Nebraska lotto winner giving gift to homeless shelter guests
One of the eight Nebraskans who won the February 2006 Powerball jackpot, Alain Maboussou, is giving a $40 Target store gift card to each guest of the Siena Francis House homeless shelter.
Siena Francis House staff will distribute the gift cards to guests of the shelter, and will also provide transportation to the Crossroads Mall’s Target store Wednesday morning to allow them to do Christmas shopping, the Siena Francis House said today .
“This is an extraordinarily generous gift by Mr. Maboussou," Siena Francis House Executive Director Mike Saklar said. "On behalf of Siena Francis House guests, we are very grateful to him for helping our shelter care for those who come to us in need.”
Posted at the Request of Michelle
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28 comments:
I think this is an amazingly generous gift to give to those in need, but I don't believe it is the smartest. No offense, but some of the homeless became homeless because of alcohal. Target has alcohal. I hope there were guidelines to the spending. I commend the giver, though. This was a nice gift to those in need.
If I won the lottery, I would give money to a charity. I am not sure what charity(maybe Make-A-Wish), but I would do some research and give to a deserving charity. I would also help those in my family in need.
I think the gift card idea was much more intelligent than just giving the homeless $40 in cash. At least this way they can't buy illegal stuff.
Usually my first answer to who I would give money to would be my church...I tithe my first ten percent because I believe it is biblical. However, considering recent events I would probably have to say that I would give my tithe to the summer bible camp I attend.
I would probably also send money to my relatives who do ministry work (my aunt has done missions in Asia and my uncle helped start an organization in Africa).
If I won the lottery I wouldn't want to become lazy by just buying everything I wanted or by just giving away money to people. One fun idea would be to found an organization similar to Make-A-Wish except that the kids would be under-privileged instead of sick.
WOW!!
dont we all wish we would have enough money to donate this way.
this is really a nice positive thing to hear.
im sure these people are going to have a much better holiday season thanks to this person.
That is such a nice thing to do. If i ever won the lottery i would give a large portion of my money to a cancer charity. I would do research on them before giving the money, to see who the money really goes to.
I like to think that if somebody won the lottery they would give some of the money to a charity.
I agree with planetshaker. He/she went the same route that I was going to go for this topic. That is that alcohol has been an issue in families, and in a lot of cases, it is what brings people to poverty and even life on the streets.
The gift cards are a good idea as long as they are used correctly. If these people use it to bu any form of alcohol or tobacco, I would say that it was used incorrectly.
Giving a piece of any winnings like this is always a must. For me, if I won I would have to give to the Open Door Mission. I would do this not only because I volunteer there every month but also because I have witnessed all of the different types of help they provide to people in need.
Good Game Mr. Keller!!!
Wow, I think if ever won such a large sum of money I would give a fairly large portion of it to homles speople. But not in such a direct manner as the man in the article. I would like to see the money used wisely so I might possibly give the money to the shelter coordinators so it can be used to purchase clothing, food or any toiletries, incoming guests mght need.
Its awesome how this man donated money to strangers in need. Most people who hit the big money seem to forget those who are struggling to live.
If I were to win the lottery (YEAH) i would probably have a free health clinic built. This way people who dont have health benifits could have simple check ups to help stay healthy.
This is truly a generous gift. It is so interesting how giving is so much more rewarding then receiving. I bet target feels a since of accomplishment.
I agree with airconditioning, I would give the money the organization itself instead of the individuals themselves. You have to consider how these people got into the predicament that they are in now. Personally I would give to wounded soldiers coming home from the war,like amputees. I don't know how they go on living, losing multiple limbs. That is the most courageous thing in my mind and I'm sure they will be in need of financial aid.
That's a really generous gift. I do not have a need for such a large chunk of change so I would definitely
give some away. I would give some to a homeless shelter or orphanage. I would also donate some to the Humane Society.
I commend those who donate generously to charity.
If I won the lottery, money would be given generously to the wildlife center my aunt had volunteered at since before i was born. There would be a donation made to Alice Cooper's Solid Rock foundation. I would like to start a similar foundation to help underpriveleged children and teens.
I would give my lottery winnings to a couple of different organizations where they could spend it properly and equip themselves better to help more people in need. Some places I would give to would be the Lydia Home and the Open Door Mission, along with maybe Habitat for Humanity.
I also agree with planetshaker. If I won the lottery, I would definitely donate a lot of it to a charity because that way I would know exactly where the money is going. If I donated to a homeless shelter, the money could be used for drugs or alcohol. Giving gift cards would eliminate the possibility of buying illegal drugs but not alcohol.
I also have a lot of family in need so a large portion of the money would also go to helping them.
I think this person was very generous. You can debate how he could have done it better but I think the point is that what he did came from good will and that is good enough and we should appreciate it. However, if I had won the lottery, I would give money to support homeless shelters, such as "The Open Door Mission."
Giving to the needy is certainly something very generous. It is always important to realize that we have been blessed with so much, and that others are barely making it in the community. With the person who donated the $40 gift, it was very giving, but you have to wonder if it was the best possible option. As stated before those people could just use the money to buy things that got them in this predicament to begin with.
With a large chunk of change in my pocket I certainly would not know what to do with it. There are so many possible organizations that are deserving of every cent of the money. Would it be best to split up the money for many different charities? Or would it be better to to donate very generously to two or three select ones? I would want to make sure that the money spent would go a long ways, so I believe that I would give most of it to two or three charity organizations directly so that the money could be used properly and to the best benefit of everyone. A few possible candidates that might be the recipient of the money include any cancer fund, Humane Society, any of many Homeless shelters across the country, and Habitat for Humanity.
This article was a good one to publish around Christmas time. : )
In Marie Claire I was reading an article on something called the 50% club, where the member give either 50% of their earnings or more to chariteies ti help. They live on less, enough to barley get by or comftorably so that everyone else can have advantages they wouldn't have. I would like to one day do this and I would like to help fund a underprivliged student through college that otherwise would not be able to attend college.
i agree with planetshaker in the mind that they had a great idea, but that idea has to be refined alittle bit more to achieve the best possible outcome. for example, in cleveland, we gave homeless shelters food and clothing, and that way they couldnt buy alcohol, or anything useless, and it always helped those people in need. a better solution to using the money from the lottery to buy all of the people a nice winter jacket and possibly gloves, for i can tell you from experience many of those people do not have the proper clothing to even stay warm
I love Christmas time =) Everyone is so happy and giving! This man is so generous! Many of us would have just spent our winnings on ourselves, but he gave it to people who are truly in need. Now these people can buy the necessities they need to survive. Or maybe they can go out and get gifts for their kids for the first time.
If I had won the lottery I would try to give to as many charities as I can because I think that they are all worthy of donations.
Life is hard, I wouldn't judge the people in the shelters before I knew their story. It's almost ignorant to say that alcohol or substance abuse is the reason why they got there, and that they will do something illegal if given cash.
I commend what he did, his actions show what the seasons really about, giving to others even when it's easier to take; being selfless. If I had been in his position I wouldn't have done it any other way. What he did for those people is irreplaceable.
Who cares what they spend it on? It's their gift, if they are an alcoholic who wants to buy alcohol because they're homeless and have no home and want the holidays to go by faster well then go ahead!
Why does everything people do good, have to have some kind of negative? He did a good thing.
If I won the lottery I would invest my money and annually gove large donations to individual organizations like Make-A-Wish, or a Breast Cancer Cure clinic or a Diabetes Cure Clinic.
Hmm, if i hit the jackpot i'd keep a fair sum for myself but i'd give out alot to my family. I have lots of relatives who work their tail off to coast by and they are the ones at the top of my list.
If i won the lottery...
Well, my church actually works with the Sienna Fransics house once a month to make 125 lunches and bring them too them. we have this program that's called break the bread to go along with communin sunday (the first sunday of the month)So some of my money would go to that cause. Also with my church we adopt a troubled boys home in York and i would help buy the things they need, right now we are stuffing stocking for them and surprisingly what they want is like boxers and new t shirts and socks, which i think of as a need. I've worked with these boys and i think that deserve some of these things
Secondly i would buy a cow or goat for a family in another country so that they can use this to feed themselves and make a profit off of. My youth leader did this with her wedding money and thought was really cool.
I also would like to give another chunk to the Sienna Fransics house so that it doesn't become in danger of closing down like it had just a few months ago.
I also agree with captian crunch in giving it to cancer research. If they could just find better treatments that could help/improve so many lives already affected by it and also those to be affected.
I heard about this on the radio...It is very nice and thoughtful... and to reply to planetshaker..no gift is ever going to be the smartest and sometimes the giving should go on even if they are bad consequences that could occur...
If i won the lottery i would invest my money either in the stock market or in a small business... then I would give money to the Catholic Church... then I would build a charity because I would know where my money would go to because I do not like giving my money to charities due to the fact that some secretly support organizations I do not support
If I were to win the lottery then I would want to donate my money to the Lydia house. I absolutely love little kids and by giving money to the Lydia house I would hope to help the mothers who are there provide for their children.
How nice to hear some positive news. It is really refreshing to learn about one lucky person paying their luck forward. I'm glad this person decided to donate their winnings in the form of gift cards, but it is not what i would do. i would donate, but not to the homeless shelter down the street, or to my church, or to my family.
Depending on how much my winnings were, i would donate to the Susan G. Komen Foundation because I am personally been involved with it. I think it helps to donate money when you have had a personal experience with the program or cause.
Congratulations to the man who won the lottery and props for being in the giving spirit. :)
First off, Planetshaker, it's alcohol. Not alcohal.
I agree, some homeless people will spend their new-found money on alcohol inside the store, but if you were legally allowed to buy it, wouldn't you too? How can we judge these homeless people for making decisions that anyone else would make? Most of them don't have a family to speak of, and if they do, they have been relying on the home or shelter they are living in, so they may be overwhelmed with the concept of "extra" money... Just thought I'd throw that out there.
I personally would chose to take the money and help my family improve their financial status and then I would donate to a battered womens' shelter.
This is a great show of generosity that, I'm sure, warms the hearts of most Americans. Not only is it a great act of selflessness, but the man did not want credit for his generosity, which makes it even more respectable.
If I won the lottery myself, I would give at least half of my winnings to some type of charity that benefits the disabled or underpriviledged. Giving is the most important thing that you can do in the world, and this man is a great example of the meaning of true giving.
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