A Story from the Giving Machines
The following story was shared by Doug DeFries, a volunteer at the Light the World Giving Machines at the Ogden Christmas Village.
Late one evening at the Ogden Christmas Village as the crowds were beginning to thin, I was near the Giving Machines when a homeless man approached. He asked what the machines were, and I proceeded to explain that they were full of opportunities to give and share light during the Christmas season.
I began to walk him through some of the items available and happened to settle upon the row of selections from Davis Education Foundation. “See, you can buy a cane for a visually impaired student, or a hygiene kit, or you can help a student with an unpaid lunch balance…”
“You can buy their school lunch?” he interjected, suddenly interested.
“Yes, $10 will buy one week of school lunch for a child in need.”
He considered on this briefly and then said, “Someone did that for me when I was a kid.” Still thinking on this, he turned and walked away…but a few minutes later he was back, a bill clutched in his hand. “I want to buy the lunches. Will you take cash?”
Regretfully, I explained that the machines only take cards, but I’d be happy to accept his cash and make the transaction with my own credit card. He agreed and extended the bill in his hand to me—and it was only then that I realized it was a $20 bill, not the $10 I was expecting that would match the cost of the item.
“I’m sorry,” I said, “I don’t have any change for a $20 bill.”
He hesitated briefly upon hearing this, the bill suspended between us. Then he proceeded to give me the money and said, “Let’s get two, then. Somebody did this for me.”
Doug DeFries — Giving Machines Volunteer, Ogden Christmas Village