I watched a TV program this past weekend that got me thinking. The name of the program is called, The Secret Millionaire.
A film crew follows a millionaire into a struggling community where they spend a week or 2 helping out as a volunteer.
In this particular episode, they filmed a businessman who spent the week with a basketball coach and his wife who provide coaching and training for underprivileged girls.
The coach and his wife provide an outlet to the street life which involves drugs, gangs, violence and prostitution.
With very little money, but through sheer passion, determination and love for the work they do and the help they provide, the coach and his wife have managed to keep this community going.
As an avid basketball player and fan himself, the businessman is so taken aback by the great work of this couple, that at the end of the week working as a volunteer, he reveals his true identity and also gives the community $30k and the coach himself $25k.
What struck me about the program was the personal nature of the giving. The businessman didn’t just donate his money to some charity, but actually went into a community that was aligned with his own interest and engaged with it before giving money to the coach and the community.
Not only that, he’s also made lifelong friends with the coach and wants to play an active role in the shaping of this local community. The businessman has realized that he has enough money to live comfortably and chooses to engage with and give back to this particular community.
Together with the fostering of community, there’s development of raw passion, skills and talents. And the coach gets the recognition he so rightly deserves. I wonder if the development of such local communities through the natural process of giving by people in positions to do so, could affect the world we inhabit today?
No comments:
Post a Comment