CHARITY

It is not easy to grab a blank paper and start writing about ‘charity’. 

This word is bigger than it looks like, and there are multiple ways to intend it, and more surprisingly to me, different ways to perform it. 

I grow up thinking that charity was only a Catholic thing, you give money or used clothes to the Church and the Church gives them to the ‘poors’. I thought that only big organizations can take good care of people in need, and that the sole help we can provide on our own is to contribute economically and be ready to participate ‘emotionally’, when asked. I even composed a wonderful essay on my high school graduation, which rewarded me with the highest score and the compliments by the examiner. Happy for that, but if you ask me now, I cannot truly remember what was the content of that paper.

The fact is – and I think I have just started realizing it now – that there is no standard way to volunteer for the others. It is extremely personal. Some people may have money to offer but no time, while some others would have time but can’t afford paying high fees to participate to any fundraising activity. I think there is no right or wrong way to do charity, as long as it comes from an honest will to give help, and a respectful way to offer it. 

This is what AHFC is about for me. I was willing to do something, but not being an entertainer, a life coach nor a therapist, I didn’t know where to start from. With AHFC I have learned to just-start-simple. And so far I have to say, sitting next to people looking for company, listening to their words, or their silence, is the most rewarding score I have ever received.