| Beginning a new year is an opportunity to assess what’s important in our lives and with that comes for each of us a resolve to spend more time and effort in the pursuit of those activities. Most likely, the meaningful part has to do with the people in your life. Every day, we encounter people we know and others we don’t know that can profoundly change us to be a better person. It’s what we make of those encounters that matter. Whether it’s a family vacation where not everyone got along, letting someone go ahead in line at the grocery store, checking in on a neighbor you haven’t seen in a while, letting your pastor know you liked his sermon, giving $10 to the homeless person blocking your way into the building where you work, or sending a Happy New Year email to an old friend – each encounter is an opportunity to discover something new about yourself. Even more important, these are all opportunities to find meaning not only in your life, but in the people you encounter. At CCF-LA, we meet people every day that are doing good works, running charitable organizations, being parish leaders, teaching in Catholic schools, and volunteering in food banks and homeless shelters. These are the people that work in organizations that received $75 million in grants from our charitable funds last year. Through these grants, we helped charitable individuals find more meaning in their lives through supporting both people that do good and people that need help. When we pursue the meaning of life, the new year is a good time to assess and review the resources that we have been given. How we use those resources, whether a kind word to a stranger or a monetary gift to a charity, these resources have a powerful impact on making our world a better place for all. |
| Kathy Anderson President and Executive Director |
