Community Service

On Saturday, as fate would have it, my whole family did some community service. D2 participated in an activity through her sorority at UF, and D1 and Wifey volunteered at the animal shelter in North Dade --helping groom the dogs there to make them more adoptable.

Meanwhile, I spent a few hours meeting with a young teen and her mother, in my role as a guardian ad litem for her PI case. I was volunteered for the duty by Dave, a PI lawyer acquaintance, and I interviewed the young lady and her mom, and came home and drafted a report.

I was quite proud of us, honestly. We have so many blessings, and are so lucky in so many ways, and when we give back --well, that's as good as it gets.

My parents taught charity by example when I was growing up. There wasn't a lot of extra money, but my mother was always involved in Ort, a group that built schools in Israel, and she also gave time and money to my schools. I remember working at flea markets in Freeport, a poor town on LI, to raise money for Ort.

My father used to love it. As a born salesman, he enjoyed rearranging the items for sale, to make them more attrractive. He beamed once when a whole pile of toys which had been sitting unnoticed flew off of the table.

My father also had a much funnier, jaded view of giving back. He was a Liberal, but not a politically correct one. One gorgeous Spring day, I remember my mother asking him to stay home from work. As he left for the LIRR station, he said "I can't. I'm not only working for us, you know. I figure the taxes I pay support about 10 Puerto Ricans in Spanish Harlem --they're depending on me!"

No wonder I became such a wise ass. I had a great mentor.

When my firm was making money, we greatly enjoyed our charitable endeavors. We gave, in retrospect, far too much to a Chasidic synagogue, but I don't really regret it. My father had the 10 Puerto Ricans --I figure my partner and I had the 10 members of the Rabbi's family...

I proudly became a U Miami "Founder" when my contributions to my alma mater, in total, exceeded $100K. My education and the contacts I made at UM were everything to me, professionally, as well as crucial personally (most of my closest friends have UM ties). When I was able to repay the scholarship UM gave me, many times over, well, all self deprecation aside --I was mighty happy about it.

My Ds inherited the bug, too. As proud as I am of all their accomplishments, seeing their charitable side holds a special joy for me.

And Wifey, too, of course. Although she cares more about animals and old people than I do...

Meanwhile, my partner Paul started a reading program for inner city kids both in Miami and his native Philly. His son participates, and also donates a lot of his family business's products to local charities. When Paul's daughter Tracy got married last summer, she and her husband Jon asked people to donate to Paul's reading charity in their honor.

Paul cried a lot at his daughter's wedding weekend. When he saw the message in the wedding program, his tears were more plentiful, and they were tears of amazing pride.

I saw some of that last Saturday. It's as good as it gets.