On a very memorable Sunday, Pastor Laura Truax surprised her congregation with a bold announcement. She was about to hand out money to everyone.
LaSalle Street Church had received a tidy $1.6 million from a real estate deal, the pastor said, and $160,000 — a typical 10 percent tithe — would be divided among some 320 regular attendees. Each would get a $500 check to do something positive.
LaSalle, a non-denominational church, has long been involved in social causes, from feeding homeless families to buying an ambulance for a medical clinic in Niger.
Not surprisingly, many donations will reach far-flung places, including a school in the Himalayas and an irrigation project in Tanzania. Closer to home, some checks are helping needy friends.
Church members, Truax says, are doing just what she’d envisioned when she distributed the checks in September.
“I hoped that they would recognize the power they had to bless others and change somebody’s life,” she says. “… And that has largely happened.”
Jeliner Jordan remembers being young and in debt.
More than 40 years ago, she was a divorced mother of three who couldn’t stretch her seamstress earnings far enough to support her kids. She took out a loan of about $4,000 to attend a business college, expecting it would lead to better opportunities — and it did.
But she never forgot the pressure of making payments, then falling behind before eventually settling her debt.
Aware that her granddaughter, Deitra Galloway, was saddled with college loans, Jordan knew what she’d do with part of her church money: She gave Galloway $300, figuring it might cover a month’s payment. She was shocked when her granddaughter revealed her school debt was in the many thousands.
A grateful Galloway, 26, used the money instead to help pay a loan on her used car. It was just another example of her grandmother’s generosity, which included taking her to Paris when she was in college. “I always thought she was rich because she would do these things for me and it never seemed like money was an obstacle,” she says.
Far from it. Jordan, now 71, is a meticulous planner who watches every dollar.
“She’s a great role model,” Galloway says.
Jordan, who had a long career in the insurance industry but still enjoys sewing, divided her remaining money between a local arts program and a nearby elementary school.
“It’s not possible to give without receiving,” she says. “And what I received immediately is joy…Read More
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