It’s Giving Tuesday! Please be prepared. Be ready. I wasn’t.

It was a blustery Black Friday evening. Downtown Oxford was bustling with shoppers. Very cold, I was in a hurry to get to an important meeting. I rounded a corner in a rush to pull cash from my bank’s ATM.

But it was occupied. A thin fellow huddled motionless in his worn hoodie.

I waited, briefly. But he didn’t move a
muscle. Aargh, I had no time for a
stranger blocking my way.

I asked, “Could you please step
aside so I can use the ATM?”

As he turned, the anguish on his face
surprised me. An avalanche of words
poured forth.

“Can you help me? My mother will
die without surgery. I must wire her
money now. My bank is closed. Its
ATM does not work.  She will die
without this money.”

To prove his sincerity, he pulled out a large wad of cash and showed me. I slowed him down. “First, please put your money away and don’t show it to people. Now. Where are you from?”

“Nigeria.”

Then to protect him before involving others, I checked his legal status, “Do you have a job here?”

“Yes, I work at a grocery store.”

I pointed him down the block to a money transfer shop.

“I went there, but they cannot help me.”

I looked at this thin African youth with just an old sweatshirt to shield against the bitter cold. I wondered if they took him seriously. So, I sent David over to arrange the wire transfer. And I tried to activate the ATM.

David failed; the shop’s wire systems were down. I failed; the ATM was out of order. So the Nigerian fellow turned back to me, pleading over and over, “My mother will die.  I must send money to her now.”

I frantically checked my phone for other wire transfer shops. Cellular reception is famously lousy in Oxford. So I dashed around the area to try to get a connection, to no avail. Finally, I gave up, “I don’t know how to help you more.”

Dejected, he walked away, so I called out, “I will pray for you.” To my surprise, he ran back eagerly, waiting for a prayer.

So I prayed right then and there, out loud in the crowd. “Lord, you are near to the broken-hearted, you save those who are crushed in spirit, you rescue those in
distress from all their troubles. Help this desperate young man!”

Then he turned and vanished into the crowded street,
running to save his mother’s life.

After that evening meeting in our warm home, tons of other ways to help popped into my head. Why didn’t I send David ahead to the meeting alone? Or cancel it altogether? Why didn’t I ask a shopkeeper to use their internet to search for wire transfer shops? Why didn’t I take him into a store and buy him a proper coat?  Why didn’t I get his phone number so I could follow up?

Why? Why? Why?

I was not ready. My focus was on me. My convenience. My agenda. My schedule.  His desperation caught me by surprise. My heart still aches thinking of him. He was not a faceless stranger blocking my way.

Today is Giving Tuesday. Are you ready? Are you prepared to give? Not just cash, but something more valuable.

Your talent. Your time. Your tenacity. Yourself.

We with Dreams InDeed want to give to you this Tuesday. We give you our sincere thanks for standing with us. Unlike this dear young man, we know we are not alone and you are proof of that. Truly, thank you.

Ready? Get set. Give!

Janice L Hayashi Haskell
Vice-President of Programme