Healthy Giving promotes responsible giving rather than a handout

Healthy Giving promotes giving responsibly by donating time or resources to established non-profit and community organizations providing services to people in need, instead of giving one-off donations on the street.

Pastor Jerome Parker, Community Pastor at First Christian Church, joined “Arizona Horizon” to talk about giving a hand up, not a handout.

“If I give a handout, then it disincentivizes a person to restore dignity to help themselves. But if I give them a hand up, then I have to pull a little bit, they have to put effort in, and together, we can reach certain goals” says Parker.

How Pastor Jerome Parker got involved

“Really interesting story. I used to be an unhealthy giver. The nonprofit works with inner city teenagers, and there would be times when we put together the sack lunches and bring all of your sweaters and socks and whatever things you want to give away, and go downtown Phoenix to the zone, and give stuff away, give food away mostly,” said Parker.

“I believe all humans have this intrinsic pilot light that wants to do something good. When we give food on the street, one of the unintended consequences is waste because food goes uneaten or clothes unworn and they are trash on,” said Parker.

“We try to educate people on healthier, more sustainable ways to give men and women experiencing homelessness. And one of the best ways is to partner with the nonprofit organization that is in the throes of this work every single day. And so I like to tell people if it took you two hours to make 100 sack lunches, take the same two hours, and instead of helping 200 people for 30 minutes, you could help 2500 people for a lifetime possibly,” said Parker.