My Version of 'Oprah's Big Give'

If I had an exorbitant amount of money, I would do so many things for so many people. I must admit that before I would start giving to the community there are a few people that I would take care of that is personally in my life.

Number one person is my mom. She has worked all her life to take care of her family. And if I must say, her family turned out pretty good. But my mom and dad are now in there seventies and even though my dad has retired, my mom still runs her ceramic business, delivers phone books door to door, and takes care of my ninety seven year old grandmother who can't be left alone anymore. Money is very tight for my parents. They struggle at Christmas but they try to get everyone something, even if it is little.

I'm sure that we wouldn't care if they didn't get us anything but Mom would care. I would pay off their house and pay an exorbitant amount towards there utilities as well as pay their medical bills that Medicare doesn't cover. In doing this my mom and dad could stop being out in the extreme cold and extreme heat delivering phone books all year round and they could spend their small social security checks on things that make them happy, weather it is mom's crafts or dad's fishing or whatever it is.

For my step mother I would buy her a small house if she wanted to move from the apartment she lives in and also pay her utilities so her social security checks would be extra monies for her. If she doesn't want to move I would pay her rent.

For my one cousin who is stuck in Fla. in a very unhappy situation, I would buy her a small house, pay her utilities, and pay for her to move back home to Dayton, Ohio.

For each one of my siblings I would allocate a certain amount to either go towards a house payment or rent and utilities. I would do things this way because some of my siblings are far better off that others. This way I would be fair to all of them. To each one of my nieces and nephews I would give them a certain amount for either rents, utilities, or a vehicle.

For each one of my great nieces and great nephews I would put $1500.oo into a trust of some sort. Each of them are young enough that they should have a goodly amount when they become of age.

I would buy each one of my three children and their families a house. Each one of my boys and daughter-in-laws would receive brand new vehicles with insurance paid for a few years.

Each one of my 11 grandchildren would get a trust fund with $50,000.oo or more or less, depending on amount I have to play with, in it to be received when they become 25 years of age. My reason for doing this is that I don't want my grand-babies to grow up with the attitude that they don't have to do anything with their life because they will have a trust fund. I figure that by the time they turn 25 they will have seen some of what life is about and should have figured out what they want to do with their life.

If I have any extra monies left I will give my mom some more of it so that she can leave her grandkids and great-grandkids something.

One other person in my family I would help out extra and that is my oldest brother and his wife. My brother is a veteran with lots of medical issues. His wife has a lot of medical issues also. She has a heart condition, is allergic to almost every medicine around it seems. She is on oxygen, without it she will die. They have just been told that her temporary medical card has expired and they will no longer pay for oxygen for her. So now we must basically sit and watch her die because we can find no organization that will help with O2 which is $600.oo a month. I would pay for whatever was needed for her to live a comfortable live.

Now for the community. I belong to a very small V.F.W. Post in Trotwood, Ohio. We try to help as many people as possible. This year we adopted 2 families at Christmas, last year only 1. We have adopted a troop in Iraq. We send them goodie boxes as often as we can. Most of these things are donated by the membership. Which as I said is very small so we can't do for everyone. Our Post building needs repairs. I would knock it down and start over building from the ground up a new and better place, one that meets every code there is, where we can have the space to do fund-raisers for the community and for the veterans. I would pay for a 501C3 and a bingo license, this would enable us to make money for this non-profit organization so that we can turn around and help the children of this community and others.

I would set up some sort of program for families with children for when it is time to buy school clothes and supplies and school fees. There are programs that help with supplies but so many families struggle when it comes time to buy clothes and shoes. They don't pay utilities or other bills, to get what the kids need so that their child isn't laughed at or made fun of because they only have 1 pair of pants or skirt or what ever.

I would donate a big part of my monies to 'Make a Wish Foundation' for children that have terminal illnesses and the families don't have the funds to make their big wish come true.

I would set up my own foundation, 'Down on your luck' foundation. For families who through no fault of their own have fallen on bad times. People are loosing their homes, loosing their utilities, they don't know where their next meal is coming from. I want to help those who work and can't make it. They don't qualify for food stamps, section 8, or any other program that exists now but they can't pay their medical bills. They sometimes work 2 and 3 jobs.

I guess that the last person I would help would be myself. I would buy me a small 3 bedroom house with a fenced in yard, to keep the grandkids in, a new mini van with four doors, seats that collapse so that I can transport my craft items to craft shows. After that I would take my boys, daughter-in-laws, and grandchildren to a weeks stay at Disney World in Orlando, Fla. Kind of a prize for sticking with me through all the struggles we have had to endure.