Education, Philanthropy, and Common Sense

Props to Kate Fratti for highlighting Gene's work, and uber-kudos to Gene Epstein himself.

Gene’s cash kids

Gene Epstein knows full well there are old friends who purposely cross the street when they see him to avoid the charity shakedown.

Gene, a prominent Bucks philanthropist, always has an angle, a noble project, a fundraising proposition. You need to be part Mother Theresa to put up with him, which is to say patient, kind, generous to a fault.

Economy wreaking havoc on your business? Gene doesn’t want to hear it. There are poor to feed, homeless to shelter, lives to change, kids to inspire. They don’t go away in a poor economy, so how about you pony up and he’ll match your gift.

You’ve read about some of Gene’s good works in this newspaper or when he has been honored for his humanitarian efforts.

And he’s nowhere near finished. Seems Gene at 69 is spending his retirement years in Wrightstown working full-speed ahead to change the world, always reaching deep into his energy and financial reserves. He has about a dozen projects on his desk today.

He also has a way of pricking a person’s conscience. It means he’s a real pain in the neck if you’re just trying to mind your own business.

Big ideas and generosity like Gene’s may leave some of us cold, but many are grateful for his initiative. They’re happy for his ideas on how to help. All they have to do is write a check and feel good about it.

Gene’s newest project peaks my interest. Maybe because it’s based in part on his theory we don’t give our kids near enough credit for their creativity and resourcefulness. Stand back and they can work wonders, he says, but we grownups rarely are willing to stand back.

Our lack of faith in kids is a crime, says Gene, who long has lectured that the notion we must provide more for our kids than we had, is “the dumbest” parenting mistake.

It “declaws” the kid, he says. The child never is allowed to move into the mode where he must call upon his own resources. He never learns what he’s made of, or what he’s capable of, or why it matters that he’s here on Earth.

It’s a form of child neglect really, to underestimate the power of kids’ caring and imagination.

Gene never has been guilty. It’s why he’s about to hand more than 2,500 Bucks kids $10 each and challenge them to spend it well. And why he has full confidence he’s making a smart investment. He calls it the Civic Engagement Project.

He got the idea in April while watching ABC news anchor Charlie Gibson spotlight Ohio English teacher Pat Colangeli in his “Person of the Week” segment. Pat had given each of the 20 children in her classroom $10. They were encouraged to use it to help someone not as well off as they were. And if they decided they were the best charity in town, well, then they could spend it on themselves. The only rule was that they had to write an essay explaining how they’d spent the cash and why.

Those 20 kids not only didn’t squander the money, they used it to launch a student fundraising drive that netted more than $6,000, which was dispensed for all sorts of good works around their town.

So far, 15 Philadelphia schools have said they’ll participate in Gene’s version of the experiment and about 10 Bucks high school principals have written to say, “Send us that check!”

Why didn’t every invited school race to take Gene’s money? He made the offer in May, and the invitations are just being accepted now.

It comes down to whether a teacher or adviser would agree to coordinate the 100 kids in each school who’d be managing that $1,000. And Gene’s not giving any strict guidelines or ideas for charities or how the program should be run. He’s leaving that up to the kids and their adviser.

Gene’s giving the schools until the end of the year to report their results to him. The most innovative use of the money will be acknowledged at an awards ceremony.

I’ll keep you posted along the way.