Sometimes we in the military may forget the real people behind those Combined Federal Campaign donations. Somehow it gets detached during the drive.
Maybe it is that CFC is sometimes used as a competitive device between units. Other times I have heard many of us in the military relate that since we sacrifice so much, why should we donate to others? We are prepared to put our lives on the line for our nation and we are compensated with what – for many ranks – amounts to lower to mid-range middle class pay.
Other times, I hear “why should we send donations outside of our neighborhoods?” All of these are legitimate concerns, but I wish to provide some counterpoints to consider.
Donating to a local cause or your base youth center directly impacts your family. You can see the difference local organizations make in your community. Youth sports programs teach your children healthy activities that can last a lifetime. The youth center provides a safe environment for children while military parents work late hours without worry. The local fundraiser to build a new auditorium or sports arena in your area brings life, safety and nurturing to a community.
But what if you get sick? What local organization will help you and your family? Which one has obtained the resources to do so?
When I was just short of 10 years old, my mom found out she was stricken with a rare form of leukemia. She was given six months to one year to live.
Our wonderful small town in southwest Michigan, as much as we gave to it, did not have the resources to save her. The M.D. Anderson hospital in Houston did, so we moved. M.D. Anderson was a hospital built on private donations from individuals, universities and national organizations, exactly like the ones found in the CFC, as well as by local, state and national grants.
Experimental medicine primarily paid for by government grants and the American Leukemia Society prolonged my mom’s life for 14 years. When she died in 1994, we found out that she had been saved with hundreds of thousands of dollars in pharmaceuticals that we never had to pay, nor could we have.
Without the charity of people I will never meet – and admittedly, the U.S. taxpayer – I very likely would have been left without my mother by age 11. And I don’t know how to say how grateful I am because, other than my wife, I have never met a person as worthy of the title “mom” as her. And I don’t know how to put a price on the 14 years I spent with her and the memories I now hold in my mind.
What is the price of having someone in your life like that? To others, it was a dollar a paycheck but to me it was, and remains, priceless.
And although we sacrifice much for this country, it should never harden our hearts to the plight of others. Of those less healthy, as we have seen in our time deployed. Or to those less fortunate, who strive to make a place for themselves in harsh areas like those we serve in around the world.
Many Airmen we serve with are not financially able to give, and they should not because they must first serve their family. For the rest of us, we have found something unique in that we have found a home and a community, even if temporarily, among our ranks. Not to mention a secure income.
So in this CFC season, please think of those less fortunate who, for whatever reason, are lost and have not found a place where they can belong, as we have.
Thank you for your service and your sacrifice.
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Sometimes we in the military may forget the real people behind those Combined Federal Campaign donations. Somehow it gets detached during the drive.
Maybe it is that CFC is sometimes used as a competitive device between units. Other times I have heard many of us in the military relate that since we sacrifice so much, why should we donate to others? We are prepared to put our lives on the line for our nation and we are compensated with what – for many ranks – amounts to lower to mid-range middle class pay.
Other times, I hear “why should we send donations outside of our neighborhoods?” All of these are legitimate concerns, but I wish to provide some counterpoints to consider.
Donating to a local cause or your base youth center directly impacts your family. You can see the difference local organizations make in your community. Youth sports programs teach your children healthy activities that can last a lifetime. The youth center provides a safe environment for children while military parents work late hours without worry. The local fundraiser to build a new auditorium or sports arena in your area brings life, safety and nurturing to a community.
But what if you get sick? What local organization will help you and your family? Which one has obtained the resources to do so?
When I was just short of 10 years old, my mom found out she was stricken with a rare form of leukemia. She was given six months to one year to live.
Our wonderful small town in southwest Michigan, as much as we gave to it, did not have the resources to save her. The M.D. Anderson hospital in Houston did, so we moved. M.D. Anderson was a hospital built on private donations from individuals, universities and national organizations, exactly like the ones found in the CFC, as well as by local, state and national grants.
Experimental medicine primarily paid for by government grants and the American Leukemia Society prolonged my mom’s life for 14 years. When she died in 1994, we found out that she had been saved with hundreds of thousands of dollars in pharmaceuticals that we never had to pay, nor could we have.
Without the charity of people I will never meet – and admittedly, the U.S. taxpayer – I very likely would have been left without my mother by age 11. And I don’t know how to say how grateful I am because, other than my wife, I have never met a person as worthy of the title “mom” as her. And I don’t know how to put a price on the 14 years I spent with her and the memories I now hold in my mind.
What is the price of having someone in your life like that? To others, it was a dollar a paycheck but to me it was, and remains, priceless.
And although we sacrifice much for this country, it should never harden our hearts to the plight of others. Of those less healthy, as we have seen in our time deployed. Or to those less fortunate, who strive to make a place for themselves in harsh areas like those we serve in around the world.
Many Airmen we serve with are not financially able to give, and they should not because they must first serve their family. For the rest of us, we have found something unique in that we have found a home and a community, even if temporarily, among our ranks. Not to mention a secure income.
So in this CFC season, please think of those less fortunate who, for whatever reason, are lost and have not found a place where they can belong, as we have.
Thank you for your service and your sacrifice.