TLF at 20!

Katharine Hepburn, in her own words:

"Once, when I was a teenager, my father and I were standing in line to buy tickets for the circus. Finally, there was only one family between us and the ticket counter. That family made a lasting impression on me.

There were eight children, all under the age of 12. From the way they were dressed, you could tell they didn’t have much money, but their clothes were clean, very clean. The children were well-behaved, standing in pairs behind their parents, holding hands.

They were so excited about the clowns, the animals, and all the acts they would see that night. From their excitement, you could tell they had never been to a circus before. It was going to be a highlight of their lives.

The father and mother stood proudly at the front of their little group. The mother was holding her husband’s hand, looking at him as if to say, 'You’re my knight in shining armor.' He was smiling, enjoying seeing his family happy.

The ticket lady asked how many tickets he wanted, and he proudly responded, 'I want eight children’s tickets and two adult tickets.' Then she announced the price.

The wife let go of her husband’s hand, her head dropped, and the man’s lip began to quiver. He leaned in closer and asked, 'How much did you say?'

The ticket lady repeated the price.

He didn’t have enough money. How was he supposed to turn around and tell his eight kids that he couldn’t afford to take them to the circus?

Seeing what was happening, my dad reached into his pocket, pulled out a $20 bill, and dropped it on the ground. We weren’t rich by any means. My father bent down, picked up the $20 bill, tapped the man on the shoulder, and said, 'Excuse me, sir, this fell out of your pocket.'

The man understood what was happening. He wasn’t being handed charity, but he gratefully accepted the help in his desperate, heartbreaking, and embarrassing situation. He looked straight into my father’s eyes, took my dad’s hand in both of his, squeezed the bill tightly, and with trembling lips and a tear streaming down his cheek, he replied, 'Thank you, sir. This really means so much to me and my family.'

My father and I went back to our car and drove home. The $20 my dad gave away was what we had planned to use for our own tickets.

Although we didn’t see the circus that night, we felt a joy inside us that was far greater than seeing the circus.

That day, I learned the true value of giving. The Giver is greater than the Receiver.

If you want to be great, greater than life itself, learn to give. Love has nothing to do with what you expect to get, only with what you expect to give—everything.

The importance of giving and blessing others cannot be overstated because there is always joy in giving. Learn to make someone happy through acts of giving."

- Katharine Hepburn

What can we learn from this story?

The vision of TLF is that we may be more sensible, sensitive and loving!

We can learn to be more sensitive without being nudged to act.

Over the years in TLF I've seen that most people who give do not have much. Those who have so much need a lot of convincing before they give. Those who don't want to give will never give no matter how needy the beneficiary is.

I often made excuses that people had their own families to carter for. In TLF most of my friends and associates were young people who were starting life, so I felt they needed help themselves and needed to harness their resources first for their families.

I also made excuses that some of these people gave charity and contributed to social development in their own way and space.

I made excuses that there were so many charlatans out there and it wasn't easy to trust NGOs, Foundations or charitable causes, even ours!

I made conscious effort with fear of God to build TLF on integrity, trust and action, ensuring we're accountable first to God, then our consciences and our donors.

We have been growing our brand, name and image to suit what we ourselves preach.

We have ensured that charity and social development first starts with us as individuals, in our families, schools and work places as a way of life before broadcasting it out as a Foundation. We cannot live in opulence and expect others to give for our charity causes when we ourselves are not making the sacrifice and living the life of contentment and giving. Neither should we live in austerity and go about raising funds for charity and social development when we have not seen to our basic needs.

We have watched many people walk away and totally annihilate themselves from us and we have watched God build us, make us better, sustain us and remind us of our first love, that the ultimate law is love!

While a number of good, selfless and trusting people have continued to support TLF, a number have stayed at the sidelines watching incognito.

But we need to focus and channel our time, resources, strength and reports on those like minds willing to walk with us continuously. We love them, pray for them, acknowledge them and ensure we never break their trust in us as an Incorporated Trustee, A Foundation.

If you fear God and know God is watching you, you need not worry about humans. If you stand right with God you cannot be condemned, judged, suspected, written off, abandoned by humans, because God Himself would send the right people!

We look forward to -

1. Our Orphanage visit on 29th December 2024.

2. TLF 3rd term General Meeting on 29th December 2024.

3. End of year celebration on Sunday 29th December 2024.

4. 20th year anniversary January 1st 2005 to January 1st 2025 of the formal start of TLF.

5. 2nd Prison (Correctional Centre) visit on 1st January 2025.

6. 2025 budget launch on 6th January 2025.

7. Kick start of our 2025 activities in earnest from 1st of January 2025.