Last week, a Russian woman came to Wednesday for the first time.  When we were chatting afterwards, she says, "So, what do you do?"  You would think I would know the answer to that question by now, but I don't.  I said the first thing that came to my mind: "I like to do small acts of service."  "No, I mean, what do you do as a profession?"  Ok, let's try it another way: "I run an organization called CharityFocus."  That made sense.  

"What does CharityFocus do?"  I didn't think she was familiar with the gift-economy term, so I said something like: "We leverage technology to shift our cultural ethos towards generosity."  "That's nice.  How long have you been working there?"  "Oh, I don't work there. I volunteer there."  Now, she's thinking that I'm playing games with her.  After some exchange, she finally blurt it out: "Alright, so how exactly do you pay your bills?  All these Smile Cards and all.  Who pays for that?"

"It's sort of like a tree.  You serve the community, and the community takes care of you."  Awkward silence.  "Think of it this way -- if we deliver 5 thousand dollars worth of value, and we need 50 bucks for our needs, the mathematics starts to work in your favor."  We didn't have chance to go into the details, and I figured it might be the last time I see her.

One hallmark of the gift-economy is this: you can't grasp it in neat little checkboxes, but you still keep getting drawn to it.  I've seen it happen again and again and again, and perhaps that's why "compassion is contagious" has always headlined our outreach strategy. :)

She RSVP'd again this week.