Read

Giving to Charity Isn't the Only Way to Help Those In Need

Published:
December 5, 2023
November 2, 2017
Close up photo of a man's dirt-covered hands wearing fingerless gloves.|Grotto quote graphic about how to help the poor that reads, "Maybe we can go a little deeper this Advent, and share the joys and hopes, griefs and anxieties of those we encounter."

Hurricanes in Houston and Puerto Rico. An earthquake near Mexico City. A massacre in Las Vegas. War in Syria. Homelessness right here at home.

Sometimes it’s hard not to be overwhelmed with all the natural and manmade disasters, and it may be even harder to know what to do about any of them in order to help. How can I make an impact? Especially in the face of so many epic, large-scale tragedies, where do I start — if I can start at all?

If you’re like me, when I’m especially moved by the suffering of people somewhere, I’ll give money to a charity like Catholic Relief Services or to my local homeless shelter. I know service providers need my donation, however meager it is, and I’m glad to be able to do something…something is better than nothing, right?

But, especially in these weeks right before Christmas, when I allow myself to feel a little more sentimental than at other times of the year, I’m left with a nagging feeling that I ought do more than just make a donation.

I’ve been pretty blessed, and I feel like I could do more for others.

I have a ton of respect for people who give up everything and move across the world to help. But I’m just not sure that that’s for me, at least right now. So what else could I do?

Here are three steps to lead a more generous life of service that goes beyond giving to charity.

Step 1: Encounter your own poverty

This step sounds like a total cop out. I can hear you asking: ‘Really, the first step to helping other people is to think about myself?’ Well…yes, but stay with me.

Whether we’re materially poor, wealthy, or somewhere in between, we all have unmet needs and longings. Maybe you’re lonely. Or you’re unfulfilled with your work. Or scared about something going on with a loved one. Maybe you’re asking what everything is all about, and you’re not finding satisfying answers.

These are genuine, often swept-under-the-proverbial-rug poverties. They’re categorically different from being chronically hungry or lacking safe shelter, but they’re real, and we would do well not to be anesthetized to them.

I’m not suggesting you compare your poverty to others’. (Don’t do that. Seriously. Nothing good comes from that.) I’m just saying that recognizing where you’re wanting is a good first step to encountering others.

It’s the very human condition of “wanting” that we confront anew during Advent while we recognize that each of us is waiting and longing for more.

Step 2: Be alert to the poverty of those around you

It’s way too easy to convince ourselves that nearly everyone around us has everything together. My Instagram feed is full of people showing off their best moments. But of course that’s a mirage. Poverty is lurking everywhere, though a lot of us — myself included — can be blind to it.

The world is full of people in need. So is your apartment building. So is your next meeting at work, and your next class. So is your family. Some of the people you’ll encounter today may be materially poor: they might be hungry, homeless, or dying. And others who appear to have everything in their lives firing on all cylinders may be inching toward the edge of their hope.

For this step, what I’m suggesting is that we be attentive. Who have you overlooked or walked by without really seeing? Which burdens of those around you have been caught in your blind spots?

Hopefully, by being attentive to the ways you are left wanting (see: Step 1), it will be a little easier to be more sensitive to the needs of those around you. And I’m convinced that the best way to grow in compassion for those suffering all over the world is to increase our sensitivity to the people right in front of us who harbor pains and fears.

Step 3: Meet people who possess poverty, but attend to their riches

This is the hardest step, because it asks us to reach a little bit out of our day-to-day comfort and actually do something.

It’s easy to give a couple dollars to a person on the street. It’s harder — but still not that hard — to buy somebody a sandwich or a bottle of water. But what if we committed to getting to know a person in need once in a while?

Come to know the story of the person who’s asking for money on the street; or the older neighbor who’s trying to make sense of life since her husband died; or the immigrant who is scared of being deported.

Have a conversation. Invite somebody into your home for a meal. Tell somebody about your interests, and listen to theirs.

Entering into a real, genuine relationship with people in your community who are experiencing some sort of difficulty will underscore for you that we are all more than our poverties.

In fact, the story of a life is usually best told when a person can share their gifts, experiences, wisdom, riches. The real shame is that so often we get defined by what we lack and not by what we have. Give somebody a gift by coming to know them for who they really are, and let them come to know you, too.

I think Pope Francis captures this idea beautifully: “We may think of the poor simply as the beneficiaries of our occasional volunteer work, or of impromptu acts of generosity that appease our conscience. However good and useful such acts may be...they ought to lead to a true encounter with the poor and a sharing that becomes a way of life.”

So, I hope you can give what you can to charities — so many of them do such great, important work. But maybe we can go a little deeper this Advent, too, and share the joys and hopes, griefs and anxieties of those we encounter.

Grotto quote graphic that reads, "Maybe we can go a little deeper this Advent, and share the joys and hopes, griefs and anxieties of those we encounter."

Creators:
Chuck Lamphier
Published:
December 5, 2023
November 2, 2017
On a related note...
A Practice in Mutual Restoration

A Practice in Mutual Restoration

Nicole Watt

This School Gives Inner-City Students Corporate Training

This School Gives Inner-City Students Corporate Training

Grotto

The Importance of a Support System When You’re Far from Home

The Importance of a Support System When You’re Far from Home

Liz Palmer

Creative Ways to Spend Your 21st Birthday

Creative Ways to Spend Your 21st Birthday

Coty Miller

How to Settle into a New Neighborhood

How to Settle into a New Neighborhood

Clare Rahner

5 Steps to Becoming More Body-Inclusive

5 Steps to Becoming More Body-Inclusive

Jessica Ping-Wild

Meet This Year's Global Teacher Prize Winner

Meet This Year's Global Teacher Prize Winner

Grotto Shares

Easter Celebrations by Grotto Network

Easter Celebrations by Grotto Network

Grotto

In the Can, Not the Bay

In the Can, Not the Bay

Grotto

Saving Lives One Bar of Soap at a Time

Saving Lives One Bar of Soap at a Time

Grotto

Welcome to the Neighborhood: Near North Side

Welcome to the Neighborhood: Near North Side

Jennon Bell Hoffmann

"The Near North Side is a heady mix of high-end luxury, energetic nightlife, and scene-making restaurants."

Caring for the Elderly in Kenya

Caring for the Elderly in Kenya

Grotto

These Ballplayers Are Embracing the Unexpected — Even Off the Field

These Ballplayers Are Embracing the Unexpected — Even Off the Field

Grotto Shares

How Venerable Matt Talbot Turned His Life Around

How Venerable Matt Talbot Turned His Life Around

Molly Gettinger

Volunteering at a Cat Rescue Keeps This Couple Strong

Volunteering at a Cat Rescue Keeps This Couple Strong

Grotto

Civil Rights Lawyer Doubles as Radio DJ

Civil Rights Lawyer Doubles as Radio DJ

Grotto

Life Lessons From the Band Switchfoot

Life Lessons From the Band Switchfoot

Isaac Huss

Salesian Priests Give Hope to Victims of Sex Trafficking

Salesian Priests Give Hope to Victims of Sex Trafficking

Mary Rose Somarriba

From Abandoned Lot to a Fruitful Garden

From Abandoned Lot to a Fruitful Garden

Grotto

7 Tips for Moving to a New City

7 Tips for Moving to a New City

Mike Jordan Laskey

newsletter

We’d love to be pals.

Sign up for our newsletter, and we’ll meet you in your inbox each week.