Yesterday in the garage at Publix, I stopped to chat with a woman I’ve known for years but only recently started getting to know. She has a shop in Burns Court and when I asked how it was going, she mentioned a customer who took serious offense to  “Happy Holidays.” We mulled that around for a minute, shook our heads at how kinda goofy people can be about such things and then said goodbye. I was headed to my truck and she into the store when we both turned and, laughing, hollered back at each other, “Happy Holidays”. It was then I heard a voice behind me. A man wearing a naughty or nice Santa hat in a convertible crammed with huge stuffed animals dressed as elves glowered, pointed his finger at me and growled, “It's Merry Christmas damn it! “

Last year I submitted a short piece to the local paper in hopes of raising money for Sanctuary Sarasota (AKA Trinity Without Borders 501c3) to provide gifts for homeless kiddos for Christmas. And don’t ya know that one story about my tough empty stocking childhood triggered something in ordinary folks and caused Sanctuary Sarasota to receive enough toys and money to make Christmas for around 50 kiddos.

We also got a call from Rich Carroll, whose organization Venice Challenger Baseball—in addition to its mission of making the joy of swinging a bat and catching a ball possible for children who for various reasons would not normally get to play—has over the last 17 years gifted to more than 2,800 kiddos that quintessential, but for many families unattainable, childhood accessory, new bicycles.

Rich reached out again this year to invite us down for pizza lunch and to meet Santa (quite possibly arriving by helicopter.) The catch—how to get 20 kiddos plus parents to Venice and back home with a load of bicycles? It took three phone calls. As they did last, our trucker pals Paul Caragiulo and Danny Bilyeu plus Grace Carlson and friends from her church will meet this Saturday at 10am to convoy our giggling wiggling crowd down the pike to Venice.

Some people say Merry Christmas; for others Happy Holidays feels more fair, more inclusive of the beliefs and ways of others. I’m a Southern heathen, unbaptized and unrepentant, and I don’t have a preference, but if I did the Yiddish word,” mitzvah”—a good deed—speaks most perfectly to the point of giving for not only this time of year but everyday of every year.

Each time you hold open the door, or let some poor lost somebody from Ohio in ahead of you in traffic, pay a month's rent on the port-a-let at Sanctuary or give four hours of your Saturday to hook some kiddos up with bikes, you’ve done a mitzvah. And that catch in your throat, extra beat of your heart is a blessing in your life and in ours as well because as we allow our individual selves to do better/feel better, we spread the better around.

As to angry Santa in the Publix garage, I’ll leave you with these words a friend, Joe J, posted on facebook, “….the boat is big enough for all of us. And the man who lived that tenet is the man who gave his name to Christmas. If he can share the season, I’m sure I can too.” 

SRQ Daily Columnist Diana Hamilton, after living 35 years in Sarasota, labels herself a pragmatic optimist with radical humorist tendencies and a new found resistance to ice cream.

Growing up in San Diego, I rarely asked why we piled into the family station wagon most Saturdays to deliver donated clothes across the border. As a volunteer Red Cross captain in second grade, I probably didn’t ask much about the coins I was collecting from my classmates, either. I watched (and helped) my parents do church and community service projects from as early as I can remember. It was just something you did. 

Later, as a journalism major and then a public affairs officer in the Air Force, I grew to appreciate the value of questions. When I moved into philanthropy, having been invited to start a community foundation from the ground up in Indiana, questions were fundamental: What opportunities were most important for the community to seize? How could nonprofits, businesses and community leaders work together to seize them? What were our donors’ values, passions and goals, and how did they align? 

At Gulf Coast Community Foundation, we often say smart philanthropy starts with smart questions. Exploring what a donor hopes to achieve and be remembered for, asking a charity what it has accomplished, crunching the numbers to see how a donation can go farther—that’s all critical to making the most of your individual, and our community’s collective, charitable giving.

But questions needn’t stifle the impulse to give. They should amplify it. Questions should probe, but they needn’t be rhetorically cynical: Why should I give to a charity that pays its staff, or to one that spends money on fundraising? (We have good answers for both of those, but I urge you to listen to my more eloquent friend Dan Pallotta’s response.)

If “charity” is giving a hungry woman a fish, and “philanthropy” is teaching her how to fish (along with funding a school that teaches her neighbors too), we need both at this time of year. We need donors to fill the Red Kettle outside of Publix, as well as donors who invest in the infrastructure of their favorite nonprofits.  We need donors to buy turkeys and toys for tots so struggling families can enjoy a holiday with dignity, and we also need donors willing to structure ambitious philanthropic gifts that will catalyze long-term, systemic change.

At Gulf Coast, we specialize in endowed philanthropy. We combine research and tough questions to address our community’s big issues. But we also believe giving should be easy and fun. When I visit our GulfCoastGives.org charitable crowdfunding website, I'm a sucker for a project that helps little kids! I might quickly ask, Is the cause worthy, and do I think the organization can succeed (or will I at least give them the chance to)? If those answers are “yes” (and they often are), I’ve already clicked “donate.”

By diving deeply into the charities and causes that matter most to you, you’ll improve your ability to make a real, lasting and personally fulfilling difference. In the end, though, it’s the act of giving—and that includes executing a planned a gift to be realized later—that fulfills your altruistic intentions while giving you that feel-good “giver’s glow.”

If you have the means, we encourage you to give smart and give well this holiday season, and the rest of the year. But even as you’re asking the important questions that will inform and improve your giving, why not just get started? After all, “to donate” begins with “to do.” 

SRQ Daily Columnist Teri A Hansen is president and CEO of Gulf Coast Community Foundation

Forget the sugarplums – this year give all the foodies on your list the ultimate holiday delicacy with a gift of  Mote Farm-Raised Caviar.  These luscious black pearls of sumptuous Siberian sturgeon caviar are raised sustainably by Mote, a nonprofit dedicated to the preservation of the world’s oceans. Purchase it in person at Whole Foods (in Florida and many other regions nationwide) or through your favorite online caviar retailer, such as CaviarStar.com or BrowneTrading.com.  

:  Cat Depot will join the ASPCA® and Subaru of America for the annual year-end Subaru “Share the Love” event and celebration. For every new Subaru purchased or leased during the “Share the Love” event, Subaru donates $250 to the owner’s choice of participating charities, one of which is ASPCA.  A majority of the ASPCA’s “Share the Love” donation is targeted for distribution as grants to animal welfare organizations, and Cat Depot is pleased to be a recipient of one of these grants. As part of this national effort, Cat Depot and Sunset Subaru Sarasota have teamed up to create a Bring Them Home for the Holidays cat adoption event on December 20 and 21, from 11am to 5pm. with a reduced adoption fee of $20 for cats and kittens.  

Cat Depot

The recent Corinthian Society Celebration sponsored by Northern Trust and  held at the Bird Key Yacht Club welcomed over 200 patrons, donors and friends of the Sarasota Memorial Healthcare Foundation. The Foundation whose focus is to improve the delivery of healthcare for the greater Sarasota Community through the acquisition and utilization of philanthropic funds, along with the help of Board Chair Art Wood, gave out a total of 74 awards in total at various levels of giving.  Although the weather was chilly the generosity of the hearts in the room brought warmth to those in attendance. The levels of giving: Corinthian, Doctors, Pillars, Legacy, and Ambassador all symbolize the importance of healthcare throughout our community. A few honorees spotted were: Philip A. Delaney, Harry & Harriet Bernbaum, Joan Mendell, Francine Blum, Lawrence English, and Charlotte Graver. Past honorees include: William & Margaret Wise, David Bolger, and Lillian Meckler.  

Sarasota Memorial Healthcare Foundation

The “Discover DaVinci & Michelangelo: Side by Side” original, nationally touring theater performance returns to the Manatee Performing Arts Center in Bradenton for two performances to benefit Manatee Education Foundation and Manatee Educational Television on Saturday December 27 for a 2pm matinee and 8pm evening performance. Mark Rodgers, the creator and host of the multi-media performance, is also the curator of the DaVinci Machines and Michelangelo Exhibitions, from the permanent Museum of Leonardo DaVinci in Florence, Italy currently touring the United States and on display at the Bradenton Auditorium.  Rodgers originally developed the idea to compare and contrast the two geniuses while curating the DaVinci and Michelangelo Exhibition in Denver, CO. The multi-media event is a combination of host Rodgers and a presentation that includes movies, 3D-animations of machines and inventions, images of codices, artwork, paintings and sculptures. 

Discover Michelangelo

Caribbean Journal has named local boutique distillery Siesta Key Distillers Reserve Spiced Rum the Best Spiced Rum of the year.  That makes 3 years in a row. Not one to sit on his laurels, SKR’s distiller Troy Roberts also unveiled an even smaller-batch rum, Distillers Reserve, as well as a Toasted Coconut Rum – both of which are so smooth they stand alone.  

Siesta Key Rum

Two local charities, Selah Freedom and Turning Points, were presented with checks totaling $7,500 from the Sarasota Newcomers Club (SNC) annual Fashion Show silent auction proceeds.   Linda Donnelly and Linda Honeycheck , SNC’s Community Outreach Program Co-Chairs selected Selah Freedom and Turning Points as the two local charities to be supported during the 2014-2015 year.  Selah Freedom exists to confront the issue of sex trafficking and exploitation through advocacy, training and restorative services. Turning Points provides numerous programs to assist the homeless and those at risk of becoming homeless.  Through matching gift programs in place at both charities, the total donation will actually amount to $15,000, with each charity receiving $7,500. 

Sarasota Newcomers Club