Reinventing giving

It should now be possible to scrap the format of L-Istrina, the annual year-end fund-raising initiative of Peppi Azzopardi, Lou Bondì, and numerous other voluntary participants, and to go on to something more relevant to the spirit of sharing and giving. It is possible to put forward the suggestion now, on the basis of the huge success achieved in the demanding marathon preparations and the exacting ultimate TV programme yesterday week.

That is best recognised at the popular level by the surpassing of the ambitious target set by the organisers to raise a cool one million Maltese liri. The objective was achieved with a margin of Lm21,465 to spare, plus the proceeds from today's auction of donated paintings, if all the donations promised are actually sent in. The contributions were indeed magnificent. Yet that is not, to me anyway, the full measure of the achievement.

That lies in the breakdown of political barriers whereby the Labour Party, then under the iron grip of its current leader, had shunned the philanthropic project, bar personal participation by a thimbleful of MPs.

The electoral defeat of April 2003, which condemned Labour to a further five years in Opposition and brought about a change at the palace of all the old guard bar the leader, set the inevitable launching pad to a radically revised attitude towards participation in non-party activities.

The new team set about with a determination to go against the leader's old and ingrained aversions and ensure that no media opportunity was left unexploited. The new style included an end to the boycott of the popular programmes put up on TVM by the commercial partnership Where's Everybody through Mr Azzopardi (Xarabank) and Mr Bondì (Bondìplus or variants). It also led to full scale backing and participation in the L-Istrina project.

On socialist as well as more broadly human considerations I find repulsive the idea that one takes part in a charity activity to gain or - to put it more generously - not to lose political points. Yet I do not believe that - distancing from the horrible total negativism that alienated so many of Labour's own grassroots - the Labour MPs, officials and other activists who went to do a stint at manning the televised phone-ins for L-Istrina did so just or primarily for political gain.

They are decent men and women who essentially want to do their part to help reduce somewhat the hardship and improve the well-being of those less fortunate and in bigger need than most of us, a number of whom have probably wished to do so all along. Combining the end of the boycott and the natural generosity Labourites share with the rest of the Maltese people there can be no doubt that, in years to come, initiatives like L-Istrina will attract deep and widespread national support.

The project was a success story, despite divisive controversy. It became and will be more so now that there is unity of purpose. Peppi Azzopardi and Lou Bondì, not without a little bit of help as well, persevered and took the L-Istrina project onto a higher plane.

They and their collaborators deserve praise and thanks, though their satisfaction lies in neither, but comes from their knowledge that they raised a tide and brought it to a flood to allow some fortune to thirsty patches in our society.

Now that it enjoys truly mass support, the project should be based more directly on the true spirit of giving.

One of the pillars on which L-Istrina has rested so far was the ability of the organisers to persuade commercial enterprises to donate prizes to be drawn in a lottery for the benefit of those who gave or committed contributions. The range of prizes netted for use this year, for instance, was breathtaking. It included a veritable fleet of cars and an immovable property with a market value of around Lm30,000.

This particular approach in turn rests on two factors. The commercial donors, while contributing by foregoing their margin of profit, would hope to gain by advertising their wares.

On their part some of the contributors to L-Istrina are enticed by the chance of winning prizes, as the organisers do not fail to remind them in the extended run-up to the programme, and as the presenters did time and time again during the long, exhausting live television hours beyond midnight of Saturday, December 27.

The first factor is part of the calculating commercial world. In its crudest form firms make such 'donations' as part of their advertising budget. An unconnected but parallel example lies in the prizes put up from time to time by the political parties.

Were a distributor of moon sleighs to give a pair to be raffled by Party A to demonstrate his partisan support for the A side, Party B would surely respond by urging its supporters to boycott that particular brand of moon sleighs.

That does not happen because the parties know that each can tap the distributor's advertising budget in one way or another.

That factor can be reviewed without loss to either side. The publicity that commercial interests require out of 'donating' their products or services can be achieved in a different manner. For instance: they could make moon sleighs available to L-Istrina and these could be drawn as prizes in a lottery with tickets sold without any relation to one's contribution. On the programme itself the presenters could repeat and reiterate with due appreciation that it was Moon Reps Ltd who kindly presented L-Istrina with moon sleighs for a lottery to be drawn, say, on Easter Sunday.

If the commercial unit wanted to make a straightforward donation, it could contribute a sum of money and be mentioned among the contributors, a practice that has already gained considerable ground.

Presenting commercial 'donations' along such lines, I feel, could do away with the second factor - enticing contributions by extending the chance of winning a prize to those who make them. Such enticement may be necessary to get the project going in a context of divisive controversy. With all due regard to the good intentions of the organisers, it is not quite in line with the true Strina, with the real spirit of giving.

An appeal for solidarity with needy brethren rings melodiously when it is directed at the heart. That is even superior to the legitimate appeal to the brain - that is, There, but for the grace of God, go we (it might be our turn to be in need tomorrow).

Among other things, it could result that the enticement of prizes to be won unintentionally prods some individuals to make and repeat donation-calls that load their telephone bill far more than they can bear. That temptation should be withdrawn.

The fact of the matter is that enticement is not crucial. The vast majority of people would give - and most of the many thousands of contributors to L-Istrina surely did give - out of the goodness of their hearts, and not for the chance of personal gain.

The giving trait is one of the better parts of the make-up of the Maltese people. A parish priest once recounted to me how, when he visited members of his flock in their homes, he would be deeply moved by the noble behaviour of the most humble of them. Example: an aging and ailing lady surviving on the bare necessities would give him the odd lira towards the church fund without the priest having brought the matter up.

Keep the money, he would say gently, you need it more than does our church project.

Take it, she would say, God will provide.

One could argue that - possible greed or over-zealousness of a few individuals apart - there is nothing wrong in spicing up a drive like that of L-Istrina by adding the attraction of prizes to be won. I would answer with a question: Is it not more worthwhile to try not to link materialism to appeals to the benevolence of the spirit?

Giving, as the Man-God reminded us with the illustration of the widow's mite, has its reward in the enrichment of one's spirit. In a world where our society too is increasingly immersed in consumerism and materialistic considerations, we need projects that can lead to spiritual renewal.

This is not a call to religious arms. This poor sinner is the least qualified to make any such call. It is a suggestion to build on the great efforts of Peppi Azzopardi and Lou Bondì and the success they have made of L-Istrina.

Begin planning now to make the 2004 project one that encourages Maltese individuals from all walks of life to dip into the deep well of their being, to remember that there is delight in singing though no one hears, besides the singer; to reach into a goodness that is innate, no matter what one's shortcomings might be; to seek the silent joy of giving without expecting to receive anything - the satisfaction of having done the right thing is payment enough.

The culmination of the project in a televised day and night of appeals and giving (without turning individuals stricken by illness or disablement into exhibits), against a background of entertainment, should be retained in revisiting the spirit in this manner. Televised donations offer the opportunity for what economists call a demonstration effect - to make a good thing catchy.

Without commercial spicing but with combined effort, the good show will go on even more satisfyingly than ever before.