Covid19. United States. Small but huge donation
Enclosed in a letter to The Society of St. Vincent de Paul was a check and a note
Among the packages of needed items that arrived one recent day was a letter. The return address was the state prison in Florence. Inside was a check and a note on a half-sheet of lined paper: “Please accept this $10 donation. I hope it will help some.” It was signed by John.
Executive director Steve Zabilski has been at the agency for 23 years. He’s seen substantial donations, but this letter touched him in a different way.
It reminded him of the biblical parable of the widow’s mite, in which Jesus was teaching in Jerusalem and a widow gave two coins among the larger donations. It was all she had. And Jesus told his disciples, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything.”
“$10 donation is a lot of money for someone who’s in that environment. Inmates make 10 cents to $3 an hour. With all of his challenges and all of his troubles, he’s thinking of others […]”, Steve said.
Steve doesn’t know John or what he did. He only knows the kindness he exhibited, and he will write to John and tell him how his donation inspired him and others.
“It just goes to show you that all of us, if we choose, if it is our desire,” Steve said, “we can make the world a better place, no matter our situation.”
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