Generosity

This past week we celebrated two extraordinary acts of generosity in our community: the gift of the Amerisafe Pavilion and retirement.

            On Tuesday night we had a dinner at the Impromptu – now the Wooten Theatre.  We honored Johnny Wooten for his generous challenge gift, a gift matched by many of you.  For the first time, the Impromptu Players are debt free in their new home.  The theatre has been renamed in honor of Johnny’s parents, John and Bickie Wooten, who were killed in a boating accident in 1978.  John Wooten was Mayor of DeRidder from 1954 to 1958.  Bickie Wooten taught several hundred of us as we passed through the fifth grade.

            Friday afternoon we officially dedicated the Amerisafe Pavilion.  Allen Bradley, the CEO of Amerisafe, said some very nice things about our community – as he usually does.  I think the Amerisafe employees are proud of the pavilion.  We are certainly grateful to them for supporting the project.  The pavilion was their gift.  The dedicating plaque reads, in part: “Presented as a forum for commerce and culture.”  It will serve not only as a vendor’s market, but as a place for public gatherings of all types.  It belongs to the citizens of Beauregard Parish.

            I have been wondering just what causes people to give.  The Journal of Philanthropy is devoted to this topic.  You can read about whether men give more than women, Republicans more than Democrats, or Baptists more than Presbyterians.  The answer to the first is women.  It is a longevity thing.  Women control most of the wealth in our country.  I will not comment on the other two.  Talking about brands of religion or politics will generally lead to an argument.  If you really want to know, you can read the journal and find out.  It is all there.

            I’m sure that giving is partially a function of training.  Those little white envelopes they hand out in Sunday School have a certain air of mystery about them.  Surely most children wonder just where the money in the envelope disappears to.  Hopefully, it is true that there are kindhearted, generous people in the world no matter what their upbringing, people who want to do good for the sake of doing good.  I suppose we could call them secular saints.

            Perhaps there is really no explanation as to the “why” of giving.  Many years ago I was Associate Director of Development for a small college in Georgia.  It was founded as a “normal” school.  If you are over sixty you will remember that “normal” schools were established primarily to train teachers.  Northwestern in Natchitoches began as a “normal” school. 

            We wanted to have a big fundraising drive, what nowadays we would call a capital campaign.  The problem was, most of our graduates were teachers, and the accepted wisdom was that teachers didn’t have any money.  Finally, a potential contributor was identified, although his relationship with the school was tenuous.  Someone thought he had taken a night class about twenty years before.  A cold call was made, and the caller walked out of the meeting with a check for one million dollars.  Sometimes maybe the secret is just to ask.

            One thing I am absolutely certain of: generosity merits gratitude.  To the employees of Amerisafe, I say, “Thank You.”   To Johnny Wooten, I say, “Thank you.”  I urge you, the reader, to do the same. These gifts are truly exceptional.  They define generosity.