The Power of 41 Cents

     I made my staff cry last week.  I didn't mean to, but I did.  I wasn't yelling at them.  I wasn't showing a sad video or breaking bad news.  I simply brought in a gift; just a few pennies, actually.  Well, a few pennies and a dime or two.  Maybe a nickel.  They could probably tell you better than I could.
     It started one night after work.  I was at home, eating dinner with the family and my wife asked me about the day at Joel's Place.  I was talking through our budget crunch and different donors who were giving generously when my seven year old daughter's head snapped up.
     "Daddy, why do people give money to Joel's Place?" she asked with her head tilted to the side, her braids hanging past her waist.
     "Well, sweetie, they give so that we can stay open and pay our staff salaries," I didn't feel like getting into tax write-offs and government-funded matching grants and mortgage payments. 
     I assumed the conversation was over as I turned back to my dinner, but I recognized a look on my daughter's face.  There is a look of deep concentration that little kids get when they are trying to figure something out.  Their eyes glaze over and their lips purse shut as they try to interpret a new piece of information.  They cannot think this hard and do anything else, so I watched as she sat motionless, her fork frozen in her hand above her plate.
     Finally she snapped back to reality.  A sly smile spread across her face as she slowly got up from the table.
     "Hey kiddo, where are you going?"
     "Nowhere," she replied innocently as she continued backing away from dinner.  She paused, "Wait right here." And then she was gone down the hall, flopping feet echoing through the house.
     It is not a large house that we live in so I could hear her enter her room and mutter to herself as she looked for something.  "Aha!" she exclaimed as she forgot to be stealthy.  Then more muttering as she vainly tried opening whatever it was.
     My wife and I simply ate and shook our heads as the sounds of a Herculean struggle resonated through the halls.  Finally my daughter was victorious, there was never any doubt, and the sound of flopping feet came up the hall behind me.  "Daddy..." she sweetly sang.
     "Mmmm?" I said, stuffing in another bite of dinner.  If you have children, you know that one of their greatest joys in life is keeping their parents from eating.  Ever.  I knew that once I answered my girl, whatever it was that she wanted to talk about would take a while and the food on my plate would continue to sit and mock me.
     "Here daddy," she extended her little hand out to me, "This is for you."  She poured a handful of coins into my hand.  "It's for Joel's Place.  To pay the salary."  She then returned to her seat, humming to herself and grinning at her good deed.
     "Oh sweetie," I replied, "You don't have to do this."  I had a moment of parenting panic where I feared that I had just guilted my daughter into giving away something that would make her very sad later.  And it wasn't going to make any difference to our $20,000 deficit.  "Why don't you take it back and..."
     "No."  She said simply, putting some food into her mouth while answering me.  "It's important that Joel's place gets its salary.  And besides," she gave a little matter-of-fact shrug, "there are people who need that more than me."
     I asked her if she was sure a couple of more times and she did not budge.  Stubborn that one...must get it from her mother.
     I brought in my daughter's Forty One Cents the next morning and hesitantly gave it to the finance manager.  I was concerned that the gift would just create more paperwork for her and would end up being more of a hindrance than anything.  I explained that my daughter wanted to give a donation but I could just keep it in a change jar on my desk if that would be more helpful.  I had not even finished my thought when the money was forcibly removed from my hands and lovingly placed into a donation envelope.
     "Put her name on there," she said, "and we will send her a statement and a thank you note."  News of the gift circulated around the office and every staff member that works here came up to me to tell me how sweet my daughter is.
     But really...what is 41 cents?  It barely covers postage these days and is not going to solve our problems.

     Let me tell you what 41 cents is here at Joel's Place.  41 Cents is the precious gift of someone offering everything they have to help those less fortunate.  41 Cents is encouragement and hope and affirmation for a staff who have only had bad news recently.  41 Cents is a tiny mustard seed that will soon erupt into an enormous blessing.  Did you know that if everyone in Fairbanks gave us 41 Cents, our $20,000 deficit would be completely wiped out?

     My daughter and my staff taught me a valuable lesson.  Value the small things.  Honor the giver, no matter the size of the gift.  This thing that we do, this mission that we call Joel's Place, it is too big and too important to be operated by any one person or supported by any one check.  It is only through the generosity of an entire community, giving what they can, that this will thrive.  That is the power of 41 Cents.