Look In The
Dumpster!

Teaching your children how to appreciate
everything they have.

ELIZABETH APPELBAUM
AppleTree Editor

S

ometimes, the best lessons can
be learned at a trash bin. Just
ask Danny Siegel.
Siegel is an author and speaker who
travels across the country, focusing on
how to make the world a better place.
If you're lucky enough to catch him,
he's probably getting ready to fly off to
here or there and give a talk, but his
heart is always at the dumpster.
In fact, when Siegel visits each new
city, he'll make it a point to stop at a
dumpster, usually behind a bakery.
Everyone should try it, he says.
"Maybe you have a 10-year-old son,
so suggest he look in a dumpster," he
says. "Don't let him climb in it, but
have him take a look at all the food

that's being thrown away [food that's
not rotten; it simply hadn't sold that
day, and thus was no longer "fresh"].
Then ask him, 'Well, what could
they do with all this besides dump
it?'"
Chances are your son will come up
with the obvious answer: They could
give it to someone who is hungry.
This is Thanksgiving weekend, a
time when many consider their own
great fortune: good health, a roof over
their heads, enough food to eat. It's a
tender sentiment some parents like to
share with their children by delivering
an insufferable lecture that goes on ad
infinitum and invariably includes the
words, "Do you know how lucky you
are?"
Forget the lecture, says Siegel,
author of Heroes and Miracle Workers

and 1+1=3 and 37 Other Mitzvah
Principles To Live By. Instead, invite
your children to see for themselves.
Take them to a soup kitchen (look
at who comes to eat, Siegel says, and
you'll quickly learn that it's not just a
handful of old men. It's entire fami-
lies, including tiny children).
Don't just drop a handful of pennies
into a tzedakah box and call it a day;
have your child contribute some of
her own money, then ask her to
research where the money should go.
Donate something you have that
someone else might not be able to
afford (Siegel tells the story of a
woman who brought her 10-year-old
with her as she gave her wedding dress
to a charity fund for brides. Today,
that child is an adult, and she loves
her memory — and learned much
from it — of a mother who gave away
her wedding gown.)
"People with teens go to the grocery
store every three hours to stock up,"
Siegel says. "Each time you go, buy
one extra can and donate it. Think
about that: If you go three times a
week, you get three cans, multiplied
by the number of times you go a
month and that makes 12 cans, and
think about how many cans you're
giving away just in a year. Something
like that really makes an impression
on kids."
Look for food that's fresh but going
uneaten, like day-old donuts at a
dumpster.
"A lot of places really want to
donate this stuff," he says, but they
don't have anyone to make the
arrangements.
Siegel is the founder of the ZIV
Tzedakah Fund Inc., established in
1981, a nonprofit organization that
makes donations to those in need —
usually small, not especially well-

known causes.
ZIV, which has raised more than $6
million, operates by the philosophy:
"We define tzedakah as pure, decent
caring or, simply put, just doing the
right thing." A tenet of the organiza-
tion: We believe that money can be
used to make miracles happen" —
miracles like helping someone get a
job, or having a meal more than once
a day.
Naomi Eisenberger is ZIV's only
full-time, paid employee.
She was raised in a family where
community service "was the name of
the game." Her parents were "con-
stantly involved in the community;"
her father was "a volunteer fireman, a
Mason, an Elk, the mayor, active at
his synagogue."
Eisenberger thought that was just
what everybody did. "I didn't know
anything different," she says.
When she met up with Danny
Siegel, Eisenberger had begun treat-
ment for cancer, what she called "a
lifechanging experience." Now a fami-
ly history of compassion and activism,
plus a new understanding of the pro-
found fragility, fierceness and beauty
of life, met up with an enthusiastic
tzedakah advocate in the form of
Siegel. Eisenberger was ready for the
job, and to this day serves as ZIV's
managing director.
Like Siegel, Eisenberger is not fond
of the lecture approach for children.
You say, "Do you know how many
children out there are starving?" A
child hears, "Blah blah blah blah
blah."
Instead, "try to open their eyes to
what goes on in the world by pointing
things out to them," she says. "Then
let them draw their own conclusion.
"Make it a point to bring articles or
news releases to kids' attention —

11/26
2004

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