As I was taking my son to dinner after youth group the other night, he asked me "Hey, where's your friend, that guy who you said lives on the street?" Taking an opportunity to teach, I drove past the building where I can usually find him, and there he was, huddled between the pillars again, all of his belongings around him and under him. I slowed down and explained "there's where he sleeps, every
night, just right there on the ground," and Domenic let out an involuntary "aww". I continued to explain how he goes from one shelter to another where he may find a meal, and sometimes a bathroom to try and clean up. "Doesn't he have money?" Domenic asked, and I explained that he gets only $780 from the government each month, and he has to use that all month long to take care of the basics of living. "Can't he use that money for a house?" he asked, and I explained that even the most inexpensive flophouse hotel would cost him $30 per day, which would leave him with no money for anything else in his life - no food, water, clothes, etc. - and he would have to rely on handouts and hand ups just to barely survive. It became more difficult for him to understand as I talked about how $30 a day might seem like a lot of money to a 12 year old, but that there are people out there who are working two and three jobs, earning $100 per day who still are barely scraping by. He was quiet for the rest of the ride home, and I thought that's where it would end for him, a sad lesson about the poor in America. The following morning, as we were taking care of breakfast, he asked "Daddy, do we still have those old LEGOs you said I needed to give away so that I could get some new sets for my birthday?" I answered "Yes, they're still out on the porch so we can get them to Cradles to Crayons. Why?" He responded "I'd really like to sell them - how much could I get for them?" I told him that they probably wouldn't sell for too much, and asked him why he wanted to sell them instead of donating them. His answer took me close to tears:
"I want to take the money and give it all to that man on the ground. It'll do him a lot more good than if I just give them away. No one should have to sleep on the ground." I told him that was a great idea, and that I'm sure he would appreciate it, but that it probably wouldn't be as much help as he thought. Then, as children sometimes do, he took the chance to teach me, with a sentiment I had explained to him a long time before. "You always say that one thin dime can't do any damage, but if I stack up 1000 dimes, I can smash a window or break bones, and that means change starts with one and the more you add to it, the more damage you can do, right? I have a cool idea ... what if I actually DID stack up a thousand dimes? Or more even? That would help, right? We could call it 'Dom's Dimes'! That would be awesome, right? Can I do that? How would I do that?"
Yes. Yes, you can. Yes, we can. Beginning today, Domenic and I are creating a charitable enterprise to assist the homeless and calling it "DOM'S DIMES". If you get a message from me asking to join the page for it in the next week, I hope you'll consider joining and liking it. The idea is for us to begin the process of collecting, well, DIMES, from any and all sources of donation, and we will be utilizing the funds raised to assist the homeless in the surrounding community. If you have dimes, drop 'em in the mail to my office, or drop 'em of in the collection container at my office, or the one I'll set up at my home. While we would certainly accept contributions of the folding variety, think the symbolism of the dime is important - one is hardly anything, but thousands combined can put a serious dent in an all too large problem in this community and this country. If you want a headstart, here's the address for your DOM'S DIMES dime donations:
21 McGrath Highway, Suite 306
Quincy, Massachusetts 02169
DOM'S DIMES. Stack 'em up for Dom, because it all starts with one thin dime..
