Generosity – the Power of Giving.

I’ve been writing about generosity for about a year now. I haven’t published much of it, yet. Most of the book interviews that I have completed are about people that are investing their time toward a passion that has the interest of others at the forefront. The people I have interviewed include teachers, religious leaders, leaders at non-profits, philanthropists and business leaders that donate a bunch of their time. The names that you may be familiar with include Gates, Zander, Sacca, Gupta, Hsieh, Benioff, Mycoskie, Bush and Harrison, among others. What they are doing is awesome. They all give their time or money, in some cases both, to serve extraordinary needs. They are helping in the areas of clean water, food for the hungry, skate parks for kids, music to the needy, health for the poor, and clothing for those in need. There are thousands more giving lots of time and money to causes of their choice.

There are millions of others that are incredibly generous that we never hear about. Heck, sometimes we know the person and we don’t even know the reach of their generosity. As many of you know, I lost my oldest brother Billy in a snowmobile accident on February 11th. Simply put – he was one of the greatest people I knew. He was fun, adventurous, smart, caring, loyal, humble and above all; generous. I always knew that he was generous to me and the rest of our family but I never knew the reach of his generosity nor how many lives he touched. I didn’t know that he had fans from 30 years ago, from a single interaction. Hundreds told me stories about the car he repaired, or wall he fixed, or the plumbing he installed, or the food he delivered; always refusing anything in return. We heard one story that he helped 6-7 families in need during one weekend working on houses, vehicles, helping them move, etc.  He impacted hundreds of families and thousands of lives. Billy’s generosity certainly isn’t unusual but it is eye-opening. I think it would be outstanding if we could all be just a bit more generous with our time, even if to take the time to say thank you.

That said, I would like to thank the 76 people listed here, http://mycharitywater.org/brotherbilly, who contributed to my charity:water campaign in memory of my dear brother Billy. I will always appreciate you and your generosity. Thank you so very much.

With love and gratitude,

Billy’s little brother, Mike