Charity--Not to Toot My Own Horn

It really isn't. I'm not trying to call attention to us as if what we've done is so great, but I want to make you, all my friends, aware of an awesome giving opportunity.

Dave and I just got our federal tax return back, and we wanted to tithe off the portion of money that had been withheld and never tithed. After we figured out what that amount was, we began watching for opportunities that would truly make the world a better place. Also, we wanted something that would stretch our dollar as far as possible.

Enter World Vision! We've been supporting a little girl in Ecuador for years and years. World Vision's mailings keep us up-to-date on giving opportunities around the world and we found two that fit the bill for what we wanted to do.

Many of you know there is a food crisis going on in Africa right now. The pictures are heartbreaking, but World Vision has a program that delivers a low-cost, locally-made, high-protein bar to the malnourished. Within WEEKS--not the usual months--people are  recovering! One such product is Plumpy'nut. Here's the great thing, if you call World Vision at 1.888.511.6534 and donate to the Horn of Africa fund, your money will be multiplied by 5!

But, Dave and I asked, what good is having food if you can't stay healthy? We decided to split our given amount in two and donate the other half to deliver medicine to hurting, sick communities. Drug manufacturers have donated the medicine, but donors need to cover the delivery of antibiotics, antifungals, de-worming meds, pain meds, and surgical supplies. The effect of this is your money is multiplied by 11!

To recap, Horn of Africa = $5x;  Life-saving Medicine = $11x.

A further illustration:
You decide to donate $100 of your tax refund. You split it in half. $50 to feed hungry Africans becomes $250. $50 to buy medicine becomes $550. Your $100 streeeeeeetches out to $1250.

And the feeling after you donate is priceless.

The Riddle of the Mysterious Ice Cream

First of all, I must tell you that everything I write in this post is 100% the truth. Solve the riddle with that in mind ... :)

Yesterday, as I transplanted some purple pansies, a man walked onto our short, dead-end street.

"Would you like some free ice cream?" he called out.

I stood, removed my dirty gardening gloves, and shook them out as I walked toward him. "Wow, that's a proposition that would be crazy to turn down."

He held out a few ice cream sandwiches.

And I thanked him and took them.

From a perfect stranger.

I promise that I had never seen this man before in my life, yet I took ice cream from him--free ice cream--and ate it. Not only that, but I also shared with three of the kids.

And nothing was wrong with it.

Can you figure out the riddle? Why was this behavior okay?

I might send a little prize to the first person to guess the correct answer.