I always love hearing about local athletes giving back to the community, especially around this time of year. We’ve got plenty of kids who recently committed to making hundreds of lives a little better this week and, talking to coaches, it sounds like they learned the right lesson from it all.
Many of us could benefit from a reality check every so often. So many of us take things for granted in life that we often don’t know what we’ve got until it’s gone. Not everyone’s so fortunate.
It’s always good to do as these athletes, coaches and families do by helping people who need it at any time of year. The important thing to consider, though, is why we donate our time, money, services or whatever we have. No one should do it just to make those social media posts with a small carousel of photos and a lengthy, inspirational caption so other folks can smash those “like” buttons. Humility is not a bragging right.
If you’re going to do as our teams have done, do it for the people you’re helping. Do it because you saw a need and had the means to fulfill it. Do it because you believe if you were in those shoes, you’d want someone to show you the same kindness. Treat others the way you’d want to be treated, you know?
So it’s great to hear that learning about these families and children in need opened our kids’ eyes to a world they’ve never lived in and made them want to go the extra mile to help. That’s what raising them the right way looks like. That’s how you build good citizens. That’s what makes Plant City a good place to live.