Thursday, November 18, 2010 The Greenville News
Other Voices (page 11A)
Generosity and service define our community
This week is recognized across the country as Community Foundation week and also includes National Philanthropy Day. The Community Foundation of Greenville fulfills its mission of bridging purpose and philanthropy in many ways. The best examples are found in the people and organizations that serve as role models of inspired philanthropy.
I want to share some of my experiences with the generosity of the citizens of Greenville County as we pause this Thanksgiving to reflect on our blessings.
Last week the Community Foundation of Greenville awarded Knox and Pricilla Haynsworth the Ruth Alexander Nicholson Award, our highest honor for volunteer leadership. The Haynsworths established Clement's Kindness Fund for the Children to honor their son Clement whom they lost to an unexpected illness and to create a way to help others. Knox and Pricilla first reached out to friends and professional colleagues to create an advisory board. This group of volunteers has raised more than $1.2 million over the last eight years to help families who are patients of the Bi-Lo Charities Children's Cancer Center.
While I am not surprised by the charitable gifts of caring adults and local foundations to Clement's Kindness, I am overwhelmed by the enthusiasm and financial contributions of young children and high school students.
Oakview Elementary School contributed over $17,000 to show lover and encouragement for a classmate who was battling cancer. Later, Greenville High School provided and even larger check to Clement's Kindness as part of its Spirit Week competition. These successes do not occur in a vacuum. There are many other examples of how Greenville responds to calls for service and financial support.
Greenville has a particularly strong track record in supporting faith-based initiatives. United Ministries, the Greenville Area Interfaith Hospitality Network (GAIHN), Salvation Army, Triune Mercy Center and Miracle Hill Ministries are great examples or organizations that are called to feed, clothe, house and minister to the less fortunate and homeless and are financially supported by our churches and their members. The tradition of charitable giving is an important facet of our identity as Americans and people of many faiths.
Greenville's businesses and its workforce also make major financial contributions to our collective well-being. For example, just last week the United Way of Greenville County celebrated raising $14.7 million in a campaign chaired by Dick Wilkerson of Michelin North America. In this incredible bit of good news we learned about our common resolve to prepare children for school, increase the number of high school students who graduate and provide families with strategies for long-term financial success.
While charity provides clear benefits to the giver and receiver alike it is not the only answer for major issues in South Carolina. We are facing hundreds of millions of dollars in budget cuts in 2011. The entire philanthropic capacity of our community will not be able to take on the financial responsibility for state-run programs designed to treat mental illness, protect abused women and children, or provide adequate educations for our students. Comprehensive and equitable tax reform is a necessary condition for philanthropy to flourish.
I am optimistic because Greenville is well known for its ability to support a wide variety of arts and cultural activities, academic enrichment services, public recreational facilities and crisis intervention ministries. People like Knox and Pricilla Haynsworth, Dick Wilkerson and the students of Oakview Elementary School keep my faith strong in the traditions of service and giving that are the hallmarks of our community.
Guest Column
Bob Morris is president of the Community Foundation of Greenville. For more information go to www.cfgreenville.org.