A friend stopped by a couple of months ago to visit, hoping to cheer me up following a medical incident, and waved a fistful of $100 bundles of single bills. After a pleasant conversation, he offered to leave some cash to help with any need.
After I told him my personal funds were sufficient, he dropped two bundles and invited me to “do good.” I accepted, telling him I would report back on how his money would be used.
The first thoughts were along the lines of what can be seen on social-media feeds — videos and reels of influencers and everyday philanthropists buying meals in bulk for the homeless, handing a wad of cash to an unexpectant recipient on the street or stealthily swiping a credit card at the grocery store checkout to pay for the purchases of elderly customers.
Rather, I settled on two ideas: to involve others as the givers — perhaps youth or children, whose eyes might light up at the sight of a stack of 100 $1 bills — and to have it be a learning, memorable effort where they decide whom and how to help.
First, I asked a friend, Bishop Andrew Barnes of the Sunset 10th Ward in Provo, Utah, if he could visit with his priests quorum members about how they could “do good” for others with $100. There were no conditions given, but I was secretly hoping they would do more than simply plan a quorum party to invite others who don’t attend church regularly.
Bishop Barnes later reported the quorum had decided it would donate the money to a local food bank — and spend several hours on a Tuesday evening at the food bank unloading pallets, organizing boxes of food and providing other assistance as needed.
Visiting the quorum one Sunday with the $100, I related the circumstances of the money and the invitation to do good.
In the end, the young men did more than merely forward a relatively small amount of money they had unexpectedly received — they multiplied the donation many times over by giving of their own time and efforts. Several later spoke to me individually of their service and learnings from the experience.
“Great service and great acts of caring need no currency, need no monetary element. The greatest value is when we give of ourselves — our time, our attention, our best efforts, our love.”
— Scott Taylor
Last month, as my wife and I spent the Thanksgiving holiday with our oldest son’s family in Washington state, I asked for some time one evening. Showing the remaining $100 bundle to our four grandchildren, ages 6 to 13, I gave them the background story and forwarded the invitation to do good. I suggested some possibilities they could consider with their parents — a donation to a local charity, perhaps using the money to help a family or maybe dividing the cash among the four to use $25 each to help a young peer.
We learned from a recent evening call that the family had selected a local organization that provides homeless moms and their kids transitional housing. Our son told us they were driving home from purchasing suggested items from a local store in their Seattle suburb and the kids from the back of the car excitedly chimed in about carrying baskets from aisle to aisle, making the selections, trying to decide what else to purchase and then anticipating the delivery of their donation.
In the end, it’s not just about the two $100 bundles. Individuals and families contribute donations and service in amounts and values of hundreds and thousands of times that $200 amount. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints spent $1.45 billion to care for those in need last year alone.
In fact, it’s really not about the money at all — although the $100 in the headline and the bills in the above photo might have brought you here. Great service and great acts of caring need no currency, need no monetary element. The greatest value is when we give of ourselves — our time, our attention, our best efforts, our love.
The key is to do good. The Savior, Jesus Christ, was described by Peter as one “who went about doing good” (Acts 10:38).
President Gordon B. Hinckley taught in the April 2006 general conference, “There is no end to the good we can do, to the influence we can have with others.”
And in the Book of Mormon, King Benjamin teaches by word and example that “when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God” (Mosiah 2:17).
Postscript to my friend Jamie: This is my report.
— Scott Taylor is managing editor of the Church News.
