Its Back On People!

Choices

We all have choices. Every day. All the time.

Every minute is a choice.

A few weeks ago, I endeavored to raise $10,000 for a family. Victims of terror who had a lot of choices taken away from them.

They were about to have another taken away imminently. Due to mounting debts resulting from the trauma of the terror attack they witnessed their home was being foreclosed.

I chose to make it my birthday wish to raise the funds they needed to pay back the bank.

Who did I think I was? What made me think that I could ask people to trust me with their money?

I’ve no idea.

But, I really wanted to help this family. So, I did it. I even made a dumb video of myself to go along with it.

And you know what? We’ve raised about $5,000.

Five thousand dollars!

That’s a lot of money. Eighty people made the choice to give with donations ranging from $5 to $500.

When I told the father he was beyond words. I also put him in touch with One Family, an organization that helps terror victims, and I’m hoping that they will help get his wife the therapies and medications she needs.

Then the elections kicked into high gear and then Purim came along… and the campaign stagnated.

A few incredible people keep checking in and asking if I’d write again and remind people… but I felt I had done all I could, that those who wanted to give, had given and that posting again, asking again, was really just being a nudnik. And I didn’t want to be a nudnik.

Five thousand dollars is amazing right? I had done what I could. I had asked and now it was time to let it be.

But then I thought of the family and how that money would literally change their lives.

I thought of the mother, a dancer who cannot move.

I thought of the kids, of marriageable age but unable to date as there is no money for a wedding.

I thought of the 8 year old who cannot read because no one can take the time to help with his special needs.

I thought of the father trying to hold it all together and I thought…”Tov, I’ll be a nudnik.”

So, I posted and no one responded — but then I got a message:

“How much is missing to complete your 10K goal? Find a matching donor and I’ll give you the other half.”

And just like that it was back on!

It’s back on people!

So this is what I learned.

We can look at something and say its good enough. We can look and say, ah, someone else will do it. We can feel that its just too awkward to ask, try and fail.

we can push a little harder. we can go beyond ‘good enough’.

we can reach for that thing we say is ‘not meant to be’

and the most amazing feeling is when that thing reaches back at you and says, “Yes it is.”

**UPDATE – UKToremet has agreed to help us get to $7,500 by making up the last $450– This means, we need to raise only an additional $750 to reach $10,000 for this family! We will save their home, get tutoring for their child, get their father the help he needs, and give their mother a real shot at getting back on her feet.

Can we do it?

Yes. we. can!

LINK TO DONATE