I live in a wonderful neighborhood of ancient live oaks. Just the sight of these venerable trees dripping with Spanish moss brings me a sense of calm and peace.
Of course, in these autumn days they are also dripping with acorns. Isn’t it amazing that something so large and powerful could possibly have its beginnings in that little seed?
I have always loved the proverb “Mighty oaks from little acorns grow.” Surely that’s nature’s way of assuring us that even a relatively modest start can result in amazing things.
So the analogy is irresistible as we enter into the third year of our Chairman’s Challenge campaign. This year, 49 of our local affiliates are participating in an effort to raise dollars for their community grantmaking endowments. Their gifts will be matched from a pool of donated funds. The results for the past two years have been terrific, and we are hoping for no less this year.
Each gift – large or small – contributes toward the future of grant-making in its community. Just think: twenty years from now, dollars granted out for community needs will have had roots in this year’s gifts. It’s our own version of acorn-planting.
Someone planted those mighty oaks in my neighborhood many years ago. That person is long gone, but I am grateful to him every day for the leafy wonders I now enjoy.
Make your own gift this year to the Chairman’s Challenge, with the certainty that someone in the future will appreciate your generosity!
{"title":"Mighty oaks","content":"<p>I live in a wonderful neighborhood of ancient live oaks. Just the sight of these venerable trees dripping with Spanish moss brings me a sense of calm and peace. <\/p>\r\n<p>Of course, in these autumn days they are also dripping with acorns. Isn’t it amazing that something so large and powerful could possibly have its beginnings in that little seed?<\/p>\r\n<p>I have always loved the proverb “Mighty oaks from little acorns grow.” Surely that’s nature’s way of assuring us that even a relatively modest start can result in amazing things.<\/p>\r\n<p>So the analogy is irresistible as we enter into the third year of our Chairman’s Challenge campaign. This year, 49 of our local affiliates are participating in an effort to raise dollars for their community grantmaking endowments. Their gifts will be matched from a pool of donated funds. The results for the past two years have been terrific, and we are hoping for no less this year. <\/p>\r\n<p>Each gift – large or small – contributes toward the future of grant-making in its community. Just think: twenty years from now, dollars granted out for community needs will have had roots in this year’s gifts. It’s our own version of acorn-planting.<\/p>\r\n<p>Someone planted those mighty oaks in my neighborhood many years ago.  That person is long gone, but I am grateful to him every day for the leafy wonders I now enjoy. <\/p>\r\n<p>Make your own gift this year to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nccommunityfoundation.org\/new-newsworthy\/2015-chairmans-challenge\">Chairman’s Challenge<\/a>, with the certainty that someone in the future will appreciate your generosity!<\/p>","excerpt":"<p>\"Mighty oaks from little acorns grow,\" is a proverb near to Beth Boney Jenkins' heart. Read NCCF's VP of Development's blog here.<\/p>","url":"\/blog\/mighty-oaks","publishedAt":1446741976,"media":0,"enableComments":false,"inMenu":false,"meta":null,"ordinal":0,"orderChildrenBy":"","id":"4ce600a47c04451cb621969d85cbaa95","parent":"e76aa785e2f140b6a8bdcb322b91b397","node":60454,"created":1533183555,"modified":1556820683,"fresh":1,"type":"post","children":{},"relations":{"author":[{"title":"Beth Boney Jenkins","content":"","excerpt":"","url":"\/authors\/beth-boney-jenkins","publishedAt":1395950211,"media":[{"type":"image","url":"https:\/\/nmcdn.io\/e186d21f8c7946a19faed23c3da2f0da\/7868d48393ef4e3bb7bca8cdf7bc2f20\/files\/Beth-Boney-Jenkins_2.jpg","title":"Beth Boney Jenkins","caption":"","size":"1515197"}],"source":null,"inMenu":false,"meta":{"title":"","description":"","excludeFromSitemap":"No"},"ordinal":0,"orderChildrenBy":"","permission":"write","tinyMCE_dummy":"","visibleTo":"Everyone","id":"62f2fb563e614303982c545c9f4db30e","parent":"289475e074af44b1acb7a469b62466d2","node":112256,"created":1535036011,"modified":1705590370,"fresh":1,"type":"a4794d6408d04576a7acdd10c3fd249d","children":{}}]},"permission":"read"}
