Make giving a truly personal thing

Counterpoint
Reach out and touch
Somebody's hand
Make this world a better place
If you can

Remember that song from the 1970s? It is a lovely summation of the profound way in which human contact can make people feel cared for.

That is why I disagree with a recent commentary ("Let's can holiday food drives," published on StarTribune.com Nov. 21) that argued that holiday food drives should be replaced by financial donations to local food shelves.

Of course giving money is critically important -- but as a complement to food drives, not a replacement for them.

There is something powerful in making a connection with a real person.

Here at Convent of the Visitation School, we educate our students in social justice -- the value system that all humans have dignity and that we must take action to ensure that our neighbors have opportunity and access to economic, political and social rights.

We are called to recognize the true dignity of each person.

One way Visitation students recently practiced social justice was through our "Follow the Food" initiative, during which they literally followed a Thanksgiving dinner for a family in need from the moment the first item was donated to the time the meal was personally delivered.

Students, parents, faculty and staff brought in thousands of pounds of food: jars of gravy, bags of stuffing, boxes of pasta, cans of vegetables, sacks of potatoes. More than 230 turkeys were donated, too.

Sixth-graders packed the food in cardboard boxes that filled a school corridor. High-school students loaded boxes into their cars and helped deliver them to private homes in north Minneapolis, a community that has suffered greatly from financial and natural catastrophes in the past year.

Altogether, more than 200 families were served.

Yes, the students could have donated the money they spent on "Follow the Food" items to a local shelf. But then they would not have experienced firsthand how small acts of kindness can be linked to achieve a huge result.

These are life lessons that all people need to learn, and they resonate most when learned young.

If we discount the benefit of reaching out and really touching someone, we give up the chance to teach something that can't otherwise be taught: the power of loving enough to truly enter someone's life, and the power of being so loved.

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