Our Rural Roots

Jennifer Campbell, Contributor

Giving and donations don't always come with a receipt. It's not always a check written, a donation dropped off or sponsorship level listed on a program.

Sometimes, giving looks like keeping the flowers alive all summer, hauling tables, sweeping barn floors and constantly checking the weather for an outdoor event. Sometimes, it looks like opening your home, farm and heart to strangers for the sake of something bigger than yourself.

In September, we were blessed to host a "Harvest Dinner" for the Rural Gone Urban Foundation. We didn't donate money. We donated us -- our farm, our home and our time. I can't tell you what a similar venue might have cost or what our contribution would be "worth" in dollars, because I don't care. What I can tell you is opening my home was given with a full heart.

Time is a gift. Energy is a gift. Letting people gather around your table (we hauled my kitchen table out into the yard for the event) and laugh in your space is a gift. And my hope is those gifts help as much as or more than dollars.

I forget sometimes that we all have something to offer, even if our checkbooks say otherwise. Maybe it's cooking, hosting, cleaning, showing up early, staying late, a hug or a text that's merely a simple heart emoji.

Our contribution may not have had a tax form attached, but it did come with important things: connections, purpose and a reminder that generosity doesn't have to be fancy or financial -- it just needs to be genuine.

Time is precious, and sometimes it is easier just to write the check. But, the older I get, the more I understand the value of being present for others is a gift to me, as well.

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-- Jennifer (Jent) Campbell captures life by word and camera from a seven-generation Indiana family farm. Follow her on social platform X @plowwife, and find her blog at Farm Wife Feeds at https://farmwifefeeds.com/…

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