Moorelands March Monthly campaign is one way that you can make a lasting difference. At Moorelands Kids, each season brings new opportunities for children and youth to realize their potential to succeed. Kids experience unforgettable summers at camp, skill-building programs during the school year, and critical support during the holidays.
Your ongoing support provides reliable and consistent funding that helps us plan ahead and sustain programming so that kids can thrive at home, school, camp and in their communities. Now, let’s hear from our Board Member – Robin Ashford, who is championing Moorelands March Monthly campaign. He will share Why Moorelands Matters to him.
“Before working with the Moorelands team, I think I would have viewed philanthropy as the act of giving whatever money you could afford to help people who do not have the same privileged position in the world. But, by seeing the various ways that contributors to the Moorelands team provide their time, money, skill, advocacy, mentoring, connections, and platforms…I can see that philanthropy takes many forms and that scale doesn’t define legitimacy; it’s simply about giving whatever you are able to give, on an ongoing basis.
I’ve also been able to see that philanthropy is about a longer-term objective rather than meeting a short-term need. When I think about philanthropy I’m reminded of the old proverb that if you ‘give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime’. Philanthropy is about making a lasting, rather than just an immediate impact.
That philosophy is why I’m so passionate about the work that Moorelands does. While other charities do a wonderful and important job of supporting the immediate needs of youth in our communities, Moorelands aims to create a long-term, sustainable difference – empowering kids to transform their lives forever.
Seeing firsthand, kids growing by the minute thanks to their time at the Moorelands camp on Kawagama Lake, was what really changed my own perspective. Without the Moorelands program, most of these kids would not have had the opportunity to learn and experience things that would have never otherwise entered their orbits. That’s where I saw the difference between providing for an immediate need and making changes that last a lifetime. That was the moment I became a monthly donor.
Monthly donors are the heartbeat of our ability to make a difference – continuously pumping their generosity around our body of work by enabling us to run City Programs and Camp, as well as supporting families in need. Their constant acts of giving align with how I now see philanthropy as an ongoing support system. Again, scale does not define legitimacy – it’s the simple act of giving whatever you are able, be that $5 a month or $100 a month.
And importantly, I cannot stress enough that financial donations are just one part of it – and I fully recognize that, in this environment, money is not something everyone is able to give. That’s the power of philanthropy, in my view; it is something that everybody IS able to do. Sometimes that might be in financial ways, sometimes that might be by giving time, sometimes that might be by providing advocacy – the overarching principle is that you want to help in any way that you’re able, and that you’re making a commitment to do that for the longer-term.
And that’s Why Moorelands Matters to me – a commitment to the longer-term. To teach kids to fish,” says Robin.
No matter how much you choose to give each month, your gift helps create a steady foundation that supports children and youth every single day. By becoming a monthly donor, you are extending your impact all year long, helping provide kids with opportunities in every season.
