The spirit of generosity

As we consider New Year’s resolutions this week, I’d like to suggest that in 2026 we all try to be more generous, not just financially, but spiritually as well.

This came to me last week, the day before Christmas, as I read about Rick Steves, the European tour guide whose travelogues are favorites on public television. Steves, who lives in western Washington state, heard that a nearby homeless shelter was facing closure because it couldn’t pay the rent. So Steves bought the property for $2.25 million in Lynwood and vowed to keep it open so homeless could continue to receive free showers, food and clothing there.

“I really take ‘Love your neighbor’ seriously,” Steves told the Washington Post a few days before Christmas.

Generosity is needed more than ever these days, since we can’t count on government to help us out. We have to depend on the kind hearts of friends as well as strangers. Fortunately, we have a lot of kind-hearted people around here who have the same generosity of spirit, if not the financial resources, of Rick Steves.

For example, nearly 1,500 Storm Lakers receive assistance each month from the non-profit food bank distribution. Thank you!

Hundreds of Buena Vista County school children receive warm winter clothes thanks to donations to this newspaper’s annual Mr. Goodfellow campaign. In this, its 101st year, kind-hearted readers have given nearly $15,000 this winter to Mr. Goodfellow to help keep our kids warm. Thank you!

Upper Des Moines Opportunity’s Adopt-A-Family program brought out so many giving people at Christmastime that all of the families were adopted before the list of needy families was even announced. Thank you!

Our readers have shown their generosity at other times besides the holidays. In 2015 we asked for help to send older military veterans on Honor Flights to Washington, D.C. Readers responded with more than $42,000 so no veteran from Buena Vista County would be left behind. Thank you!

In the throes of the covid pandemic five years ago, this newspaper — like many businesses — faced an existential threat as advertising dried up when businesses closed. Once again our readers stepped forward not only by renewing their subscriptions and placing ads, but they also sent us donations large and small to keep our community’s voice going during this crisis. We couldn’t have made it without the generosity of close friends and complete strangers who saw the value in our mission and kept us going. People gave what they could, from a few dollars to thousands. Thank you!

And in the midst of the pandemic, when the Times Pilot joined other area newspapers in starting the Western Iowa Journalism Foundation, patriots not just from Iowa but across the nation stepped forward with donations to keep local journalism alive in rural Iowa. Thank you!

But you don’t have to be a millionaire to be generous. Helping neighbors shovel their walks or not posting intolerant messages on social media are other ways to show your generosity of spirit.

We’re all in this together. As Rick Steves said, we really have to take “Love your neighbor” seriously.

Thank you, neighbors! Here’s to all of us enjoying a Happy and Generous New Year!