Season To Give

If your business, ranch or farm has the fiscal year ending on the calendar year, now is the time to think about donating some money to your favorite cause. Of course you need to visit with your accountant or bookkeeper, but if you are in the agriculture business, you most likely had good year, money-wise, and we all hope you did.

Here at the Roundup, we make it a point to donate to causes or people in the agriculture community. We figure they are our customers, and we owe it to them. But since we live in America, everyone has the right to choose their own, and we like it that way.  

One can always donate to their political party or favorite candidate because, as they say, “Democracy is not a spectator sport.”  This always makes you feel so good when you win and so bad when your party or candidate loses, but backing someone and getting involved is the American way.

The ag, public lands and livestock organizations are always good to donate to. They spend many hours lobbying for us, and that is a big job. Those against agriculture and livestock production are out there lobbying against us, and we need a strong voice in our state capitols and in our nation’s capitol.  It seems that, when we win politically, it is never big. We always get the small wins, so we need to try harder and that takes money.  Too often we let it slide and leave it up to others to pay the bill. In reality we are cheating ourselves and those that pony up, as well, as all of us get to share the benefits of our neighbor’s dollars. Always save some dollars for the organizations you belong to.

Then, there are our favorite non-profits – those involving youth. You can start with FFA and 4-H. They are a safe place as here in Wyoming. Both organizations are so well managed, and they help so many youth.  

Locally there are many organizations that assist children and their parents in time of need and many times these are over looked. When a child has a major illness and the parents have to travel long distances to treat the illness, it really gets expensive, or if the child is in the treatment center a long distance from home, expenses and stress mounts up quickly.

If you haven’t yet, there is the Rancher’s Relief Fund to aid those livestock producers who lost so many livestock in Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and eastern Wyoming.  That storm will be remembered for generations, and our hearts, prayers and donations go out to them.

Also don’t forget a charity that assists hospitals and remember the local hospices. Anyone who has had a family member in a hospice knows what a comfort they are to both the family and patient. 

This is also the season to give a little more to your church. They always have a need for more dollars, and they put it to such a good use. 

When I was searching for a quote that summarized how I feel about giving I found two. First, “The greatest pleasure I know is to do a good action by stealth and have it found out by accident,” and secondly, “The pleasure we derive by giving is partly in the feeling it gives us that we are not altogether worthless.”  

Have a giving Christmas season.