me, I keep coming back to one truth: this gift will change the course of my life. Profoundly. I'm also keenly aware that this gift is NOT about money:

*By becoming a childbirth educator, my experience and support may someday help another woman to be empowered and supported during her time of need. It will be a gift to her and her partner.

*By having a flexible schedule, I will be able to stay at home with my children during the day. It's a gift to them to have their mother present and involved in their lives.

*By becoming a childbirth educator, I will be able to help support my family in a way that brings joy and fulfillment to me each and every day. I'll not only be changing my family's financial future, I'll giving back in a way that is inspiring.

I had given up hope that this dream of mine would come true. I had nearly forgotten about Modest Needs because it seemed like such a long-shot. Just the day before my approval, my husband and I talked about how we could afford this class, and we were left with no answers. My jaw dropped and I cried happy tears as I read your approval email. I absolutely couldn't believe it.

I still can't.

Thank you, thank you, from the bottom of my heart, I thank you.

With great joy,

Jesse

***

I think that all of us who support Modest Needs -myself included- have always understood that in making a small gift, we are working to give persons with nowhere else to turn the power to start down - or continue along - the path to personal prosperity & fulfillment.

But it was not until I read this letter that I really began to consider - really to consider -just how many lives we actually touch each time we are able to fund even one request for help.

As Jesse wisely points out, the gift we were able to make in her case is neither just about money no one else could offer, nor just about increasing her family's income on a permanent basis, though this certainly will certainly happen.

Rather, this gift - and Jesse's letter - demonstrate the power and importance of the work we do at Modest Needs by showcasing the 'infinite potential' of our unique approach to giving. That is to say, the gifts we make at Modest Needs do not begin and end with one person - the person who actually makes the request for help that we fund. In Jesse's case, the power of the gift (and the kindness behind it) will ripple outward in ever-expanding waves to touch the lives of Jesse's children, the persons whom she is able to assist in her new career, and the children who are born to those families.

In short, by using our small change to empower this one person to reach her full potential, we have empowered virtually every person that she will touch throughout the course of her new career.

I'd like to thank Jesse publicly for her gift, a letter that explains in clear and simple terms the power of the Modest Needs philosophy.

After all, Jesse is right.

If human kindness is a force with absolutely infinite potential, then the gifts we make at Modest Needs will absolutely never stop giving.

No Title

2/10/2012 12:23:58 AM

A Living Tribute to Human Kindness

I had promised to post news on Monday of this week to let everyone know exactly what kind of assistance we were able to offer as a community in response to the recent catastrophe in Asia. Having now caught up on the mail (I did my best to send personal responses to everyone who sent a comment beyond 'Please make the gift you propose as quickly as possible'), I want to get your weekends off to a joyous start by showcasing for you once again the community spirit - and courageous generosity - that sets Modest Needs apart from virtually every organization in the world.

As you might have guessed by now, the overwhelming majority of you (by an easy margin of 500:1) were in favor of making the one-time gift I had originally proposed - $672.50, representing $0.50 for each of 1,375 families that Modest Needs has been able to assist to date. In fact, many of you asked if we could increase the size of this gift through a special fundraising drive, and still others - persons with requests for help that actually were in the process of being funded by Modest Needs - wrote and asked that we give the funding already allocated to their families to the victims of the tsunami.

We did not go the fundraising route for reasons I'll explain in a moment. But you'll be thrilled to know that in the end, with no fundraising efforts of any kind, the Modest Needs community was able to make not one, but two equal gifts of $672.50 as a gesture of compassion to those affected by the tsunami, to two different organizations participating directly in the relief effort.

The first of our gifts went to Medecins Sans Frontiers (Doctors without Borders), an outstanding organization that allows doctors from across the world to volunteer their time and expertise in parts of the world that they would never otherwise be able to reach. Doctors without Borders was the first large organization 'on the scene' in locations throughout Southeast Asia after the tsunami, providing medical care to those who wouldn't have survived the catastrophe without immediate treatment. Our seemingly small gift of $672.50 was enough to send an additional doctor out into the field - and under these circumstances, I think the value of this type of gift to the persons who will survive because of it simply cannot be calculated.

Our second gift of $672.50 went to Oxfam, an organization that specializes in providing emergency food, clothing, shelter, and sanitation to communities and individuals affected by catastrophies like that caused by the tsunami. Though the American Red Cross provides similar services, I opted for Oxfam here because of their effeciency. Given the way that Oxfam works, our gift of $672.50 was enough to provide emergency rations to 160 people for an entire week - and that is likewise money well-spent.

That Modest Needs - a community built on the idea that small change does make a world of difference - was able to make a gift twice the size of the gift I originally proposed is nothing short of astonishing. But it is the reason we were able to make these gifts that sets the Modest Needs community apart, as a living tribute to human kindness.

You might remember that in the proposal I sent out last week, I did not include a link that would allow persons to donate to Modest Needs for this or any other purpose. This was not by mistake. You see, I knew that many organizations not specifically equipped to address the disaster in Asia directly would use the disaster as a type of fundraising opportunity, while some individuals would actually attempt to profit from it. If you've read the news in the last week or two, you already know this has happened in some cases, and there's no need to rehash the sordid details of this type of behavior here.

The fact of the matter is that at Modest Needs, we're always in need of your financial support. In any given month, we have more critical requests for help than we can possibly address with the funds we normally have on hand, and I'm always grateful when people make gifts or pledges - especially monthly pledges - of any size. I know that if I had asked you to give to Modest Needs in support of tsunami relief - or simply to support Modest Needs during this time of global crisis - many of you would've done so, and done so generously.

But that's something I wasn't willing to do. It just doesn't seem right to me to use a disaster of this magnitude as an opportunity to fundraise for unrelated programs, like the work we do at Modest Needs, no matter how noble or important those programs are to those we assist. It was for this reason that I opted to ask that we make the small gift I proposed from the funds we already had on hand, and that I did not ask members of this community to give to Modest Needs for this purpose.

All the same, we were able to make these two gifts because so many of you not only supported my proposal that we make this gift, but took spontaneous action to ensure that we could do so without affecting the lives of those persons who came to Modest Needs seeking a type of help that no other organization is able to provide.

Because of your spontaneous gifts over the last week earmarked for this purpse - all the more meaningful because they CLEARLY came from the heart - the Modest Needs community was able to make double the gift I proposed, without touching Modest Needs' general fund at all.

Over the past few days, we've seen on the news story after story of persons who have opened their hearts - and their wallets - to assist persons affected by the tsunami disaster in Asia. The gifts that the Modest Needs community was able to make in the past week - and the ones that we'll be making every week for all of 2005 - probably will not make any headlines.

But they will change lives.

And changing lives in this way - quietly, humbly, as we can, with what we have - this is the definition of courageous generosity, and the spirit that will carry Modest Needs forward into 2005, and beyond.

No Title

2/10/2012 12:23:58 AM

The Season of Miracles

I'm glad that in the United States, the holiday season begins with a day of Thanksgiving - a day where, as a nation, as families, and as individuals, we take time to count our blessings. It is perhaps the one day of the year when we feel the wealthiest, not because we suddenly become 'rich,' but because wealth begins with gratitude.

Of course, for all the joy it brings, the holiday season is not without its stresses. But somehow, getting the turkey just right, or wondering how you'll put that extra toy under the tree doesn't seem to matter so much when you read a letter from someone who has just gotten the news that her mother has about three months left to live.

In November, just before the start of the holiday season, Modest Needs received a request for help that really drove home to me the importance of gratitude - gratitude for all that we have - and all that we sometimes take for granted. The request came from Texas, from a woman named Rhonda whose mother had just been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer.

This was to be her mother's last Christmas.

In her condition, Rhonda's mother needed close supervision, 24 hours a day. Luckily, her mother's insurance - Medicare - would pay for her mother to receive hospice care in the final weeks of her life. But placing her mother in a hospice is not something that happens over night. In the meantime, Rhonda's mother needed her daughter's help.

Like so many of us, Rhonda and her husband both work. And like so many of us, they depend on their paychecks - both of them - to meet their monthly expenses. So Rhonda was faced with a difficult choice. When her mother needed her most, she could continue to work and insure her family's financial future, or she could take an unpaid leave of absence, care for her mother, and pray for miracle.

In an act of courageous generosity - courageous because it involved a tremendous leap of faith - Rhonda chose the latter. She took an unpaid leave of absence from work so that she could offer her mother the care that only a child can provide.

As a result, Rhonda had lost some income. She could not make her November mortgage payment. And we all know that when you're living paycheck to paycheck, missing one mortgage payment - well, barring a miracle, that's the beginning of the end.

Rhonda requested help from Modest Needs in November - help to make a single mortgage payment. Actually, she asked for less than she needed - half of a mortgage payment - but it was clear to me that she really needed help with the whole thing.

I think everyone who supports Modest Needs would agree that this is exactly the reason we exist - to offer a helping hand in the midst of unexpected crisis. And speaking personally, I wanted very much for Modest Needs to be able to fund that request - especially during this, the season of miracles.

Only one thing was stopping us: shortly before receiving Rhonda's request, we'd disbursed all of the funding we had on hand. We were in one of our 'build up' periods at Modest Needs, waiting for people give so that we could fund more requests.

In the four days preceding Rhonda's request, we'd accumulated just over $550 in gifts - every one of them an act of kindness. But we were still about hundred dollars short of the amount we needed to keep this family going.

At Modest Needs, we may sometimes be short on money. But we're never short on miracles. I've watched, over and over again, as the unselfish acts of kindness that take place here have multiplied miraculously for almost three years. I was sure that somehow, we'd be able to help this family.

But I'd never have guessed that help would come in the form of toys.

Within days of receiving Rhonda's request, as I waited for the just the right miracle to come along, I received a letter from three children who heard about Modest Needs and - like so many of you - wanted to reach out to someone else who needed help.

As children, they obviously had no money. But they did have toys.

More toys than they thought they needed.

So at a time of year when many children are thinking about the toys they want to see under the tree, these children - ages 8, 6, and 4 (pictured above) - had a garage sale. In an act of profound maturity and tremendous generosity, they sold some of their toys. They sent the proceeds of this sale - $100.00 - to Modest Needs.

In this case, the courageous generosity of these children made a world of difference. Because of it, Rhonda won't be losing both her mother and her home this holiday season. And that's not all. By their example, these children have offered a gift to the child in all of us:

A reminder of why we are celebrating - and what really matters most - during this, the season of miracles.

No Title

2/10/2012 12:23:58 AM

The Power of Fiscal Fitness

Like millions of other Americans, I have struggled with my weight for as long as I can remember. But unlike millions of Americans, I know exactly when my struggle to control my weight began.

It began on the day I was born.

I was not a healthy child. I had a weak immune system, struggled with every imaginable childhood disease, and nearly succumbed to Scarlet Fever when I was three. One of my earliest memories, in fact, is of a doctor standing over my parents bed with a black bag, listening to my heart, because I was too ill even to go to the doctor's office.

My childhood illnesses left me underweight and unwilling to eat most of the time. In fact, my parents were so thrilled when I did eat that they allowed me to have anything that I wanted.

I think that, today, even my parents would acknowledge that this was a mistake.

Guided in my childhood eating habits only by my taste buds, I rapidly went from thin to overweight, and I remained overweight for most of my childhood. From time to time - especially during my teenage years - I tried to lose weight, by cutting down on the foods that I now knew were bad for me, but never with any real success. I'd lose ten pounds, and then gain twenty, all the while being ridiculed by virtually everyone I knew because of my size.

Finally, frustrated beyond words with the entire situation, I actually came to believe that - at least where my weight was concerned - there was no hope for me, that nothing about my situation would ever change. So I simply quit trying to lose weight. I ate whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted it, and consoled myself (when I needed consolation) with more food.

As a result, by the time I was a freshman in college, I weighed over 320 pounds.

One year later, I began my sophomore year of college weighing 160 pounds - actually a little underweight for my height. And though I've never stopped struggling with my weight - I could stand to lose 25 pounds as we speak - I've now maintained the lion's share of that 160 pound weight loss for going on 17 years.

I know what you're asking yourself right now: How did I do it? What finally made the difference? Was it a special diet? Exercise? Well, yes. Both of those factors played an important part in that monumental weight loss.

But neither of those factors was as important as education. I lost weight - and kept it off - because I came to understand that my obesity was just a symptom of a larger problem:

I had never been taught how to manage my eating.

Once I learned the principles of weight management - and dedicated myself to applying those principles to my life, every day, without fail - at that moment, the weight came off, and stayed off.

It has come back only in those times when I've quit working to manage it.

I know that many of you can relate to my struggle with weight. But I know, at this point, you must be wondering what any of this has to do with Modest Needs, or courageous generosity?

The answer is, 'Absolutely everything.'

You see, in the same way that I struggled with my weight for years, I struggled with my financial situation for virtually all of my adult life. Nothing about that situation changed until, one day, I came to realize that my problems with money- the fact that I was constantly behind on my bills - might be, as my obesity was, a symptom of a larger problem: the fact that I'd never been taught how to manage what little money I did have effectively.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that these two problems - obesity, and my being constantly behind on my bills -had much in common. And so, I reasoned, perhaps the skills that helped me to manage my weight could help me better manage my money.

I mulled that over for years before finally deciding I'd had enough of struggling with money. Once I made that decision and applied the principles of weight management to my financial life - well, everything changed. As with the weight loss, there were no miracles involved. Applying these principles to my financial life certainly didn't make me rich - not by any stretch of the imagination.

But since making this change in my life - a change which ultimately inspired me to launch Modest Needs, and to keep it absolutely debt free - I've never come home worrying that there would be an eviction notice on my door.

That alone - the sense that I have some control over my life - has been worth every ounce of the time and energy I spent learning these principles, and every tough decision I had to make in order to apply them to my life.

I cannot possibly overstate the impact that these principles - principles that did not come naturally to me, principles that I had to learn - have had on my physical fitness and fiscal fitness alike. And as an educator, someone who believes in the power of knowledge to change lives, I'm proud to announce the addition of a new component to Modest Needs.

On 15 November 2004, we're replacing Modest Needs' conventional 'newsletter' with a unique 'Fiscal Fitness' program more than a year in the making. The goal of this program, which will draw on the lessons and personal experience to which I've alluded above, is to create a unique and entertaining resource where those who are fed up with struggling can find the financial knowledge, tools, and tips they need to regain and maintain control of their financial lives, even if they happen to be living paycheck to paycheck.

The lessons in Modest Needs' Fiscal Fitness program are not going to give you any 'get rich quick' secrets, because there aren't any. They won't change the constitution of your character, because nothing can.

But you should know that already.

What Modest Needs' Fiscal Fitness program can do - if you're willing - is give you the education that will put you back in the driver's seat, the power to control what happens to you financially and - ultimately - the power to practice, fearlessly, the courageous generosity you've been reading about here for over a year.

It also has a nice side effect: the principles involved in Modest Needs' Fiscal Fitness program work just as well for weight loss.

This I know from experience.

I'm thrilled to be able to offer this new program at Modest Needs - to get 'back into the classroom', providing information that matters to people who want it. But I want you to be excited too. And so, in preparation for the launch of Modest Needs' Fiscal Fitness program, on 1 November 2004, I'm going to show the members of this community how to make one small change in their lives that will save them - collectively - almost $1 million per month.

Impossible you say? Believe me, it's not.

And on Monday, 1 November, I'm going to prove it.

Thank you for taking time out of your day to read this very different 'Profile in Courageous Generosity.' As always, I've love to hear your comments. I'd also be grateful if you'd make gift or pledge of any size, so that we can get some assistance out to the persons who need your help the most.

Have a wonderful rest of your day!

No Title

2/10/2012 12:23:58 AM

Priceless

On Monday, 9 August, in a special edition of the Modest Needs News-by-Mail, I told you the story of a family in Washington State who very much needed our help. Due to an unexpected and serious illness, this couple had been forced to make a choice no one should have to make: their health or their house payment.

This couple made they only choice they could make. They chose their health. And as a result, on 15 August, the couple's lifetime investment - their home - was going to be sold at auction.

This couple had written by mail (they have no computer) to ask for our help in saving their home. They needed $1200. I felt strongly that it was our moral imperative help this family, but because the amount necessary to save their home exceeded Modest Needs' maximum grant, I left it to all of you - the active members of Modest Needs - to decide whether we helped this family or not.

I asked you to vote with your dollars.

***

It has been 72 hours since I told subscribers to the Modest Needs News about this very special request for help. You - the people - have spoken.

And your message was overwhelmingly clear.

In the past three days, 277 individuals - more people than have ever made a donation to Modest Needs in a three-day period - put their money where their hearts were.

Many of these persons had never before given to Modest Needs.

The amounts these individuals were able to give varied widely. The average was about $13. But the impact of this level of giving cannot be measured in dollars and cents.

Thanks to this level of giving:

** A couple in Washington State on the verge of losing their home because of an unexpected medical expense is not losing their home at auction.

We kept their lifetime investment where it belongs - in their family.

Cost of this past due mortgage payment to Modest Needs? $1200.00
One less homeless couple in America? Priceless.

**A working family in Michigan, forced to relocate on seven days' notice when the house they were renting was sold out from under them, is not sleeping on the street tonight.

We're remitting payment for the deposit this family couldn't afford - the deposit that will allow them to move into the rental home they hadn't expected to rent.

Cost of this rental deposit to Modest Needs? $350.00
One more working family with a chance to succeed on their own? Priceless.

**A family of five in Ohio with an income of $700 per month is getting a permanent raise - because we're making it possible for the mother of these children to return to work.

On $700 a month with five mouths to feed, she couldn't afford the $60 fee necessary to have her license transferred from West Virginia to Ohio.

Together, however, we can.

Cost of this cosmetology license fee to Modest Needs: $60.00
One less family receiving state assistance: Priceless.

**And a two year old child from Rhode Island whose legs were born twisted is receiving the medical treatment that will allow her to walk correctly for the first time in her life.

Because this little girl can walk (just not correctly), the insurance company considers this procedure to be . . . 'cosmetic.'

We, the people, do not.

Cost of this medical treatment to Modest Needs: $395.00
A little girl able to run for the very first time? Priceless.

***

Ladies and Gentlemen, this is what just 2% of the subscribers to the Modest Needs News achieved YESTERDAY because they put their pocket change where their hearts were. They'll achieve even more tomorrow, as we work to disburse the additional $1500 surplus dollars these persons have made available to working families since Monday.

And how many working families will we help next week, when this $1500 is gone?

As always, that will be for each of you to decide. But that's another story for another day. . . .

Today, I'll simply leave you with this letter, from a woman in Arlington, TX, in response to Monday's news.

'I received your letter about the couple in Washington who is about to lose their home.

On June 29, 2004, for the same reasons as this couple, I lost my home at auction. I've been struggling ever since, but I'm sending MN the balance of my PayPal account to help this couple in Washington.

No one was able to save my home, but I can sure do my part to save theirs.

Tonight, for the first night in three months, I know I will sleep well.'

Donation made by this person to save the home of a couple she'll never meet? $14.49
Knowing you did for someone else what no one would do for you?

Priceless.

No Title

2/10/2012 12:23:58 AM

A Blur of Sound and Non-Sense

Any person who has ever had a child will tell you that what they say is true: you only think you've experienced love until you become a parent.

My experience has born out the truth of this statement. Aside from the doctor who delivered him, I was the first person ever to touch my son. In that moment, the moment that I first held my little boy, I knew that nothing my son could ever say or do would cause me to love him any less.

In that moment, I came to understand for the first time the meaning of unconditional love.

I was able to hold my son for about 60 seconds before he was taken to the infant Critical Care Unit in the hospital where he was born. His delivery had been difficult, and he'd been stuck without oxygen for several minutes in the birth canal. By the time he was born, he was ashen and generally unresponsive. He was breathing - but just barely.

If holding my son for the first time taught me the meaning of unconditional love, watching my son rushed away under these circumstances taught me what it is to be afraid. In that moment, when the very prospect of my son's life was uncertain, I would've gladly given everything I had, everything I ever would have, without thought or hesitation, to ensure that my son would live.

Today, my son is a happy, healthy seven year old. But nothing about my love for him - or my willingness to sacrifice on his behalf - has changed, except to grow stronger. Just when I don't think I could love him any more, my heart expands to contain my feelings for him. I would do absolutely anything for my son, and very few things make me happier than when, as a community, we can forever change the life of a child who needs our help.

In June 2002, Modest Needs received a request for help from a woman named Lisa, a teacher and mother of three living in Kentucky. Her request was simple. Her five year old son, Zane, had been born with a corneal disorder which made it impossible for Zane to see anything but an unfocused blur of color. Indeed, like all persons affected by this disorder, Zane's eyes did not even have the ability to discern one shape from another.

To him, the world was a blur of sound and non-sense.

Fortunately, Zane's disorder could be treated with special glasses. But these glasses are not cheap. Their lenses must be tailor-made to match the cornea of each eye of the person who will be wearing them. In my experience, a standard pair of eyeglass lenses runs about $100.

Irlen lenses run about $278.50.

Each.

And that's not counting the frames . . . .

At five, Zane was nearly ready to begin attending school, and as a teacher, his mother knew - as we all know - that he would not stand a chance of success in the critical early years of his education if he could not see. But hers was a family of five, living on just under $27,000 per year - too much to qualify for any kind of conventional assistance, but not enough to afford the lenses that would enable her son to see.

Lisa wrote to Modest Needs when Modest Needs was less than two months old to ask for our help in purchasing these glasses. But her request stands out in my mind to this day as evocative of the love parents have for their children, of a parent's willingness to sacrifice.

Lisa did not ask for the nearly $700 that these glasses would cost - because, she said, she knew we didn't have a great deal of money at our disposal and didn't want others not to receive help because of her. Instead, she requested only $55 - the ten-percent down payment which would allow Zane to have his glasses in time for the beginning of school, in August.

If we were able to help her with this amount, then in addition to her full-time job as a teacher, and in addition to caring for three children, Lisa pledged that she would happily take on a second part-time job in order to pay for the remainder of the balance due on Zane's glasses. This, she said, she would happily do if it meant that her son would stand a chance of success, and if others received help in the process.

I was both humbled and moved by the courageous generosity inherent in Lisa's request on behalf of her son - that she would ask for so little, despite magnitude and importance the request she was making. And had Lisa's request come this month, or in any other typical month, perhaps we'd only have been able to help her with the ten percent down payment that she's requested - if we'd been able to help her family at all.

But June 2002 was an unusual month for Modest Needs. That month, Modest Needs had been featured on both NPR and in USA Today - and despite Modest Needs' youth, people had given - $5 and $10 at a time - nearly $14,000.

So, thanks to the generosity of those who believed in Modest Needs even in its infancy, I was able to write a letter to Lisa that I wish I could write more often - a letter saying, 'Modest Needs will be happy to pay for the cost of these lenses in full if you can find a way to provide the frames.'

Three weeks later, Zane was fitted for his glasses. And on that day, something happened that none of us - not even Lisa - had expected. I would not learn about this event until October 2002, when Lisa told the story of what happened when Zane put on his glasses for the first time on the CBS Early Show.

It was the first of what would become many times that the generosity of this community has moved people to tears.

I'd invite you to watch as Lisa herself tells the story of what happened when Zane first put on the glasses that Modest Needs was able to purchase, thanks to this community's generosity. You can see the Early Show segment in which Zane is featured by simply clicking one of the links below. If you're using windows, playback will begin automatically:

High-quality video (WMV format, 54.5 MB)
Medium-quality video (WMV format, 3.7 MB)

There's a post-script to this 'Profile in Courageous Generosity', one that I'm saving until Friday, because I want all of you to have seen this story before I share with this community some information that no one else has seen. Suffice to say that kindness breeds kindness, generosity begets generosity, and as a result, another child's life is just about to be forever changed. . . .

No Title

2/10/2012 12:23:58 AM

Profiles in Courageous Generosity: A Promise Fulfilled

In May of 2002, just as Modest Needs was beginning what would become nearly six months of constant coverage in the press, I received an e-mail from someone who purported to represent a very large, very well-known, extremely well-funded public charity. I opened that letter, which I have never published or discussed publicly until now, with a sense of breathless anticipation. After all, I knew -just by looking at the e-mail address - that the organization from which this e-mail originated had the power to fully endow Modest Needs with little more than the stroke of a pen.

As I began reading that letter, I remember hoping that it would contain an offer of moral, perhaps even financial support. But it contained neither.

It was instead a terse, personal admonition - of me personally (for starting Modest Needs in the first place) and of Modest Needs itself, an organization which this person said ultimately would serve only 'to divert precious dollars away from organizations like [his], where those funds might have the power to do some actual good.'

I was so disturbed by the content of this letter that I actually contacted both this organization's national headquarters (which promptly denied sharing this individual's sentiment) and the individual who had sent this letter to me in the first place. He and I had, at best, a tense telephone conversation, most of which I remember as if the conversation had happened yesterday.

'Look,' this person said to me with a chuckle, 'the very premise of what you're doing is naïve. If you'd read any of the relevant studies, you'd know that very few people give just because helping others 'is the right thing to do.' The truth is, the 'average' people who give at all only give once or twice a year -mostly at Christmas. That's not to say that their gifts aren't important, but by themselves, they don't have much of an impact beyond the month in which they're made.'

'The people with the power to make a real difference,' he continued, 'wealthy families, for example, give for the recognition involved, because giving is good PR for them. It shows them to be 'generous.' Corporate giving works the same way. A $1 million gift costs a corporation making a $1 billion a year about one one-thousandth of its net yearly revenue. But it generates fifty times that amount in good PR, and - ultimately - in profit.'

'If you have any social conscience at all,' he said, 'you'll stop this nonsense now and refer whatever donors you have to organizations like ours.'

'Two years from now,' I said, 'Modest Needs will have proven everything you just said to be wrong.'

'No,' he said, 'Here's what will happen. Six months from now, you'll have given away everything that you have. Modest Needs will cease to exist. Your effort will be forgotten. And the dollars that persons give to your 'organization' in the meantime - gifts that, when combined with the gifts of 'major donors,' might've done some real good - will have been wasted.'

'That,' he concluded, 'will be your only legacy.'

'We'll see,' I said.

And I hung up the phone.

Two years have now elapsed since this phone conversation. And I can now say, with some authority, that this individual was wrong about the 'average' person, the measure of their generosity and - more importantly - the true value of an unselfish gift, of this community's courageous generosity.

You see, the 'relevant studies' don't take into account a promise that I believe in, the promise that led me to start Modest Needs, and the promise that - I suspect - underlies much of the giving that takes place here. That promise is a simple one, and it is promise common to every spiritual faith.

It is the promise that unselfish gifts are multiplied until they become worth many times their original value.

How does the work we've been doing - successfully - for two years now at Modest Needs illustrate the power of the principle behind this promise? That question is best answered by example:

On 1 June 2004, I received a letter from a woman named Denise, which I'm editing for the sake of brevity:

***

Dear Keith,

In August of 2002 I requested help from Modest Needs with a desperately needed vehicle repair. Modest Needs funded my request ($175.00). This letter is about what the funding of my vehicle repair meant to me and what it allowed me to do.

Without the funding for this request, my van would have broken down and I would not have been able to get back and forth to work. The funding for this request allowed me to continue working and to keep supporting myself and my children.

I will be forever grateful for the grant which allowed me to stay self supporting! I have just now become able to make a monthly donation to Modest Needs and I will forever make that donation! Modest Needs helped me at a time when no one else could! I can't find the words to express how grateful I am for the help I have received!

Denise

***

It cost the Modest Needs community only $175 - a gift which persons made $5 and $10 and $25 at a time in August of 2002 - to fix Denise's car, to keep her gainfully employed. That's a small gift, to be sure - the financial equivalent of a loaf, and a fish.

But let me show you how that gift has multiplied . . . both miraculously, and mathematically.

I do not know how much money Denise makes, but a person working a standard full time job (40 hours a week at $10 an hour) in Washington State, where Denise lives, takes home $1519.48 after taxes. By contrast, a person who is newly unemployed with no income receives a cash TANF (welfare) benefit of $540 a month, plus $294 in food stamps. That's a net cost to Washington State of $840 a month, and a net cash loss to a working individual of $679.48 a month, not just for one month, but for every month that he or she is unemployed.

And statistically, once a person becomes unemployed and must turn to the state to survive, it takes a minimum of 24 months for that person to return to self-sufficiency.

Because of the courageous generosity of this community - a community comprised exceptional 'average' persons, however, Denise didn't lose her job. Because you fixed her car, she kept working. And the minute you fixed her car, the minute you kept her working, you also put $679.48 in cash into her pocket. You simultaneously saved Washington State $840.00 - the amount that the state did not have to spend to support her and her children.

This means that in August 2002 - the month that this gift was made - a $175 gift, for a car repair, multiplied in this way to become instantaneously worth $1694.48. And every month that Denise has continued working - that's 23 months now - the value of that gift to Denise has increased by $679.48 a month - the amount she has been able to earn every month because you kept her from becoming unemployed - and $840 a month to Washington State - the amount it has not had to spend to support her.

When you do the math, you suddenly see that, as of the 1 June 2004, this simple $175 gift has now increased in value to the point that it has become worth $15,628.04 in additional income to Denise, and $19,320.00 in tax dollars saved by Washington State.

Add these amounts to the cost of the original gift itself, and you see that, this $175 gift - this simple act of kindness - has increased in value over 23 months to the point that it has now become worth approximately $35,123.04.

And what is the part of your own courageous generosity here? Well, in this case, if you made a one-time $5 gift in August 2002, and that gift was part of the original $175 we used to fix Denise's car, then over the 23 months that your gift has kept Denise working, that $5 has become worth $446.50 in cash to Denise's family and $552.00 to the state in which she lives.

Add these figures together, then add your original $5 gift to that total, and you see that in 23 months, the value of your original gift of $5 has multiplied to the point that, as of today, it has a value of approximately $1,003.50. And on 1 July, so long as Denise is still working, that number will change.

It will increase.

Such has been the value of a simple, unselfish gift to one family for whom the courageous generosity of the 'average' person has been the ounce of prevention that kept the pound of cure from being necessary.

And that's one - out of 1,212 families this community has assisted to date.

It is one thing to believe in a promise. It is another to see that promise fulfilled. And today, after two months of compiling two years' worth of data, of doing math (I don't like math), and of having these calculations checked several times, I can now show you the evidence of a simple promise fulfilled - and the power of the principles behind that promise.

Today, I am proud to show the members of this community the true impact of the courageous generosity you have shown at Modest Needs. Once you've seen this information, I don't think you'll ever view your 'small change' in the same way. And the question as to Modest Needs' effectiveness, or the 'value' or 'significance' of an 'average person's gift'?

That question will not ever be raised again.

So sit down. Take a deep breath. Prepare yourself. And then read today's Community Update . . . .

No Title

2/10/2012 12:23:58 AM

Profiles in Courageous Generosity: The Ice-Cream Sandwich Blockade

Like everyone, I have my good days and my not-so-good days. On my not-so-good days, the days when I find myself temporarily overwhelmed or facing a difficult situation, the one thing I want, worse than anything else, is to laugh.

Laughter has long been my personal drug of choice, and for good reason. It's well documented, for example, that people who laugh actually live longer - up to twenty years longer - than people who don't laugh on a regular basis. Laughter acts as an antidote to both physical and psychological pain. It relaxes our muscles, fills our lungs with oxygen, increases our cardio activity, decreases stress - and, according to one recent study, it even has the power to boost our immune system's ability to fight disease.

There's just no denying the power of humor to heal us. And when I need a quick dose of laughter - for me, the very best medicine - one of my favorite pharmacies would have to be www.dumblaws.com, a website that lists, by state, laws which are still 'on the books,' despite the fact that they make absolutely no sense whatsoever.

For me, the humor of www.dumblaws.com lies not so much in the laws themselves, but in trying to understand the reasoning (or lack thereof) behind them. I mean, we all understand why it's illegal to run a stop sign. That makes perfect sense. But does it make sense to you:

That in Pennsylvania, all fire hydrants must be checked one hour before all fires?
That in Alaska, it is illegal to push a moose out of an airplane?
That in Nevada, it is illegal to drive a camel on the highway?
That in Florida, having sexual relations with a porcupine is against the law?

I have to admit, there is a twisted logic behind most of these laws. Nobody wants to be hit in the head by a free-falling moose, after all. Can you imagine being stuck behind a camel on Route 66? And as for sexual relations with a porcupine? Well, I must say, that law actually makes so much sense to me that I can't help but wonder what event prompted its legislation in the first place. Wouldn't you have loved to have been in the gallery of the Florida state legislature on the day that this bill was introduced?

Unfortunately, though, not all dumb laws are quite this funny.

I can think of at least one dumb law that you won't see on www.dumblaws.com In Baltimore City, if a person does not pay, in a timely fashion, any and all monies owed to any city-owned utility, the city of Baltimore may, at its discretion, repossess and sell at public auction any city property owned by the debtor - including the land on which the debtor's home stands.

I came to learn about this law in May of 2002, when Modest Needs received a request for help from a woman named Madeline, who was living in Baltimore, MD. Madeline and her husband were the parents of five children under the age of 18. Madeline's husband had a good and steady job, but as you might guess, with seven mouths to feed, money for these folks was understandably tight most of the time.

In December of 2001, Madeline and her husband had been shocked to receive an almost unbelievably large water bill from Baltimore city. Upon investigation, they'd discovered a leak in their basement, which they had promptly repaired. That stopped the flow of water, but the city of Baltimore refused to give this working family any lee-way when it came to their water bill. As far as Baltimore was concerned, the water had been used, and somehow, someone was going to pay for it.

Madeline and her husband had made payment arrangements with the city of Baltimore and done their best to pay their bill down. They'd made some progress, but with regular monthly water bills (and other bills of all sorts) still coming in, they weren't able to make headway quickly enough to please the city of Baltimore. And so, on 2 April 2002, Madeline and her husband received notice that the lot on which their home sat was going to be seized and sold at auction by the city so that their water bill could be paid, in full.

Now, you must be asking yourself, 'How big was that water bill?' I mean, if the city of Baltimore is going to sell the lot on which your home stands, thereby rendering the structure itself worthless, over a past due water bill, you'd think this would be a serious debt.

So how much do you think that bill was for? $1,000? $5,000? $10,000?

How about $310.09?

That's right. This working family was going to lose the entire value of their largest lifetime investment at an auction, held by the city of Baltimore, over a $310.00 water bill.

My first response to this request for help, honestly, was not to believe it, just because it seemed so patently ridiculous. I simply couldn't fathom that any city, anywhere in America, would opt to sell a family's home at auction over a mere $310.00 water bill - not a tax bill, mind you, but a utility bill! Cutting them off - that I'd understand. That would make sense. But to sell their property at auction? To render seven people effectively homeless? Over $310.00?

That would be patently absurd.

So I asked Madeline to scan and send me the water bill and auction notice. She did, and I'm sorry to report that every word of her story was absolutely true.

Disbelief turned immediately to outrage. Of course, Modest Needs would help this family. There was no question about that. But there was one small problem. It was Friday, 10 May 2002. The auction was scheduled for Monday morning, 13 May 2002. And as of that Friday morning, the balance in Modest Needs' bank account was just about $267.00 - roughly $56.00 short (by the time you count the express payment fees) of the amount necessary to save this family's home.

At that time, Modest Needs was less than eight weeks old. People had yet to really learn about Modest Needs. In those early weeks, Modest Needs' only stable source of funding was the $350 a month that I gave, every month, and much of that already had been spent. The $267.00 in the bank at that time represented the remainder of my own pledge, plus a handful of small gifts that people had made that month - $5 here, $10 there, the occasional $25 check. The mail hadn't come yet that day, but in those early weeks, even on a good day, Modest Needs could expect to receive about $25 in gifts. $5 or $10 - or nothing at all - was more likely.

So I spent that Friday morning wringing my hands, trying to figure out how in the world I was going to come up with the $56 necessary to save this home. Lots of ideas crossed my mind. I could take up a collection at one of my local hangouts. I could call friends or family. I could sell some used DVDs. But really, none of those options was feasible because they all took precious time. In order to pay that tax bill in time to stop the auction - online would be the only way to do it - I had to have that money in the bank by the close of business Friday. Otherwise, I simply couldn't pay the bill, and this family's home would be lost forever.

Obviously, what I really needed was a miracle. That's what I asked for, on the way to the post office.

And that's exactly what I got.

That day in the mail, there were three envelopes. Two contained checks, each for $10. The third, from a local school, contained the miracle I'd asked for - a miracle in the form of ice-cream money.

The letter inside the envelope, from one of the teachers at the school, explained that she had heard about Modest Needs because of a story that had run in the local press. In class the next day, she had told her students about Modest Needs, and as a class, they had opted to give up 'lunchtime extras' (read: ice cream) for one day in an effort to help somebody else. The teacher had made a small donation herself and asked the school to cut a check on her class's behalf.

The enclosed check was for $40 exactly - just a few dollars more than necessary to pay off the city of Baltimore. And at 11:51pm on Sunday, 12 May 2002 - nine minutes before the final deadline - the auction of this family's home was stopped, thanks to the courageous generosity of these children - and the power of their ice-cream sandwich blockade.

No Title

2/10/2012 12:23:58 AM

Profiles in Courageous Generosity: Two Crumpled Dollars

In mid-March, on a cold Saturday afternoon (every day for the past six months has been ridiculously cold in New York), I found myself out, walking down Sixth Avenue, in a part of the city called the 'Union Square Area.' This part of New York, which runs for about six square blocks, is home to an unusually large segment of New York's homeless population - so large a segment, in fact, that it is virtually impossible to walk through this section of New York and remain oblivious to the reality of all that homelessness entails- a cruel reality that many of us, thankfully, have never known.

Think, for a moment, of the difference between a 'house' and a 'home.' Homelessness is not called 'houselessness' for a reason. People who are homeless do not merely lack shelter. Theirs are lives defined by the absence of love, compassion, and the security we draw from those who care about us - the very elements that make a house into a 'home.'

Homelessness does not just mean owning nothing that you can't carry or wear, or having no shelter but that temporarily provided by the state. Homelessness is best defined by the sense of abandonment that comes in the moment you realize that you have no person even in your family to whom you can turn for support in your time of crisis. The realization that this is true cannot help but crush a person's spirit, and if the eyes are the windows to the soul, then to look into the eyes of a homeless person is to understand what it means for the human spirit to die.

That's what I remember most about Jessica. I remember the look in her eyes while she told me the story of how she lost her home.

Jessica is a young woman who I literally tripped over just off Union Square on that cold Saturday afternoon in mid-March. I had been lost in thought, and I didn't see her at all until I stumbled over her, causing her to spill the small cup of change that she had been holding in her lap. I was immediately embarrassed, told her I was sorry and stooped to help her scoop up her change.

'That's OK,' she said, almost despondently, as if she had all but expected someone to kick her change cup over.

It was only as I was handing back her small cup of change that I looked - really looked - at Jessica for the first time. I couldn't put my finger on it, but there was something different about this homeless person. Suffice to say that if 'homelessness' has a look, Jessica didn't have that look about her - except for in her eyes.

That much I remember for certain.

It was only then that I noticed the sign in front her. It said - in perfectly printed handwriting:

'Homeless five more days. Still hungry. Help if you can.'

The sign intrigued me. Why five more days? I was curious. And so I offered to buy Jessica a meal.

It was hard for me to persuade Jessica to come with me. She obviously didn't trust me, but I was eventually able to convince her to come with me to a diner just down the block. We sat down, and Jessica ordered French Toast, Sausage, Bacon, coffee and milk. She ate every bite of plate that was put in front of her. And while she ate, she told me her story, the story of how she came to lose her home.

It was a story that put every crisis I'd ever thought I'd experienced into immediate and harsh perspective.

Jessica was 20 years old. She was from New Jersey. For all of her life, she and her brothers had lived with her mother.

They had never really known their father.

By all accounts, Jessica had lived a fairly normal life up until the beginning of this year. She'd grown up, gone to school, had wanted to pursue a career in the culinary arts. But in January of 2004, Jessica's mother had decided that she wanted to marry, and the man Jessica's mother had been dating refused to marry her if doing this meant taking on the burden of supporting three children that were not his. He gave Jessica's mother an ultimatum: she had to choose between marrying him and continuing to care for her three children, the youngest of whom had just turned 18.

And so, in January of this year, Jessica's mother had given each of her three children $25, put them on the street, and told them that they were no longer welcome in her home. Jessica's brothers had opted to hitchhike to Florida. She hadn't heard from them since. She had called her mother from payphones several times in the first four weeks that she had been on the street. The phone had only been answered only once, and that time, Jessca's would-be stepfather had told Jessica not to call there again - that as far as he and her mother were concerned, she didn't have a home there anymore.

Jessica had spent the time since mid-January (the coldest winter in New York in many years) on the street, living off the change that people had dropped in the cup in front of her (apparently, about $8 a day.) But she was not content to stay on the street. Within a week or two of having lost her home, she had found and applied for entry into a transitional program for homeless women. This program provided the basics - food and shelter - to women who demonstrated their commitment to self-sufficiency by seeking employment. Once they had found work, this program helped the women to transition to a more stable living environment.

This was the reason for Jessica's sign, 'Homeless Five More Days.' After six weeks of living on the street, she had called the director of this program to learn that a space in this program had opened up and that she would be officially 'off the streets' as of the following Friday. After six weeks of experiences that she described for me but which are better left to everyone's imagination, all that stood between Jessica and a new start were five frigid nights.

Throughout this entire conversation, Jessica didn't ask me for anything - not even a nickel. What she did was stare at me. And her eyes - I won't ever forget the look in her eyes. She looked at me as if to say, 'Why do you care about any of this?' I think that's understandable. When your own mother throws you onto the street with $25 and whatever clothes you can carry, you have no reason to believe that a stranger could have any real interest in hearing your story - much less that a stranger would care.

That thought, more than anything else, really moved me. And I wanted this community to do something -whatever we reasonably could- to let this person know that there were people out there who cared about her, simply by virtue of her humanity.

So before I left her that day - right under the awning where I had found her - I asked for the number of the director of the program she'd mentioned. She gave it to me, and I called. Every word of Jessica's story - the parts that were verifiable - checked out.

I spent part of that Saturday evening on the phone with some local hotels explaining what Modest Needs was, and what we wanted to do. Eventually, I was able to find a small, clean, and safe hotel - with breakfast included - that was willing under these special circumstances to give us a room for five days at half price. That done, I went back to Union Square, found Jessica right where I'd left her, and told her that on behalf of a lot of really nice folks, she had a warm place to sleep for the next five days, until she could enter her program.

At first, Jessica refused to believe I was telling her the truth. She simply couldn't fathom that anyone would want to help her. What was the catch? What did I expect in return? Why would anyone do this for her? It was only at this point that I told Jessica about Modest Needs, who we were, what we did. And I explained, very simply, that we wanted to help her because we wanted her to know how much she was worth to all of us.

Jessica started to cry at that point, and she was still crying as I helped her carry her bag up to the room we'd found for her. Before I left, I gave her my card and my phone number, and asked her to call me when she'd gotten into the shelter safely. She promised that she would. I wished her the best, told her goodbye, and turned to leave.

I was closing the door behind me when I heard Jessica say, 'Wait.' I turned around, and wiping her eyes, Jessica came over to where I was standing. Without saying a word, she took my hand, held it open, and poured the contents of her change cup into my palm. She closed my hand around the change, looked into my face, and smiled.

As I smiled back, I noticed that Jessica's eyes were not the eyes I'd seen that afternoon.

Her eyes had begun to sparkle. And I don't think it was just because of the tears.

The small amount of funding that we used to help Jessica certainly didn't end homelessness in New York. But I think it might've helped to restore one young woman's faith in humanity. And request number 36368, 'Mom of 2 Needs Help With Rent,' made in March 2004, was funded, in part, by $2.68 in change, donated to Modest Needs by a person who may not yet have a permanent residence, but who, thanks to this community's generosity, isn't quite homeless in the way that she was before.

***

There's an interesting post-script to this story. About a week later, I did speak to Jessica again. She called to say that she did make it into the program and that she was looking for work in one of New York's many kitchens. I thanked her for calling to let me know, and that, I thought was the last I'd hear from Jessica.

But then, the strangest thing started happening. Perhaps this is coincidence. I'll leave that for each of you to decide.

Every other week since the end of March, I have received a plain white envelope in the mail. There is never a return address. No correspondence of any kind. Just a plain white envelope. A New York City postmark.

And inside?

Two crumpled dollars.

No Title

2/10/2012 12:23:58 AM

Profiles in Courageous Generosity: The 'Hope Diamond' becomes the Mustard Seed

I'm one of those people who loves spicy food - the hotter the better. In a city where I once lived, there was a restaurant that served what they called 'Atomic Chicken Wings,' made from their own patented recipe. I don't know exactly what went into the 'atomic' sauce that coated these wings. I do know that, once the wings were coated with this sauce - whatever it was - they were rolled in pure cayenne pepper. In fact, the wings so spicy that they came with a waiver and a promise that if you could finish ten of them in one sitting, your entire party's meal was 'on the house.'

I am one of exactly six people that I know of ever to have had a free meal as a result of the 'guarantee' that came with those chicken wings. And, oddly, I enjoyed the experience of eating them. Going into that restaurant, I knew very well that in eating ten of these 'atomic wings,' I might have done permanent damage to my digestive tract, but I was too young and reckless to care. I only knew that, given my passion for spices, to have eaten those wings any other way would've been a kind of compromise, and therefore, a waste of my time.

I have to confess that, even as I was writing last week's editorial - the story of the Modest Needs 'Hope Diamond' - I was often thinking, not about precious stones, but about spices. Specifically, last week, I was thinking about mustard.

Apparently, so were many of you.

Many persons who read the story behind the Modest Needs 'Hope Diamond' last week wrote to say that the story reminded them of the Biblical parable of the 'mustard seed.' The parable itself, like the story of the 'Hope Diamond,' is profound in its simplicity. In it, Christ compares a mustard seed to the kingdom of heaven, saying, in part, 'it is the least of all seeds, but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs. . . .'

In fact, within moments of my publishing this first 'Profile in Courageous Generosity,' letters began pouring in to Modest Needs. Some persons wrote simply to thank the donor of this diamond, not for the diamond itself, but for the gift of hope they found in the spirit behind this person's gift. Others wrote to thank the donor for giving them the inspiration to become (or remain) courageous themselves, even despite the financial setbacks we all have endured from time to time. One person even went so far as to suggest that we take steps to ensure that the symbolism of the Modest Needs 'Hope Diamond' remains at forefront our community's collective memory, saying:

'Since you're going to highlight a donor and recipient each month, why not select one of each per year to receive the Modest Needs 'Hope Diamond' award? Of course, it wouldn't be the real diamond, perhaps just a certificate with a copy of the photo you've shown us already.' (Note: I must say that I think this is a terrific idea: the Modest Needs 'Hope Diamond' Award!)

But these stories - stories of persons who found themselves inspired by a single person's selfless act of kindness - are but one measure of the impact of this most courageous gift.

Over the weekend, four persons wrote to bid on the Modest Needs 'Hope Diamond'. More significant than the dollar amounts that these persons bid, though, were the remarkable stories of courageous generosity that accompanied each bid. Space prevents me from sharing all of these letters with you today, but I promise you, those letters - and the stories behind the persons who wrote them - will soon find their way into this column. They are stories that deserve to be shared, stories that further underscore the selflessness and generosity that remain the hallmarks of the Modest Needs community.

In the end, though, only one person could place the winning bid on the Modest Needs 'Hope Diamond', and that person - Sonal, from North Carolina - was thrilled to learn that that this 'invaluable treasure' was coming his way. But, just as the parable of the mustard seed does not end when the seed is planted, the story of the Modest Needs 'Hope Diamond' and its significance to this community does not end with Sonal's high bid of $250 on the Modest Needs 'Hope Diamond' . . .

That is only the beginning of the rest of this story . . . .

Within 24 hours of writing to Sonal and declaring him to be the 'high bidder' on the Modest Needs 'Hope Diamond', two persons wrote in, each with a bid of $500. When I told both of these persons, who have opted to remain anonymous, that I couldn't accept their bids for obvious reasons, they both offered to match Sonal's bid of $250, thereby instantly tripling the power of the Modest Needs 'Hope Diamond' to assist others.

And, in a most unexpected turn of events, one person was so moved by the story behind the Modest Needs 'Hope Diamond' that he decided to do something special to acknowledge both the sacrifice of the person who donated the diamond and the kindness of the 'Hope Diamond' bidders themselves. To this end, in honor of the 'Hope Diamond' contributor, this person made a gift of $1000, plus a pledge of $100 monthly for the next 12 months. Likewise, in honor of those persons who so courageously offered literally all they had to give in their bids for the Modest Needs 'Hope Diamond, this person made a gift of $600 - an amount equal to the total of all bids received on the diamond as of 29 March 2004.

Last week, I reported that the donor of the Modest Needs 'Hope Diamond' asked only to know which person the diamond had been able to help. Tomorrow, I will have the pleasure of writing to this person with the news that, as a result of this simple act of courageous generosity, in April 2004 alone, Modest Needs will be able to distribute an additional $2350 to persons who would not have received the help they needed otherwise.

And this is to say nothing of the 'Hope Diamond' donor's greatest gift to this community. With this single courageous act of kindness, the donor of the Modest Needs 'Hope Diamond' has sewn once again into this community the seeds hope, inspiration, and generosity - seeds that once planted, like the mustard seed of the parable, simply have no choice but to grow.

No Title

2/10/2012 12:23:58 AM

Profiles in Courageous Generosity: Modest Needs and The Hope Diamond

For nearly four centuries, The Hope Diamond has cast its spell on virtually everyone who has been privileged enough to view it. This is hardly surprising. Originally owned by Jean Baptiste Tavernier and first purchased in 1668 by Louis XIV of France, The Hope Diamond possesses a series of features that make it utterly unlike any other gemstone in the world. Any one of this stone's special properties - its blue-violet color, enormous size (45.52 carats), nearly flawless character, and its phosphorescent beauty (this blue diamond emits a red glow when exposed to ultra-violet light) - would be enough to render this diamond priceless. In combination, however, these features make The Hope Diamond one of the most valuable gems ever discovered.

Conservative recent estimates put the value of the Hope Diamond at over one quarter of a billion dollars.

Since its arrival at the Smithsonian Institute in 1958, millions of people have flocked to the museum to see for themselves the diamond whose name has become synonymous with overpowering beauty and incredible wealth.

By contrast, very few people have ever seen the diamond pictured above.

At first glance, this diamond would seem to be everything that The Hope Diamond is not. It is relatively small - about one-eighth of a carat. It is of good color and clarity, but its color and clarity obviously cannot compare to that of The Hope Diamond. This diamond is not phosphorescent. It will not glow red under ultra-violet light. And it probably will not ever be displayed in a museum.

But that's not to say that this diamond isn't rare or precious. It is simply that, unlike The Hope Diamond, the value of this stone cannot be discerned by the naked eye alone.

Last week, amidst the Modest Needs mail, I received a package from a person whose name and address I have yet to decipher completely. This simple package contained a short, handwritten letter and a small velvet box. The velvet box contained the diamond pictured above (you can click the photo for a close-up).

The letter read as follows:

***

Dear Modest Needs,

Because I have nothing else to give, I have enclosed a piece of jewelry that I would like to contribute to someone who has asked for help. I don't have a preference as to whether or not the item is pawned for cash or distributed to someone 'as is.' I would leave that choice to you. I would definitely appreciate it if you could send me an e-mail to let me know that this gift has been received, and if you would tell me who you were able to help with this donation. Thank you, and God Bless you.

***

Over the past two years, I have received many letters from people pledging to do what they could to help others once their financial positions had stabilized. But I cannot ever recall having received a gift of this nature - a gift from someone who, because they could not send any money, sent instead precious stone, accompanied by a simple request: a request simply to know who this stone was able to help.

The Hope Diamond is simply named for the family who once owned it. The diamond pictured above, however, represents hope - hope on the part of the person who gave it that it might help someone else, and hope for the person who will receive the help they've requested in light of this most precious gift. For this reason, the value of this stone cannot be estimated by even the most skilled gemologist.

The value of this diamond can be discerned only with the heart.

Of course, I could put this stone up for auction on eBay or take it to a pawn shop. In either case, we all know that I will not receive what this diamond is worth, either in real terms, or in terms of the story that makes this stone so valuable.

Therefore, before I sell this stone to someone who will be never recognize the depth of its value, I would like to offer this stone to a member of the Modest Needs community. If you would like to purchase this stone, then simply send a note to keith @ modestneeds.org and tell me what price you would put on a gift of this nature. The diamond will go to the individual who offers the most for it.

The proceeds from its sale - every penny - will be used to fund as many requests for help as possible.

On 31 March 2004, in the next installment of 'Profiles in Courageous Giving,' I will tell you what this community determined the value of this gift to be. And in two weeks, I will share with you the story of the person (or people) whose life was changed as a result of this priceless offering.

Should no one offer to purchase this diamond, I will put it up for auction on eBay. But somehow, I don't think that's going to happen . . .

It occurs to me that The Hope Diamond and the diamond pictured above are different in at least one other respect. The Hope Diamond has brought misfortune to nearly every individual who has owned it. Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, once owners of the stone, were beheaded during the French Revolution. An Eastern European prince gave it to an actress of the Folies Bergere and later shot her. A Greek owner and his family plunged to their death over a precipice in an automobile accident. The Turkish sultan Abdul-Hamid II had owned the gem only a few months when an army revolt toppled him from his throne in 1909. And the Hope family themselves - the most famous owners of the diamond - died with their estate in bankruptcy.

For all its beauty, The Hope Diamond, it would seem, comes complete with a curse.

The diamond above, on the other hand, was sent to us all with a blessing.

No Title

2/10/2012 12:23:58 AM

The Golden Rule Contest Results - And a Very Important Lesson

Since the first week of 2004, people have been writing to me to ask about the conclusion of Modest Needs' 'Golden Rule' contest. I've had the results of the contest for some time and have replied privately to those persons who've asked me about them, but to date, I've resisted posting an update to share this news with everyone.

Today, after much thought and careful consideration, I'm ready to talk to the Modest Needs community about the Golden Rule contest, what I'd hoped to achieve in running it, the results of the contest, and the important lesson this contest taught me.

I promise you - it is a lesson I will not soon forget.

For nearly two years, I've talked on the Modest Needs website about the experiences that led me to start Modest Needs in the first place. Anyone who has read those pieces (they're all archived in the Modest Needs News) knows that I understand - from recent, personal experience - just how devastating a single unexpected expense can be, how it feels to have to count pennies to buy enough gas to get to work, the kind of pressure it puts on a person to wake up in the morning and pick up the phone, not to make a call, but to make sure that your phone service wasn't disconnected overnight.

Over time, this kind of pressure took a severe toll on me as a person. Some of its effects were obvious - the stress I was living in gave me quite a bad temper, for example, and caused me to feel depressed most of the time. But looking back, I now understand that the most devastating toll that this financial pressure took on me was that, as the years went by, I became accustomed to living in nearly constant fear - fear that at any moment, I would lose my apartment, or my car, or my utility service, or that I'd run out of gas on the side of the road and have no way even to get home.

As a result of that fear, for years, I didn't do anything to help anybody but myself. It wasn't that I was stingy, or greedy, or that I didn't want to reach out to others. It was simply that this kind of fear lends itself to a crippling, debilitating state of mind, one which causes you to feel as if you are powerless - powerless even really to take care of yourself, much less help anybody else. When you feel that way - powerless and afraid - it just never occurs to you to believe - even for a second - that there could be someone who needs help more than you do, and the very idea that you might have the power to change another person's life seems patently ridiculous.

I lived a life crippled by fear and the feeling of powerlessness that accompanies it until one Monday night in early March 2002. I remember that day very vividly. I was driving to work (I commuted about 30 minutes each way), and as usual, I was worrying about money. On that particular day, I was worrying about how I was going to pay for the out-of-pocket expenses associated with a trip that I had to take for work - expenses like my personal meals. I certainly didn't have the money to eat out for a week, but I also had no choice but to take the trip.

As usual, I had no idea what I was going to do.

All of this pressure had left me at my wit's end. That night, I was as close to just giving up as I'd ever been before. I was frustrated. I was worried. But most of all, I was sick and tired of the half-life I'd been living. I mean, I'd worked hard all of my life. I'd played by the rules. And yet, I still had absolutely nothing to show for it - not even a moment's peace. No matter how hard I tried, no matter how many jobs I worked, nothing about my life improved. There was always some expense just standing by, waiting to rob me of any progress that I made. I had no idea what was causing this to happen, and at that point, I really didn't care.

All I knew was that I had had enough.

It was right then, in the middle of the interstate and in the midst of despair, that I had an epiphany - a sudden, intuitive understanding of what was wrong with my life. For all of my life, I had been taught that the most powerful force in the world was love. I had always believed this to be true. And yet, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that love had nothing to do with the choices I was making in my life.

My life was ruled entirely by fear.

The longer I thought about this idea - the idea of fear ruling my life and actions - the angrier I got. I had never felt so used or foolish. And then, something happened that I still can't explain. Something inside my head just 'clicked.' I realized that I couldn't be ruled by fear unless I CHOSE to let fear dictate my actions. Right then and there, I made a new choice - the most important choice I've ever made in my life. I slammed my hand down on the steering wheel, screamed 'Enough of this!' and silently vowed that fear was no long going to keep me from doing the things I wanted to do, the things that I knew were right.

The choice I made that Monday night in March 2002 changed my life. On that night, I realized that I couldn't serve two masters. That night, I swore to myself that if my actions were going to be dictated by any emotion at all, that emotion was going to be love.

And that night, on the drive home from work, the idea for Modest Needs was born.

What does any of this have to do with the Modest Needs 'Golden Rule' contest? Quite a bit, actually. You see, Modest Needs is about to reach another series of milestones. By the time we celebrate Modest Needs' two year anniversary - 21 March 2004 - more than 1 million individuals will have visited the Modest Needs website. We'll have logged more than 10 million hits. More than 35,000 persons will have made requests for help of some kind. And by the time Modest Needs turns two, all of us will have worked together to assist more than 1200 individuals and families who came to Modest Needs with an urgent request for temporary financial assistance.

These are staggering numbers to be sure, and we should all be proud of them. They are a remarkable testament to the kind of support that continues to exist both for Modest Needs and the idea behind it, the simple idea of neighbors helping neighbors. But I think that, as a community, all of us would agree that we'd like to see more people get the help that they request from Modest Needs - the kind of assistance that only their neighbors are willing to provide.

When you realize that the vast majority of persons who visit Modest Needs come here initially to request help, it becomes easy to understand why - after two years - Modest Needs is still helping 30 or 40 or 50 people a month, as opposed to hundreds. Historically, the tens of thousands of people who have requested help from Modest Needs have two things in common. First, they all want to help others just like them. It is the desire of their hearts. I have at least 25,000 letters in the Modest Needs archives from persons who've pledged to do just that 'once they're back on their feet.'

But secondly - and more importantly - many of these people are under intense financial pressure. And as a result, many of them are living in exactly the kind of fear I've described above, a kind of fear that many of us understand from experience. Because of it, they have lost faith in their power as individuals. They no longer believe that they are in a position to do anything meaningful to help even themselves, much less persons just like them. As a result, we're helping dozens of people every month - when we could be helping hundreds - including the people who need that help the most: the people who are living under financial pressure and crushing fear that accompanies it.

As I've explained above, I know what it's like to live beneath the crushing burden of this kind of insidious fear. That fear kept me from really living my life - as opposed to merely existing - until just two years ago. Walking away from that fear, literally turning my back on it, choosing to serve love rather than fear, was the single most important decision I ever made in my life. And what I feel now - the senses of hope, joy, and personal empowerment that comes when we leave fear behind - that is the one gift that I most want to give to every person I encounter.

The Modest Needs Golden Rule contest was my attempt to share this gift with every member of the Modest Needs community. For me, the point of the contest was not really to give away a car, or six months of rent free living, though those were the tangible prizes. The real prizes - the prizes I wanted everyone to win for themselves - were the hope, relief, and empowerment that comes when we realize that fear doesn't have to rule our lives.

It was my hope that in running this contest, the members of the Modest Needs community who are being held back by their fear, who because of this really do not believe themselves powerful enough to change a life, would act - perhaps for the first time - on that desire, by sending a small gift, by telling their friends and family about Modest Needs, and by encouraging others to do the same. Of course, this would've meant that all of us would've been able to help more people than normally is possible. And in the end, one person would end up living rent free for six months, and someone else would win a decent car of his or her own.

But most importantly, I believed that if I could convince people to take just this small first step - to take an action they hadn't taken before, primarily because they were afraid to do it - they would see for themselves that, in the immortal words of Franklin D. Roosevelt, they had nothing to fear but fear itself. That realization alone - if we accept it as truth - gives us a kind of freedom that is better than any prize. It gives us the freedom of choice - the choice to act out of love rather than fear, to choose the future over the past, to become the people we've always wanted to be. And because this kind of freedom is based, not on money, or possessions, or a particular job, but a PERSONAL CHOICE, it is a kind of freedom that nobody can take away from you, ever.

But fear is a powerful emotion with an iron-clad grip. It is not easily given up. And for this reason, the Golden Rule contest did not have the effect that I'd hoped for. During the three months that the contest was open, Modest Needs logged nearly 85,000 visits. Only 249 of the persons who visited Modest Needs during that period entered the contest, and most of those persons who entered only filled out the entry form. Only six or seven people earned more than ten points, and only two persons received more than 25 points altogether.

Within a month, I came to realize that in opting to run this contest, I had made a very bad mistake - but it was too late to turn back. I certainly couldn't cancel the contest, but I also didn't want to discourage the members of this community or to go back on something I'd already announced. And so, I did the only thing I could do. I allowed the contest to run its course, with one small modification: to avoid further discouragement, I chose not to publish the ongoing point totals for the contest as I'd planned to do when I announced the contest initially. Instead, I simply sent that information out privately to people who requested it. It was the best thing I felt I could do under the circumstances.

On 31 December 2003, the Modest Needs Golden Rule contest ended without fanfare, and as promised, first and second prizes in this contest went to the two clear winners. The runner up - with 78 points - was Amy Krebs, of Albany NY. She won the used Honda, and the car already has been delivered to her (and she tells me there are pictures to follow.) The first prize winner - with a staggering 231 points - was Joyce Schowalter, from Seattle, WA.

In the end, the handful of persons who actively participated in the Golden Rule contest raised almost $1700 over the three month contest period, and those funds went to help more persons in the months of October, November, and December of 2003 than we'd have otherwise been able to assist. That, of course, is always good news. But had we taken the gifts that became the contest prizes and used them simply to fund more requests for help, we'd have been able help even more people. I had the option of doing this - of taking these prizes as straight 'gifts' and disbursing them to persons who'd requested help. I opted to run the 'Golden Rule' contest instead because I believed that, in the long term, it would do more good for more people. I believed it would inspire people to walk away from the fear that was holding them back, the fear that too often keeps us from realizing our full potential.

Looking back, I now know that I made an error in judgment in choosing to run the 'Golden Rule' contest. Had I thought things through more carefully, I'd have realized that overcoming fear just isn't as simple as running a contest. If it were, then children would believe us when we tell them not to be afraid of the dark. But that's not how it works. Eventually, we all come to the conclusion that we need not fear the dark. But we must come to this realization on our own. Until that happens - and it does happen, for each of us, when the time is right - there is little that anyone can do to convince us that in darkness alone, we have nothing to fear.

That much we all know from the experience of having been children.

There are some important developments in store for Modest Needs' third year - including some things that many of you have been asking for since the launch of Modest Needs. I very much look forward to sharing these developments with you in the news and elsewhere on the Modest Needs site. But we won't be having any more contests. If the Golden Rule contest has taught me anything at all, it's that Modest Needs has never been - and should never become - about contests. The premises of the work that we've undertaken together - the kindness, generosity, and love for our neighbors that people continue to demonstrate daily at Modest Needs and elsewhere in their lives- these forces are powerful enough on their own.

This year - as in years past - they will take us where we need to go.

No Title

2/10/2012 12:23:58 AM

25 Newly Approved Requests!

Good evening, everyone!

Yesterday, I mentioned on the Bulletin Board that this weekend, I'd been buried by catastrophic computer problems. Nothing serious was lost - just a few personal letters - but the time I spent repairing things has put me a little behind. This is why you haven't seen me online Monday or today, and the reason the news is slightly delayed (it *will* go out tomorrow and then will come out on Tuesdays as scheduled thereafter.)

You're definitely going to want to read this week's news, as it will contain important information about holiday funding, etc. But, for tonight, I have some great news that just can't wait. The next (and final) round of funding for November is now posted, and it's gigantic. Thanks to the generosity of this community, there are 25 new approved requests for help totaling just over $5,000!!

You can see the requests that have been approved by going to the ledger and choosing to see only approved requests. I hope that everyone will take a look, as there are some TERRIFIC new requests in there - some really heartwarming sories behind the requests for help that all of you helped to fund, the miracles that you're helping to make possible at this, the season of miracles. that all of you are helping to make possible at this, the season of miracles.

I know that, if you follow Modest Needs at all, you've often wondered what it wold be like if Modest Needs were able to help a couple of hundred (instead of a couple of dozen) of people every month. This week, you really can see what that much help looks like. All you have to do is look at the approved requests on the ledger for this week. As you do, keep in mind that the majority of the money that funded those requests came in $2 and $5 and $10 and $20 increments. Amazing, isn't it, the differences we can make in peoples' lives when all of us work together?

I'll be back in the morning with a proper news update, and I'll be available online for live chat for most of the day tomorrow. Until then, though, thanks a million to all of you who have chipped in what you could to help others in the past week or so. Everyone have a terrific evening! I'll see you tomorrow.

No Title

2/10/2012 12:23:58 AM

Good morning, everyone!

Today is quite the ugly day in New York - lots of rain, but not even good rain. It would be the perfect day to stay inside and work - if I didn't have an appointment at the eye doctor in about two hours!

All of this is to say that I may not be in the 'Virtual Office' all day today (eyes are important, after all), but I will be here off and on (mostly later this afternoon) and all day tomorrow.

If you need to ask a question or comment and I'm not around, you can always click the 'Leave a Message' Icon to send me a note. But, I would much prefer if you would send personal mail to my personal account, which is keith@modestneeds.org. Either way, I'll do my best to respond to your message as soon as possible. And don't forget - many questions about Requesting Help are answered on the Requesting Help FAQ

Thanks, by the way, for your tremendously good feedback on yesterday's news. I really appreciate it! Take care, and and I'll 'see' some of you soon - perhaps even later today!

No Title

2/10/2012 12:23:58 AM

Welcome Heroic Stories Visitors!

Good evening, everyone!

From now on, I'm going to be using the editorials page to deliver the shorter, more frequent - and occasionally more personal - updates to Modest Needs that many of you have been asking for. This is but one of the exciting procedural revisions that I plan to tell all of you about in tomorrow's news - and trust me, this is good stuff. You won't want to miss it!

Tonight, though, I'd like to take just a couple of minutes to post a special, very warm welcome to those of you just learning about Modest Needs today via Joyce's beautiful write-up in 'Heroic Stories.' I'm very pleased to have all of you with us. As you know, there is strength in numbers, and with all of us working together with whatever we already have to give, there's simply no end to the good we can achieve, both through Modest Needs, and Heroic Stories. The Modest Needs community has been proving this for nearly two years now. With both of our communities working together - well, the possibilities seem endless, don't they?

So please, take your time, look around, and if you have questions, please send them my way. I'll do my best to answer all of tonight's mail tomorrow, right after I post the most recent news.

That's it for today, my friends. I'll be back tomorrow morning at 9:00, bright and early, and will be available online shortly after that time. In the meantime - to both 'Heroic Stories' folks and long-time Modest Needs 'junkies' - thank you very much for your kindness, your generosity, and for continuing to 'spread the word' about Modest Needs. Here's wishing all of you a wonderful evening!

No Title

2/10/2012 12:23:58 AM

Harnessing the Power of the Modest Needs Community

I know you’re probably asking yourself, ‘Why is there a photo of a car attached to this editorial?’ Good question. Just ignore the car for a minute. We’ll get back to that.

Before I begin what is probably the editorial that I’ve most wanted to write for the past six months, I want to thank publicly the several hundred of you who actively participated in the Modest Needs’ ‘Spread the Word’ contest. In the final analysis, I would characterize the ‘Spread the Word’ contest as having been very successful. Not only was it a fun and easy way to win a nice laptop computer, it was a great way to help others creatively. In fact, those of you who entered the ‘Spread the Word’ contest ending up helping more people than you probably realize.

Let me show you what I mean with these two simple statistics :

In July 2003, traffic to Modest Needs averaged 1,300 unique visitors each day. Today, three months later, the average number of visitors to Modest Needs has jumped to nearly 1,800 unique visitors each day. This means that those of you who participated in the ‘Spread the Word’ contest increased traffic to Modest Needs by about 1/3 in the course of just three months – at a cost of ZERO dollars!!
During the three month contest period, people who specifically mentioned that they’d heard about Modest Needs because of this contest gave gifts totaling nearly $3,000. That may not sound like a huge amount of money, but at Modest Needs, $3,000 goes a long way. In fact, that $3,000 translates into about 25 individuals and families who we couldn’t have helped otherwise but who received the help they needed – simply because you told people that Modest Needs existed!

If the ‘Spread the Word’ contest had only resulted in increased traffic to Modest Needs and our helping an additional 25 people over a three month period, I’d still have called the ‘Spread the Word’ contest a great success. But in spreading the word about Modest Needs, we achieved much more than this.

During the course of the contest, we made an important point: the results of the ‘Spread the Word’ contest proved that we have the power to ‘get the word out’ about Modest Needs – and to help even more people in the process - *without* relying on paid advertising or the media to ‘spread the word’ for us! The long-term success of Modest Needs depends on this very thing – our ‘self-sufficiency’ when it comes to ‘Spreading the Word’ and helping those who need it.

Many of you who now are active members of the Modest Needs community discovered this community via The Today Show, or CBS’ Early Show, or USA Today, or any one of a number of terrific pieces about Modest Needs that found their way into the press during 2002. There’s no denying that, without the help of the media, Modest Needs would not be able to help nearly as many people as we’re now helping every month. For that strong ‘push’, I know we are all incredibly grateful to the members of the media who took an interest in Modest Needs and gave us the publicity that brought most of you to this community in the first place.

Realistically speaking, however, the fact of the matter is this: barring an incredibly dramatic development (for example, an anonymous donor endowing Modest Needs with several million dollars), the work of this community, newsworthy as it is, probably is not ever going to get that amount of media coverage ever again. This is, unfortunately for us, the way the media works. You get one good story, and once that story has been written, you’re no longer ‘news’ in the way that you once were.

This is not ‘bad news’ for us. It simply means that if Modest Needs is going to continue to be successful, if we’re going to continue to help at least the number of people we’re helping every month at this point, then it’s going to be up to us - not advertisers, or the media, but each of us - as individuals – to make that happen. The ‘Spread the Word’ contest has proven that we can effectively ‘get the word out.’ Even though I’d say participation in the ‘Spread the Word’ contest was good, the several hundred people who entered the contest make for less than 1/10th of the active members of the Modest Needs community. And yet, in just three months, that handful of people managed to increase traffic to Modest Needs by 1/3, to raise about $3,000, and to help close to 25 additional persons.

Think about it for a second: if such a small segment of the Modest Needs community can achieve that much in so short a period of time, how much do you think we could achieve if every active member of the Modest Needs community - even just the 7,221 people who receive the Modest Needs News by e-mail –gave just $5 a month towards the needs of others? (That, by the way, would quadruple the amount of funding Modest Needs currently has every month.) What if all of those people actively spread the word to their friends and families about what we were doing? How many people could we help then? How many of you who requested help would get it? How many people’s lives could we touch? I’m sure you see the point that I’m making. The ‘Spread the Word’ contest was a success because it proved – beyond question – that there is literally no way to measure the power that just the current members of this community have to help each other through a difficult time, provided all of us actively work together towards this simple, common goal.

That said, I can now let all of you in on a little secret: The ‘Spread the Word’ contest really was only a test , a ‘dry run.’ On top of everything else, it was designed to teach those of us who work with Modest Needs how to handle contests. Thanks to all of you – your comments, your questions, and your participation – I think we’ve now learned what we needed to know.

Armed with that knowledge, on Wednesday, 15 October 2003, we’re going to launch the contest that I wanted to have in the first place, a contest that is literally going to change the lives of the persons who actively participate in it. And the prizes? Well . . . for starts, remember that photo of the Honda Accord I mentioned at the beginning of this editorial? That’s what’s going to the runner-up. Yes, that’s right. The Honda Accord pictured above is SECOND prize . . . .

So what’s first prize, then? What – within reason – could be better than a car? I’d like to show you a photo of this contest’s grand prize, but unfortunately, I can’t, because there’s no way to photograph the grand prize in this contest. I mean that literally. This contest’s grand prize cannot be captured in a picture. So that means I’m simply going to have to tell you what this contest’s Grand Prize is, and I will - on the 15 October 2003 – on the date that the contest launches. Until then, I’m sworn to secrecy, and I do my best to be a man of my word.

But – without breaking my word – I can tell you this much: the contest we’re about to launch – and both of the prizes we’re offering, including the grand prize itself –all are in keeping with the principles at the heart of Modest Needs. If a large number of you enter the contest – and I’m betting most of you will, especially when you hear what the grand prize actually is (I can’t WAIT to tell you)– then a lot of people are going to get the help they request from Modest Needs, not just now, but for the foreseeable future.

And as for the grand prize itself, right now, I can say only this much: the Grand Prize in this contest is not just some gimmick. It’s a prize so valuable that it’s literally hard to put a price tag on it, to tell you just how much it will be ‘worth’ to the person who wins it. But I can tell you this: the Grand Prize in this contest has the power to change the financial life of the person or family who wins it – not just for today, or tomorrow, but forever.

That is not exaggeration. It’s a promise. And like I said, I’m a man of word. So prepare yourselves for an exciting next three months! I’ll see you again on 15 October, with the contest details. Until then, take care, be well, and let me hear from some of you soon!