Charity- Who needs it the most?

A few years back, I realised it was time to introduce the idea of 'good deeds' to my 'growing up' boy. So, as a part of his birthday celebration, when he went to the temple, I asked him to keep a small amount of money separate and give it to the person he thinks needs it. We also discussed how and why he should use not only his heart but also his head while taking this decision.

Over the next few days, he kept coming to me asking if the sweeper is needier or the gardener, the life guard or the maid, or the construction workers? (He had been spared the heart-rending scenes of poverty from our own home country until then...). This went on for a few weeks, and then there was quiet...

Unfortunately, it has been a couple of years since then and it is still quiet... I cannot blame my child for poor decision making because the truth is there are so many needy people around that it might seem easier to just donate the money to a charity. If you get talking to anyone, absolutely anyone, and I am assuming they are open to talk to you too, you realise, everyone has a sad story. An absconding maid who continues to work illegally and hence, dangerously only to support her family, the gardener who is young enough to be studying in college himself but has 2 young children and an extended family to support back home, the cleaner who sweeps the roads everyday without any weekly off even in harsh weather conditions, the security guards who keep us safe for a salary that does not match their contribution to our lives or worst, the labourers who slog day and night to build our beautiful buildings, comfortable roads, and magnificent country, patients who cannot afford a life-saving treatment…Where do you stop and where do you begin? Every hand needs a helping hand...

While I have taken it on me to find a charity that we can put our faith and money in, my child has found the idea of sharing food most appealing; imagining the satisfaction from giving a bottle of cold juice to a construction worker in the middle of a hot day…and realising that this way, he will be able to help more people than just one, even if for just that moment!