giving forward

Back in October, my dear work colleague Ginevra told me her dog Stella had to have surgery. Ginevra and I have been working together for quite some time. In fact, she came aboard to help me during my busiest moment at Six Apart. Since we sat next to each other, we've shared many stories, and I've admired her strength, diligence, and cheer in quite a few bumps she's had to deal with. In fact, Stella's surgery was just one of a pile of things she was facing.

So Dav and I donated a chunk to her Stella fund.

But there is a another context: Dav and I often talk about how fortunate we are. Just knowing about global affairs and traveling internationally makes us very aware that we are extremely lucky to have our lifestyle and choices. Thus, we decided to donate money to individuals when we come across an occasion where it would make a difference in that person's life.

In many ways, Ginevra is as fortunate as us in the sense that we don't live in war, are employed, have great friends, don't worry about food, etc. And Dav and I first envisioned donating to more extreme cases such as a homeless person, or someone needing medical attention. But Dav and I had not come across anyone. We didn't want to give to some random person or organization. Rather, we wanted to come across a specific situation, and then offer help if we knew it was needed.

Even though the Stella fund was different from our vision, I felt Ginevra was a great candidate for our first donation. Without going into details, 2005 sucked for her. She had sucky thing after sucky thing try to drag her down. And I wanted to applaud her for not giving up.

And I knew I was right. Because sure Ginevra would have been fine anyway...but you what she did? Now that things are going better for her, she recently donated that chunk of cash to someone else who needed it. And that person REALLY needs it. This is exactly what we wanted. Spread the love, give forward, and let kindness inspire. :)

ps. After a long hard recovery, Stella is doing fine, sweet girl.