We live in the age of virtue-signaling. One’s hashtag activism seems to carry more weight than the actual sacrifice of time and money to the issues one is concerned about.

Lot’s of people love to fret about tax cuts hurting the poor, but few of those people are actually giving voluntarily to the poor.

Part of the problem is that most of us who rarely charitably give of ourselves have all kinds of ideas about what that charity should look like.

We love looking at pictures of glowing, clean, presentable white women surrounded by adoring African children…it’s easy to see that woman is HELPING. Look at all those less-fortunates around her! And she’s so beautiful! They’re just so lucky to have her. It can feel like if we don’t match that Facebook-approved image of charity, it isn’t worth it.

I worked in non-profit education services for years and ran into all kinds of people who said they’d always dreamed of serving their community in this way or that…but. The “buts” are always wrapped up in high-minded notions of the “proper” way to help people.

But…I don’t have enough money.

But…I don’t have a large enough space.

But…I don’t have the right location, the right supplies, the right people.

There is no shortage of people willing to tell you the “right” way to help while simultaneously explaining why their “buts” prevent them from helping on their own.

One Twitter user by the name of @PolitcalMath shared a moving thread about an interesting experience he had over the weekend. Upon coming across a makeshift food pantry in a swanky area of Seattle, he was confronted by a startling realization: true charity can’t wait for ideal conditions…and we too often judge the efforts of others even when they are doing what we don’t dare.

Check out his story. @PoliticalMath is all of us…we’ve all been this “snobby” at one time or another. We’ve all let our first reactions outweigh the real value of what we’re seeing from time to time. None of us are above such judgments. Kudos to PM for seeing it, admitting it and being open enough to change it.

Thanks for posting about your discovery, this weekend!

Scroll down to read and don’t stop before you get to link to help support this wonderful woman.

Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. – Romans 12:16-18

I had a weird an amazing experience yesterday. I was giving someone from my church a ride to a food pantry to pick up the groceries she'll need for this week. /1

— PoliMath (@politicalmath) May 7, 2018

We're looking for this pantry, driving through high-cost neighborhoods on the east side of Seattle. Signs for new construction townhomes in the "low $700s". Very very expensive stuff /2

— PoliMath (@politicalmath) May 7, 2018

It becomes clear as we get close that the pantry is actually AT one of these houses. It's got to be in this neighborhood somewhere. Someone is running it from their residential dwelling. /3

— PoliMath (@politicalmath) May 7, 2018

We park near where Google Maps tells us the pantry is, get out, start walking, looking around for it.
There is this immaculate, beautiful house. Just built. Million dollars easy.
Across the street is another house, much older, lawn kind of a mess. /4

— PoliMath (@politicalmath) May 7, 2018

But the run-down house is definitely where this pantry is. I go up, ring the doorbell.
A young girl answers.
I ask about the pantry. She says she need to go get her mom & then sprints out of the house in her bare feet around the corner to the back /5

— PoliMath (@politicalmath) May 7, 2018

Mom's in the back. Back yard reminds me of where I grew up in semi-rural Georgia. Stuff everywhere, broken bikes litter the yard, uncle (or grandpa not sure) filling up the above ground pool. Mostly dirt & weeds with the telltale paths that get worn down by kids running around /6

— PoliMath (@politicalmath) May 7, 2018

I don't know how to say this w/o sounding insulting, but mom, by her appearance, would fit in better in rural Georgia than in this high-cost community a mile from a Google campus.
She says hi w/ a smile, walks us back up to the front. /7

— PoliMath (@politicalmath) May 7, 2018

She goes to this make-shift shack haphazardly tacked on to the front of the house. Throws a couple latches off & opens it up to a half-dozen freezers / refrigerators & piles and piles of canned and "fresh" food /8

— PoliMath (@politicalmath) May 7, 2018

This the "pantry"… about 300 square feet of makeshift shelves & any food she can get her hands on. With the exception of 1 freezer, there are no locks. It's open 12 hours a day 365 days a year b/c (her words) "people still get hungry on Christmas" /9

— PoliMath (@politicalmath) May 7, 2018

I was struck by how snobby I was, thinking "Well, I would do better than this"
There was some rotten fruit in the fresh fruit bin, a shelf of expired cans ("you've been warned" she says), I mentally identified a dozen "improvement" I could make.
God, I'm a judgmental prick /10

— PoliMath (@politicalmath) May 7, 2018

She has her rules, 1 meat, 1 dozen eggs, 1 milk if they can get it, 1 cheese, all the beans and corn you want.
It's not a LOT of food, but it will keep your head above water if you need it.
And it's all honor system. Walk in a get food as you need it.
/11

— PoliMath (@politicalmath) May 7, 2018

As my friend filled her bags, I walked with her about the place. She runs this pantry for about $1500 a month, which is nothing. She recently lost her job, which isn't stopping her from making sure hundreds of people are being fed. /12

— PoliMath (@politicalmath) May 7, 2018

She mentions the house across the street… the million dollar home & how the neighborhood has changed.
She laughs about a realtor who gives her a dollar every month in case she wants to sell her house.
She bought the place for less than $230K. It's easily worth $800K now /13

— PoliMath (@politicalmath) May 7, 2018

I ask her if she ever thought about selling. A windfall of over a half-million dollars is almost literally at her door.
She laughs at me.
"Where would I live? I can't buy anything else around here. And the people who need this would still be here." /14

— PoliMath (@politicalmath) May 7, 2018

She could probably retire. It would be the easiest thing in the world.
But who would take care of the people she helps? Who would feed them?
Her house would be demolished & 2 new mini-mansions would go up and then what? /15

— PoliMath (@politicalmath) May 7, 2018

I was stunned at how much judgement comes from looking at a person or a lawn or a house, or even the organization of FREE FOOD SHE GIVES AWAY.
It's not the way I would do it but I'm also not doing it, so maybe I should shut up. /16

— PoliMath (@politicalmath) May 7, 2018

Anyway, I met a good person yesterday, someone I would never have met or said hello to in the grocery story. Someone I'm sure I would have dismissed when she fills her shopping cart w/ hot dogs on a flash sale w/ her daughter walking along in her pajamas /17

— PoliMath (@politicalmath) May 7, 2018

This is the sort of person you'd see in some mocking sneering "people of Wal-Mart" picture but she's better than we are, better than I am.
Good to be reminded of that.
/fin

— PoliMath (@politicalmath) May 7, 2018

btw, if you want to donate, here is her paypal.https://t.co/7MhC1ubmWg
My only ask is that you don't mention me b/c I am so horribly humiliated by the assumptions I made based on appearances.

— PoliMath (@politicalmath) May 7, 2018