舊金山 49er Corbin Kaufusi 在奧克蘭推出捐贈機器

舊金山 49er Corbin Kaufusi 在奧克蘭推出捐贈機器

聖殿山

2021 年 12 月 3 日

慈善機構, 提升聖徒

文章作者：Miriam A. Smith

A massive 6 foot 9 inches, 275 pounds, San Francisco 49er offensive lineman Corbin Kaufusi looks menacing on the field. But Saturday night he was all smiles as a member of the Giving Machines ribbon-cutting team at Oakland Temple Hill (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints).”

“很多人都寧願相信我們天生是自私的，”Kaufusi 對聚集在開幕式上的人群說。 “但是”，他解釋說，"事實恰恰相反, 我們天生傾向於給予和服務他人的。” Kaufusi 指出，在我們的社區中擁有捐贈機呈現出了一個幫助參與組織的機會。 “我很幸運能與在社區中做出如此多貢獻，如此出色的人一起來到這裡。所以，我只是想，哇，讓我們繼續做捐贈吧！”他說。

The Giving Machines are vending machines that, rather than dispensing drinks, food, or some novelty, dispense love, hope, and support to those in need.  Three Giving Machines are available at Oakland Temple Hill through January 3rd. These machines allow all to purchase a gift for one of six humanitarian organizations.

Participating non-profits include three local and three global organizations. Tri-Valley Haven, the George Mark Children’s House (George Mark), and Emeryville Citizens Assistance Program (ECAP) serve adults and children in the Bay Area while UNICEF, Church World Service (CWS Global), and Water Aid address humanitarian crises around the world.

“What a fantastic idea!” said Christine Dillman, Associate Director of Tri-Valley Haven, a domestic violence, sexual assault, and homeless service agency serving the Tri-Valley and East Bay areas. “What a great way to get kids involved, teens involved, adults involved,” she said. The work of Tri-Valley is driven by people who give and by volunteers. “What a great, innovative way to connect with the community,” Dillman said.

Linda Ashcraft Hudak, CEO of George Mark, found the Giving Machines to be incredibly unique, current, and perfect for the Bay Area. “It fits right in with our technology culture here,” she said. George Mark takes care of children with an end-of-life diagnosis that need end-of-life care or those with a life-limiting condition. Hudak said their work cares for families in every way and gives them a needed opportunity to focus on their other children or even take a vacation. While children come from all Bay Area Counties to George Mark, they particularly serve the nine Bay Area counties, Hudak said. “Most importantly, our families never see a bill,” she said.

ECAP 自 1985 年由 Nellie Hannon 創立以來一直是一個 100% 志願者組織，當時她開始在她的車庫裡收集食物以提供給需要的人。今天，他們每天為 300 多個家庭和個人提供服務，每週 6 天，每週分發 25 噸食物。 “當然，我們需要幫助他人才能生存，”ECAP 總監兼Hannon 的兄弟， Bobby Miller 說。 “非常感謝我們所得到的任何支持，”他說。

Welcoming the Giving Machines to Oakland’s District 4, Council Member and Mayoral Candidate Sheng Thao, said this opportunity for Oakland was fabulous. “It truly allows for thousands of people to come and actually touch the lives of so many people around the world,” she said. When Thao first heard about the Giving Machines she thought it was a really, cool idea but didn’t know what to expect. “Now that I’m seeing them I thought, why not sooner,” she said. The machines allow everyone to make a direct impact on other people’s lives, one person at a time. Thao said she was very happy that Oakland had been selected as one of only 10 locations in the world to host Giving Machines.

主持開幕式的康特拉科斯塔縣主管 Candace Andersen指出，捐贈機將有益於整個灣區的人們。她說，需求並不受行政邊界的限制。 “有需要的人不會考慮國界。”那三個已被強調的非營利組織滿足了更廣泛的領域關鍵需求。 “這將對社區產生非常大的影響，”Anderson說。

Steve Merrell長老，持有大灣區的主領權鑰代表捐贈機贊助商耶穌基督後期聖徒教會，為非營利組織的工作表示感謝。他說很容易看出該地區有巨大的需求，並感謝教會可以與這些組織合作。 “希望這會吸引我們社區的成員來奧克蘭聖殿山，並找到來自捐贈的快樂，”他說。

捐贈機於 2017 年由耶穌基督後期聖徒教會首次推出，在一個地方有三台自動售貨機。那一年有超過 50萬美元被用於人道援助機構。 2019 年，捐贈機被分佈在10個城市，為當地和全球慈善機構籌集了超過六千二百萬美元。這些機器在 2020 年處於大流行中斷狀態。總體而言，這些獨特的自動售貨機已為世界各地的救災工作捐款超過九千一百萬美元。

機器的所有管理費用，從建造到安裝到操作，甚至信用卡費用，都由教會承擔。收集到的所有捐款中的 100% 將交付給各自的非營利組織，每個組織確保收到的至少 90% 資金直接用於有需要的人。

一年一度的圣殿山聖誕彩灯和圣诞的日子音乐会系列與捐赠机同時进行。 The Lights, Concerts, and Giving Machines are all part of the Church’s 2021 worldwide campaign to Light the World with Love. Temple Hill is open to the public from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., 4780 Lincoln Avenue in Oakland. Availability of the machines has been extended to January 3rd with a free closing concert by dance-pop group The Jets.

Other Giving Machines cities this year include Denver, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Nashville, Kansas City, New York, Gilbert, Arizona and Salt Lake City, and Orem, Utah.