Donor Story: Why I Give

I grew up in the Midwest, where vast open skies go on forever and wheat and corn actually does wave as the wind sweeps across the plains. In the summertime of the 1980s, my mom would give my older sisters and me a jug of ice water in the morning and nudge us outside on the front porch while she closed (and locked) the door behind us.

On sunny mornings, we played with neighbor kids in the city park across the street, took the free tennis lessons that were offered there, and then returned to the backyard when we got hungry, where my mom had left us lunches of PB&J sandwiches and an apple. The afternoons were spent escaping the heat under the canopy of trees that covered the “physical fitness center” my dad had built with his own hands.

We loved the outdoors but we didn’t ever talk about what we needed to do to care for it. We didn’t recycle (except for the occasional soda can) and I remember the running joke we had when we realized my dad’s birthday was also Earth Day. (Why it was funny, I now can’t remember.) Like most people I knew at that time in other big families, money was tight so hand-me-downs were the name of the game and washing out Ziploc bags to reuse them was just what we did. I’ll spare you stories about the cloth diapers I helped my mom launder for my three younger siblings! I assume school taught us something about sustainable practices but I have to admit, not much stuck with me.

As an adult, I was more concerned with advancing in my career than how I cared for the environment. I knew I could recycle and periodically paid the extra fee to do so in the cities where I lived, but I would eventually cancel that service to save a little money every month. I didn’t really think I was “doing recycling correctly” anyway.

As time has gone on, however, I’ve started paying more attention to the climate change buzz that has now grown into more of a frantic swarm. Even though I have largely undereducated myself on the importance of caring for our planet, I can’t help but notice every day that our environment is changing.

When I was first introduced to My Green Earth in 2023, I started to take more of an initiative to learn. I’m still working the baby steps, but I am now choosing to buy biodegradable items and bringing my own bags to the grocery store, avoiding the handful of single-use plastic produce bags I would mindlessly grab and throw away before. I’ve started to recycle small quantities of glass in the Ripple Glass bin near my neighborhood. The biggest shift, however, is that I’m now becoming aware and open. Open to learning, open to changing, open to caring.

Last month, I made my first donation to My Green Earth when I learned about the $15,000 matching gift challenge an anonymous donor had offered. It enabled me to double my donation from $100 to $200. I have seen the value that MGE has brought to my life, in opening my mind and teaching me some things I didn’t learn or understand growing up. It’s never too late to do better.

I invite you to join me in giving this holiday season. MGE is changing people like me, one at a time, and that alone seems like a Christmas miracle.