Let's Turn Box Office Gold Into Real Gold for Glide Memorial

I think there are a lot of people like me. Every Christmas, stricken by fleeting attacks of conscience, we blindly write checks to various charities. In my case, these checks necessarily must be of the meager, non-Bill Gatesian variety. I feel the pang and then forget about it. Life slogs on. I slog on. Another entry on my lengthy and perpetual To Do List gets zapped. If I feel good, it's because I only have 334 life-chores left to do. My little checks wing their way off only to be recalled (vaguely) when my bank statement comes back.

Because I can't give BIG, I feel like small doesn't count.

Until I saw The Pursuit of Happyness. Of course I expected to be touched by the uber-likable Will Smith starring with his undoubtedly uber-likable son Jaden. I expected to fully feel every excruciating step in the Sisyphean journey from downtrodden Dad to rightfully successful stockbroker.

What I didn't expect was the vivid glimpse of one of my paltry donations hard at work. You see, one of my meager checks typically has gone to Glide Memorial, the church and shelter heavily featured in The Pursuit of Happyness. Glide is where father and son beg for refuge. Everyday, they dash through the streets of San Francisco and stand in line praying they've made it in time to get one of the precious beds for the night. If there is 'no room at the inn', they're relegated to dozing on the train, the bus terminal or the men's room. At Glide, they find warmth, food, safety and community. At Glide, they have a tenuous buffer against the harsh realities of their world.

Glide Memorial saves this struggling little family over and over again. Tucked into every bed is unconditional love, along with a good night's sleep and a fresh start..

Now the movie takes place in the eighties, long before I ever sent off one of my checks. So it's not actually my money that's buying beds and pillows and hot meals. But it was enough for me to get the picture loud and clear. That's what movie magic does for us. When a movie is done right, the film's story becomes our story. We not only get the message, we are moved by the message. We act. We agitate. We tell our friends and family and anyone who will listen.

Which is why I am now asking anyone who sees the movie to take action. So far, The Pursuit of Happyness is box office gold,with $27,000,000 in receipts. If you figure on $9 a ticket, that's 3,000,000 Americans who've seen this film so far. Three million people who saw how Glide Memorial gives the less fortunate a second chance every single day. There are more Chris Gardners among us than we know or than we want to know. That's another one of the messages in this movie. The old 'there but for the grace of God go I" ... which should never be old to any of us. Too many of us are one illness, one disaster, one job loss away from standing in line shivering rather than sitting in a toasty warm theater munching on $8 popcorn.

I am thinking that all of us who turned Happyness into box office gold could turn Glide into gold. If everyone who sees The Pursuit of Happyness sends just $1 to Glide Memorial, that's at least $3,000,000.

So this weekend ....I know you have a lot of movie choices ...but if you choose Happyness, choose to help someone else pursue it, too.

To donate to Glide Memorial:
http://glide.org/
To donate by mail, make checks payable to Glide and send them to:

Development Office
Glide Memorial United Methodist Church
330 Ellis Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
Donations are also happily accepted by phone. Call the Glide Foundation, at (415) 674-6000, with your Visa or MasterCard information.


If you have any questions about donations, please call the Development Office at (415) 674-6070 or email fund_development@glide.org.