Photo from YourErie.com
Without further ado, your Idiotville feel-good story of the week: https://www.yourerie.com/amp/news/local-news/erie-community-foundation-announces-more-than-35-million-in-quarterly-grants/1703543271
The Erie Community Foundation (ECF) is awarding some serious money. ECF is a collection of over 700 individual endowments all pooled together, so it operates like one single charity. Every quarter, they award grants to various non-profits around Idiotville to help those people help more people.
This past quarter they granted $3,541,175, and it’s going all over the place. I could tell you all about where this money is going and what it will buy, but you might as well look for yourself on the ECF website right here.
What’s even crazier is the total amount given out in grants and scholarships in 2018 – $17,060,054. Over $17 million! An amount like that comes from a ton of people giving amounts large and small, whatever extra they have in the belief that they are on Earth to help others as well as themselves.
It’s so easy to focus on negative news these days – fear and loathing tend to get the most clicks and eyeballs – but while we’re busy obsessing over drugs and breaking the murder record and Donald Trump (looking at myself on that last one) and whose fault everything is that’s wrong with the world, the vast majority of people aren’t engaging in those atrocities.
It’s important to remember that. Almost all of us are hard-working, law-abiding Idiots that want enough money to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table, with just enough extra to stop the anxiety from creeping in during the free time. Beyond that, most of us recognize some people genuinely need our help, and are willing to put our money where our mouths are.
If you gave to the ECF lately, or any other charity, be proud of that. You didn’t climb the ladder of success just to pull it up behind you. You’re helping our town stay resilient and an overall great place to live. If you’re able to give to charity and haven’t yet, it’s never too late to start. You can help Idiotville be even more generous in 2019.
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