By Daniel Hamon
Last year Tom and Bree Hsieh gave $152,000 to charities that help the poor. They are not millionaires: their donations represented 76% of their income, and they are not alone. They are part of the 50% League. Members of this association have "donated 50% or more of their income or business profits for at least three years, or 50% or more of net worth at some point in their lifetime, to causes that reflect their deepest values."
In a recent Orange County Register article, Lori Basheda tells how the Hsiehs got started. Tom had been accepted into Cal Tech but chose to attend Harvey Mudd College, partly because one of his friends was enrolling there:
"It was there that my faith came alive," he says. He joined the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship and soon came to a conclusion: "First, that God had love and passion for the poor. And, second, that I did not."
He began working at soup kitchens and doing laundry at shelters to try and change his heart.
Tom Hsieh tells us more at Bolder Giving, an organization whose mission is to "inspire and support people to give at their full potential":
I passed up lucrative job offers, joined Servant Partners' work (where I eventually met my wife, Bree) and took an hourly job as a computer technician. But even on that salary, I made more than I needed, so God started disciplining me in giving.
When Bree and I married seven years ago, we knew that we could easily slide into spending more on ourselves. So we committed to living at or below the national median household income as way to set a limit.
What is the benefit to Tom and his family in giving so much to the poor?
Some think too much of us and think we’re saving people’s lives. But doing this giving—putting time as well as money into Servant Partners and Pomona Hope-- has saved my life. I could easily have lived a life that was boring and inconsequential. Now I am graced with a life of service and meaning.
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