Passage 2
Four years ago Juliette Wright gave birth to her second child, a big, healthy baby boy. Hudson grew so fast that Juliette was left with some unworn baby clothes. Feeling privileged to have a happy family, Juliette wanted to give the clothes to a less fortunate mother.
When she phoned her local charities, Juliette was shocked to find none of them needed more baby clothes. She pressed them for what they really did want and their responses were surprising.
One women's shelter needed closed-toe work boots. A family living at the shelter had been separated from their husband and father because he couldn't find work. With experience working in road construction, the only thing stopping him from finding work was the right safety clothes. "With some closed-toe work boots he'd be able to return to work on the roads," said Juliette. "I learnt that a simple item could pull a family out of poverty."
Workers at another women's refuge said they could use new underwear. "People donate used underwear but staffs refuse to accept it out of respect for clients,one told her. Juliette contacted her friends and together they bought enough underwear for dozens of women.
Dropping off this donation Juliette was filled with a sense of purpose. "I felt so good because I'd fulfilled a need in the community." Imagine, she thought, how good it would be to feel that way every day. Juliette instinctively felt the wider community, if given the right opportunity, might like to join her in what she called "direct giving."
Her reaction was contagious and a close friend who worked as a graphic designer volunteered to create a logo to add some seriousness and importance to Juliette's new found passion of locating items to meet charities5 specific needs. The logo featured the word GIVIT, with the two Is embracing the V.
Juliette then set out to create a website that matched people in need with people who with goods. It was the website that charities could post requests for specific goods, and donors could go to find these requests. Ideally, potential donors could do this by searching postcodes. Importantly, once an item was donated the request would be removed from the list—she didn't want the site to resemble an auction. And to ensure privacy, donors and receivers would never meet face to face.
Juliette, who was still breast-feeding three-month-old Hudson and caring for his big sister Sara, enlisted a babysitter and began to visit local charities to discuss GIVIT. Then she and her husband used $5,000 of their own money to hire an excellent web developer who understood the complicated programming that they needed.
After a few months the site was fully functioning, and simply maintaining the lists was occupying Juliette full-time from her home on the outskirts.
In those early days, Juliette's GIVIT list included only essential items. So she was hesitant when she noticed a boxing bag had been requested for a local family. But it eventually made its way onto the GIVIT list. Two weeks later Juliette received some amazing feedback. "The charity told me that since that Mum had received the boxing bag, the kids were using it and they had not hit her once," Juliette said softly. "We cannot predict what’s going to make a significant impact in someone’s life."
Her greatest contribution came the next year. When the Queensland floods hit, the government enlisted GIVIT to help channel donations to flood-affected residents. Over three weeks, GIVIT matched more than 30,000 donations. The website found homes for everything from gumboots to washing machines. "It was a time of incredibly generous giving,"Juliette recalled.
Now twenty volunteers work with Juliette to help coordinate the 720 charities who regularly access the website. "The act of giving does something to my self-esteem,"she said. "I feel like I'm contributing and that completes me."
Why did Juliette decide to give away her baby's unworn clothes?
A.Because they were out of fashion. B.Because she wanted to share her happiness. C.Because she wanted to help those mothers in need. D.Because they were badly needed by some poor families.正确答案C
