Donations of time, money help bridge gaps

The gifts of the season come for many reasons.

Tax deductions may determine the timing, but that's not why people give.

For some, giving is a family tradition that spans several generations. Others seek a form of immortality by endowing a building or a scholarship with their name. Many give modestly from meager monetary resources but give lavishly of their time.

"Fundamentally, donors want to change the world," said Alan Hutson, a principal at The Monument Group of fundraising consultants. "They believe in a cause worth parting with some money from their own pocket — not just a cause they want to talk about, but invest in."

Sharon Larkins-Pederson, who retired as a senior development officer for the MCV Foundation, agreed. "People who give really big money, contrary to what a lot of people seem to think, it's not for the tax benefit, although that's a handy thing. The reason they give is because they have a passion for things."

A sense of gratitude also inspires giving, said Everett Worthington, a psychology professor at Virginia Commonwealth University.

"If they have just received some enormous blessing or gift or have a sense that they have received something they don't deserve, they're more willing to pass that along to other people," Worthington said. "Someone who wins the lottery, they end up often giving a lot of money away to friends and family members. They've got this gift of largess that came to them seemingly randomly, and they just want to pass this along."

In Richmond, people who give in extraordinary ways cite many of those motivations.

"We are so blessed in this country," said William B. Moskowitz, chairman of pediatric cardiology at VCU Medical Center and an active volunteer with the Richmond-based International Hospital for Children hub on the island of St. Vincent. He usually goes to St. Vincent twice a year for about a week at a time. He also operates on children who come to Richmond for treatment.

"People have no idea how the rest of the planet gets by. We have such a false sense of entitlement," Moskowitz said. "Every medical student needs to go to these countries even for a week. You come back a changed person."

Worldwide, he said, 15 million children suffer from preventable heart disease, such as rheumatic fever.

"You don't see that here because we have access to health care and readily available penicillin," he said.

Moskowitz screened about 850 children in St. Vincent using echocardiograms and found an incidence of rheumatic-fever heart problems almost 100 times higher than in the United States. In some areas, 40 percent of the children were carriers of the strep bacteria, which causes rheumatic fever. All of the carriers were treated with penicillin. Next year, he will go back for another screening.

"I can sleep well at night knowing that I am doing my part to help as many kids be as healthy as they can be because I have the ability to do that," he said. "I'm blessed in what I've been able to do in this country from an educational standpoint, being able to do the high-quality stuff I do here. This gives me an opportunity to give back, just as simple as that."

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When Santa Claus comes to Page and Jeff Allende's Christmas party in Henrico County, it's to tell the children how much he appreciates their giving spirit.

Every child brings a gift to donate. During the party, they also create something to give the group they're supporting that year.

"The reason he always stops by that party is because the children are remembering to do for others, and his big job is doing for others," Allende said. "He likes to stop by to let the children know how much he appreciates them helping him."

This year's cause was ASK, a support organization for families of children with cancer, and the party project was making door hangers to decorate the rooms of children who will be in the hospital this holiday season.

Page Allende's giving is a year-round process that continues through three generations of her family. Her parents, longtime philanthropists Frank E. "Pepper" Laughon Jr. and Stuart Laughon, began an exercise last summer to involve the family in their giving decisions through The Community Foundation Serving Richmond and Central Virginia.

"I think it's important that the younger generation understands what goes on in the community and how they can be a part of it," Frank Laughon said.

Working with Lisa O'Mara and Teri Lovelace at The Community Foundation, the family identified values they shared and decided to volunteer last summer at the Southside Child Development Center, where the Laughons have also donated money.

Their efforts culminated with a beach day because many of the children had never been to the ocean. They helped decorate picture frames with seashells, and then they brought in a beach towel, Hawaiian shirt, sunglasses and hat so children could dress up one by one for a "beach" picture to put in the frame.

"The kids loved it," Allende said. "They loved the relationships forged with children who come from different backgrounds than they do."

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Bentley Mescall, 9, of Richmond turned her grief from the death of a cousin into a lesson in gratitude.

She was 6 when her "absolute best friend!" Jake Dixon died of an undetectable virus that caused his organs to fail. When she went back to The Steward School, she didn't talk for an entire week.

"I just couldn't calm down and I was crying a lot. I was confused, scared and angry," she wrote in a letter about the help she got from Full Circle Grief Center, based in Henrico. She mailed it to friends and relatives and raised $1,700 for the center.

"Full Circle has helped me calm down a lot, but in a fun way," Bentley said in the letter, "such as writing journals, decorating Christmas trees, painting, drawing, doodling and more. And for the first time, I met other kids just like me and they could understand. ... I wrote this letter because I want to help raise money so Full Circle can help many more kids like me."

Delaney Mescall, her mother, said it was "such a wonderful letter. I was prepared to get really nice donations, but not prepared for how much it would touch other people and how they would tell me about it. They wrote back to say they were really proud of her."

From now on, giving to Full Circle is a way they remember Jake, Mescall said. "We're doing gifts for families going through their program that are financially hard off. Holidays are really bad the first time around after a loss."

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Larkins-Pederson, formerly with MCV Foundation, can think of a long list of big Richmond donors who have supported their passions with money.

William H. Goodwin Jr. and Alice Goodwin remembered a friend who had been ill with cancer when they made gifts to cancer research at VCU, one of many organizations they have supported.

C. Kenneth and Dianne Wright made a major donation to the VCU Engineering School after making a fortune in the rental car business.

"This town has a tremendous number of people who are tremendously generous, and a lot of them do it anonymously. It comes back to the passions people have," Larkins-Pederson said. "It doesn't need to be a bazillion dollars."

At Duke University, where Larkins-Pederson worked before VCU, "There was a little old lady in South Carolina who had been a housemaid. She came up for her care at Duke. She would send $5 a month to Duke in appreciation for the care they gave her.

"We have had people like that at MCV. They walk into the foundation offices and say, 'I ain't got much, but I sure do appreciate what Dr. So-and-So did for me, and I want to donate.' It could be $10.

"It adds up. It makes a difference."

kcalos@timesdispatch.com

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