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Good will come to him who is generous and lends freely, who conducts his affairs with justice. Psalm 112:5 How would our lives change if we sought to practice generosity and justice in everything we did? I believe the results would be astounding. Being generous is fairly easy to accomplish, and it goes beyond "not being stingy." Generosity is ungrudgingly giving something that you have to others so that they are more comfortable. It can be deal with money, food, service, time, and material goods. Of course you can even expand it to being generous with your knowledge and wisdom....

Share with God's people who are in need. Romans 12:13 This is the second time this week that I've singled out this verse. I discovered something this week from looking at this passage: there's a reason God put this verse here and it's this, God will use us to help other Believers. It seems obvious, doesn't it. But quite frankly, Believers who are in need won't get help from the outside world. 25 years ago when I became a Christian I believed that people looked out for one another around the world. Was I ever wrong! Recently I figured out...

Firefighters put out fire, return with turkey dinner The firehouse special By Eva Wolchover Saturday, November 29, 2008 - Updated 16h ago A Brighton family whose turkey dinner went up in flames Thursday morning learned the true meaning of Thanksgiving when the big-hearted jakes who put out their kitchen fire returned to their home with a scrumptuous holiday meal. “What do you say to someone who saves your life and then brings you dinner?” asked Alyson Georgopoulos, 23, who was visiting her parents at their Faneuil Gardens apartment in Brighton when the oven caught fire, charring the turkey and much...

A U.S. marine package USAID supplies bound for cyclone devastated Myanmar at the Utapao Air Force base near the southern city of Rayong, Thailand, Wednesday, May 14, 2008.(AP Photo/Wally Santana) A U.S. marine rests against palates of USAID supplies bound for cyclone devastated Myanmar at the Utapao Air Force base near the southern city of Rayong, Thailand, Wednesday, May 14, 2008.(AP Photo/Wally Santana) A USAID worker packages supplies bound for cyclone devastated Myanmar at the Utapao Air Force base near the southern city of Rayong, Thailand, Wednesday, May 14, 2008

One oil company's offer to pay tuition for all graduating seniors brings hope and economic development to El Dorado. When officials announced the El Dorado Promise to an assembly of this Arkansas city's best and brightest high school students, there was a moment of stunned silence. A local oil company had just committed to paying college tuition and fees for all graduating seniors, regardless of their family income or their grades. Then the students – known as "Arkansas Scholars" because they carry intense course loads – cheered and returned to class. Art teacher Patrick Johnson will never forget what happened...

In a state Capitol full of spin, hype and hooey, the Legislative Analyst's Office is a revered oasis of straight talk and honest analysis. For all the speculation about Senate President Don Perata's hidden motives, the best explanation for the Senate's recent rejection of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez's health reform measure is that the LAO said the plan's budget numbers just didn't add up. We hope lawmakers pay at least as much attention to the LAO's latest report, which describes Schwarzenegger's proposed one-year, 5 percent pay raise for state prison guards as unjustified and unnecessary. The...

NORFOLK (AP) — When Army Sgt. Mason Lewis wrote to his mother from Iraq, he didn't ask for anything for himself. The 26-year-old Gloucester, Va., man wanted her to send toys that he could then give to the children he saw playing in the streets with cans. His friends are continuing his mission with Operation Mason, a drive to collect stuffed animals to send to Iraq in memory of Sgt. Lewis, who died Nov. 16 when he fell off a roof in a training accident. "I never got to tell Mason 'thank you' or to say goodbye to Mason. I...

Generosity 'may be in the genes' People had to decide whether to keep money, or give it away Some people may be genetically destined to have a generous personality, Israeli research has suggested. A total of 203 people took part in an online task in which they could either keep or give away money. Gene tests revealed those who had certain variants of a gene called AVPR1a were on average nearly 50% more likely to give money away. The study, by The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, appears online in the journal Genes, Brain and Behavior. Lead researcher Dr Ariel Knafo...

DALLAS, June 28, 2007 – When it comes to showing support for America’s troops, Missouri is living up to its nickname as the “Show Me State” by sending nearly 4,000 base and post exchange gift certificates to soldiers, airmen, sailors and Marines. So far this year, supporters from 45 states and the District of Columbia have contributed to the Army and Air Force Exchange Service’s “Gifts From the Homefront” program, with Missouri far and away the most generous, sending an average of 778 military exchange gift certificates a month. Missouri is home to Whiteman Air Force Base and the Army’s...

The 'can lady', as she was called by so many who certainly recognized a community fixture when they saw one for the three hundredth time, walked the neighborhoods and the business strip every morning at first light, picking up the occasional discarded aluminum can, and the occasional currency and coin, lying upon the city's sidewalks and streets. Many observers may have felt a pang of angst that society did not provide social services to prevent such a sad fate. Some may even have tried to 'remedy' the old lady's perilous situation through the mechanisms of government. Any who did would...

Singer Steve Nicks is doing her part to support U.S. troops by donating hundreds of iPods to soldiers wounded in Iraq. The former Fleetwood Mac star regularly visits soldiers at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. She explains, "I refuse to be pulled into the politics of war. But once these soldiers sign up, go to war and come back to a hospital, I will do whatever it takes to make them better." Nicks has provided iPods loaded with her music, along with fellow artists Aerosmith and Elvis Presley. She has also sent baby clothes to war widows,...

Generosity Is No Monkey Business, Study General Science | October 27, 2005 Given the opportunity to spread random acts of kindness, chimps would just as soon pass, finds a new UCLA-led study. The study, published in the Oct. 27 issue of the journal Nature, suggests at least one way in which humans differ from their closest living relatives in the animal kingdom. "Because chimps participate in collective activities such as cooperative hunting and food sharing and they console injured group members and human caregivers, their capacity for empathy and altruism has been an object of considerable curiosity," said UCLA anthropologist...

Americans are opening their pocketbooks so fast and so wide in the wake of Hurricane Katrina that donations have already dwarfed the first week's efforts to help victims of last year's Asian tsunami and the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. By Tuesday evening, U.S. charities had raised more than $500 million in cash and pledges — more than twice the $239 million donated in the 10 days after Sept. 11, and more than three times the $163 million raised in the nine days after the tsunami that hit countries along the Indian Ocean last Dec. 26. cont: Americans are opening...

The 13th Anniversary of Andrew, the Cat. 5 Hurricane that Brought Devastation to South Florida and The Most Costly Natural Disaster to Hit the US Excerpt: Hurricane History-NOAA:Hurricane Andrew 1992 The most destructive United States hurricane of record started modestly as a tropical wave that emerged from the west coast of Africa on August 14. The wave spawned a tropical depression on August 16, which became Tropical Storm Andrew the next day. Further development was slow, as the west-northwestward moving Andrew encountered an unfavorable upper-level trough. Indeed, the storm almost dissipated on August 20 due to vertical wind shear. By...

At last count, the United States had doled out nearly $20 billion in foreign aid this year. That doesn’t include funding for rebuilding Afghanistan and Iraq, nor monetary gifts from private American citizens which are estimated to total over $34 billion a year –– significantly higher than any other nation –– and not counting corporate giving which totals over $48 billion a year. In addition, immigrants send money back home to their families to the tune of about $28 billion. None of these totals includes trade agreement income nor military support and assistance. That makes Uncle Sam the “sugar daddy”...

June 30, 2005 – Washington, DC – PipeLineNews - Hudson Institute released new private international giving numbers today in a White Paper, America's Total Economic Engagement with the Developing World, by Dr. Carol Adelman, Mr. Jeremiah Norris and Ms. Jeanne Weicher. Updating their research on American generosity, the authors found at least $62.1 billion in U.S. private donations to developing countries in 2003, the last year numbers are available. This philanthropy, from U.S. foundations, corporations, non-profits and volunteerism, universities and colleges, religious organizations and individuals is over three and one-half times U.S. Official Development Assistance (ODA) of $16.3 billion. While...

WASHINGTON — Americans responded almost immediately to early reports that wounded U.S. soldiers in Germany needed clothing, but now the facility as well as the Army hospital in Washington, D.C., are urging donors to hold off for a while. “It seems like every city had a clothes drive for our soldiers,” said Marie Shaw, public affairs officer at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center (search) in Germany, which has tended to more than 18,000 servicemen and women wounded in Iraq since the beginning of operations there in March 2003. "We received tons of things over the holidays — we now have a...

Let me see if I've got this straight: Radical Iraqi Sunni Muslim terrorists spearhead an organized "insurgency" against the democratization of their country. In doing so, they commit atrocities — from car- and suicide-bombings that have killed many hundreds, if not thousands, of their fellow citizens as well as civilian foreign nationals and U.S. and coalition forces working to help the majority of Iraqis achieve their goal of self-government, to beheadings of innocent civilians (whose only crime seems to have been that they had the ultimate wrong-place-wrong-time misfortune to be identified by their radical Islamist captors as infidels) telecast around...

While activists in Kerry blue states who are talking about seceding from the U.S. slam Bush red states for not giving as much in taxes as do their blue opponents, new research indicates most red states are considerably more generous in giving to charity than blue states. The Generosity Index is compiled each year by the Catalogue for Philanthopy. It is computed by taking each state's average income ranking and average charitable contribution ranking, and then subtracting the second rank from the first to get a single number for each state. "Generosity in not just how much you give, but...

The Tsunami in South Asia is a truly catastrophic event. The human carnage is overwhelming and my Christian heart can’t help but respond to the human tragedy. However… As the events were unfolding on our TV screens, I found myself feeling uneasy about something, internally conflicted, a feeling I just couldn’t shake. As someone who follows politics and world views, (views towards America and Americans that is), I was keenly aware of the views in that part of the world, even before the Tsunami struck. It has become a popular international pastime to bash America at every opportunity, and news...

CRAWFORD, Texas (AP) - The United States is pledging $350 million to help tsunami victims, a tenfold increase over its first wave of aid, President Bush announced Friday. "Initial findings of American assessment teams on the ground indicate that the need for financial and other assistance will steadily increase in the days and weeks ahead," Bush said Friday in a statement released in Crawford, Texas, where he is staying at his ranch. "Our contributions will continue to be revised as the full effects of this terrible tragedy become clearer," he said. "Our thoughts and prayers are with all those affected...

President Bush defended American generosity Wednesday, even as his administration figures out how to pay for more help beyond the $35 million it has already promised to tsunami victims in Asia. In his first remarks since the weekend disaster that so far has killed more than 76,000, Bush - like some in his administration previously - took umbrage at a U.N. official's suggestion that the world's richest nations were "stingy," and indicated much more is expected to be spent to help the victims. "Well, I felt like the person who made that statement was very misguided and ill-informed," Bush said...

Yes, being a member of the freest society on earth comes at a price, and each of us will pay that price one way or another. Being American means many different things to many people, but at a glance, the Right understands it means being free to be ourselves in every respect, and freedom is never free. It’s important that we first agree on what America is. America is the most prosperous nation on earth. It is also the most generous nation on earth, and the most powerful nation on earth. All of its power, all of our generosity, comes...

<p>The red state population has been mocked for years as the moral majority that fails in the mind of most liberals to truly follow the teachings of Jesus. Most notably, adherence to the principles of heterosexuality and the sanctity of life are distorted into labels of intolerance and ignorance.</p>

Worthy Causes I grew up in a Protestant church that believed in a literal interpretation of the King James Bible. Since there is no mention in the Bible of Dec. 25, the church refused to make Christmas a religious observance. Baldwin pianos and Hammond organs were verboten for the same reason. In that they are probably right, since Christmas was adapted to a pagan festival. There is no written record of when the Christ child was born. Nevertheless, that didn't stop my family from observing Christmas, since, like most families with small children, Christmas was more about Santa Claus than...

A story you won't see in the press.... Dear Friends and Family, I hope that you will spare me a few minutes of your time to tell you about something that I saw on Monday, October 27, 2003.. I had been attending a conference in Annapolis and was coming home on Sunday. As you may recall, Los Angeles International Airport was closed on Sunday, October 26, because of the fires that affected air traffic control. Accordingly, my flight, and many others, were canceled and I wound up spending a night in Baltimore. My story begins the next day. When I...

New Hampshire is holding tightly to its distinction as the stingiest state, according to an annual index of charitable giving. From Our Advertiser For the last three of five years, New Hampshire has been at the bottom of the "Generosity Index," which compares what residents of each state earn and how much they give. New Hampshire surrendered the miserly title to Rhode Island the other two years. New Hampshire residents donated $462 million, an average of about $2,400 per taxpayer, according to The Catalogue for Philanthropy. That looks especially stingy considering the state's relative wealth. Its average income of $51,000...

Mississippians are more generous in the proportion of their incomes donated to charity than any other state, according to the Massachusetts-based Catalogue for Philanthropy's "generosity index." The index used federal tax return information from 2001 and compared the average adjusted gross income of residents with the average money that individuals reported in charitable deductions. Mississippians reported an average of $4,340 in donations in 2001, or 13.2 percent of their income. Southern states tend to do well in the survey. Arkansas ranked second on the list. Tennessee and Louisiana also ranked in the top 10. Nationally, the average adjusted gross income...

  2003 Generosity IndexNOVEMBER 5, 2003Here is the complete 2003 Generosity Index listing broken down by state and listed in order of the most generous states to the least generous states.Additionally we've color enhanced the list to show how the states voted in the 2000 Election. Red states voted for George W Bush, blue states voted for Al Gore. State Having Rank Giving Rank Ranks Relation Generosity Index Mississippi 50 6 44 1 Arkansas 47 5 42 2 South Dakota 45 8 37 3 Oklahoma 43 10 33 4 Alabama 41 9 32 5 Tennessee 35 3 32 6...

CONCORD, N.H. - New Hampshire is holding tightly to its distinction as the stingiest state, according to an annual index of charitable giving. For the last three of five years, New Hampshire has been at the bottom of the "Generosity Index," which compares what residents of each state earn and how much they give. New Hampshire surrendered the miserly title to Rhode Island the other two years. New Hampshire residents donated $462 million, an average of about $2,400 per taxpayer, according to The Catalogue for Philanthropy. That looks especially stingy considering the state's relative wealth. Its average income of $51,000...

Here is the complete 2003 Generosity Index listing broken down by state and listed in order of the most generous states to the least generous states.Additionally we've color enhanced the list to show how the states voted in the 2000 Election. Red states voted for George W Bush, blue states voted for Al Gore. State Having Rank Giving Rank Ranks Relation Generosity Index Mississippi 50 6 44 1 Arkansas 47 5 42 2 South Dakota 45 8 37 3 Oklahoma 43 10 33 4 Alabama 41 9 32 5 Tennessee 35 3 32 6 Louisiana 44 12 32 7 Utah...

Raising Up Priests for the New Millenniumby Most Rev. Timothy DolanWhen I was Auxiliary Bishop of St. Louis last year, I resided at a wonderful parish that was particularly hard hit by the current scandal of sexual abuse by priests. The popular pastor of this vibrant parish had to resign, acknowledging an incident of abuse from years before. The parish was devastated: Many were angry with the priest for his past sin, many were angry with the archdiocese for requiring his resignation. In the midst of this sadness, scandal, and shock, I returned one evening to the rectory, to be...

Harvesting friendships By Celeste Beam, Staff Reporter Friday, 11/15/02 For one farmer in Evansville, living in "small town rural America" is something he wouldn’t trade for anything else in the world.For the last 20 years, Jeff Larson and his wife, Karen, have farmed on a fourth generation family farm. It was built in the 1860s, creating a path of pride and heritage along the way.Many friendships were also established — friendships that spoke volumes for what small town rural America is all about.Last week, Jeff, Karen and their two children, Derek, 17, and Jenna, 16, found out how important...

Southern Kindness, Yankee Stinginess Persist In Charity (Boston-AP, November 2, 2002) — Southerners still take the prize when it comes to charity, though a few Yankee states, including Connecticut, are making progress shedding their stingy reputations. Relatively poor Bible Belt states, headed by Mississippi, retain their lead in the latest "Generosity Index," a survey measuring the disparity between what residents of each state earn and what they give away. Mississippi has finished first in five of the six annual surveys. In the latest, the Magnolia State once again has the greatest disparity between its ranking among the states in wealth...

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Rescue spurs aid donations By PATRICK BUCHNOWSKI, THE TRIBUNE-DEMOCRAT August 05, 2002 SIPESVILLE – The influx of cards and letters offering support for the Black Wolf miners and Sipesville firefighters has astonished this leafy community. And the firefighters have found something else inside – checks. So far, the fire company has received 150 to 200 cards and letters of support as well as donations to help firefighters achieve their dream of building a modern station and replacing their battered and worn 150-year-old structure. While how much has been raised in the 10 days since the rescue hasn’t been divulged, this...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - Jennifer Mullins has visions of the perfect prom dress. "My favorite color is pink," said Mullins, 18, of Bickmore, "and definitely something with straps because I don't do strapless." As a senior at Clay County High School, Mullins will be one of the first on Monday to choose from about 400 free dresses donated by a private girls school in New York City. Students at the Hewitt School in Manhattan, where the yearly tuition is nearly $20,000, are donating new and used evening gowns, purses, jewelry, makeup and shoes to their counterparts in Clay County, where...