I have had a few of the best jobs in the world. The first was at a family-owned ice cream shop in my hometown of Monroe, Michigan. Here’s the thing about that job: Angry people, they don’t stop for sundaes.
Ice cream is for celebrating the first day of summer or spending the afternoon with your grandma. It is the ending to a perfect date night or the start of a new job. Everyone came in hopeful and left happy.
The other best job in the world is the one I have now, leading the Foundation at McLaren Greater Lansing.
I have never had someone sit in my office and angrily tell me they would like to make a gift to the hospital. No one has ever included a complaint letter with their nursing scholarship application or stomped out of my office after learning about the Karmanos Cancer Institute that is being built on our campus.
Making a charitable gift is a lot like eating an ice cream cone. We do it because we feel good about ourselves and we are grateful for what we have. I used to love the moment when I handed an ice cream cone to a customer because they always smiled. Always.
These days, I get to see and feel that same sense of joy when I show a donor how their gift made a difference in our community. When I introduce them to the surgeon that saved their life, the cancer patient that received financial assistance while in treatment, or the nurse that finished their degree because of a generous scholarship.
I won the job lottery because I am surrounded every day by generosity and gratitude. The only two things in this life that are better than mint chocolate chip.