You have to give yourself permission to do good.
Philanthropy, for those who live by it, creeps into a person’s being slowly. Even the wealthiest people rarely have an epiphany where all of a sudden they start a foundation, or build a school. It usually begins gradually. They see a need and wonder about it. Then they learn a little more. And get a little more involved. And before long they’re all in, dedicating their time and resources to one cause, or to many. And it all starts with giving yourself permission to do good things.
Chris Lord (Lordy, to his friends and employees) sits on the board of Operation Come Home with me. I’m talking to him from the Ottawa Knifewear location where he is the manager, when he drops this little jewel of wisdom on me. It’s something that never occurred to me, but the way he frames it I understand immediately.
You want to get out in the community and do something good? Ask your boss for the time. Find out if your family supports your involvement. Make sure that the cause for which you’re fighting is supportive, and getting something out of your efforts. But most importantly – you must allow yourself to commit to action.
I assume Lordy is a little like I am in this situation. We have worries. Am I being performative? Am I doing something good for my own benefit or for that of others? Is what I’m doing genuinely helpful? When you give yourself permission to get involved, you are allowing that your efforts might be perceived cynically and doing it anyway.
Like most of us, this all started slowly. Chris inherited the relationship with Operation Come Home from the previous manager at Knifewear and slowly got to know the social enterprises. Then he brought in friends to cook the drop-in breakfast. From there, it was occasional meetings where Executive Director Elspeth McKay would invite Chris for business advice. Lordy started donating free knife sharpening to the winner of the Operation Come Home Poor Chefs competition.
By the time Chris came back for the second year of Poor Chefs, he was all in with OCH. He signed up for the 24 Hours of Homelessness challenge – not to “see what it’s like”, because of course the 24 hours is not a “day in the life” of a homeless youth. But rather to be a part of raising money for the cause. He asked what more he could do and Elspeth suggested becoming a board member. This was a major life decision that Chris fully embraced.
Chris does not take any big life decision lightly. This goes back to the idea that he needs to give himself permission. Sometimes that involves talking to other people. To this day, he won’t make a purchase of more than $500 without first speaking with his dad. In this case, he spoke with his bosses Candace and Kevin, who were tremendously supportive.
As is the case with most business owners, Knifewear owners Candace and Kevin looked at this through the lens of “how does this help our business”? It’s easy to be cynical about this kind of attitude, but as Chris explains it that may not be an accurate perception. What they meant was “will this increase morale in the Ottawa location? Will Chris’ employees be inspired to do more themselves? Will this help bring them together as a team and create a community-minded spirit in our store?” The answer to all of this was yes.
Operation Come Home thrives on community connections, and small businesses in the community thrive on them as well. Chris’ involvement with Operation Come Home has created a connection with his staff and other store managers around Canada – when he raised money for the 24 Hours of Homlessness this year, donations poured in from across the country and his staff jumped on board right away. But the connections run much deeper than the Knifewear store itself.
There is the connection with Union Local 613, one of dozens of local restaurants participating in Mealshare (see previous post). The first Poor Chefs winner Harriet Clunie, then of the Beechwood Gastropub, came into Knifewear all the time to get her knives sharpened. Now she is a consulting chef with Operation Come Home’s FoodWorks social enterprise. The biggest connection though, might be with the customers.
Every customer who comes into Knifewear to get their high-end Japanese knives sharpened is contributing to FoodWorks. 50% of the sharpening fee goes to support the youth who are employed at the social enterprise, which resulted in a $25,000 donation from Knifewear last year.
I remember when I first joined the board at Operation Come Home. It was an intimidating experience – there were people sitting around the table in suits that cost more than my car, while I showed up with a T-shirt I got free in a case of beer. Chris confessed to me today that he felt the same kind of trepidation upon first walking into the room wearing his Dungeons & Dragons ball cap.
Board members of charities are chosen because they bring something specific to the organization. That could be money, or an expertise that is useful or needed. It could be connections to the right people in the community who can get things done. Lordy has been, and done, all of those things. He quickly found his footing on the board, the same way he did as a chef, and then as the manger of Knifewear. We’re all extremely grateful he gave himself permission to get involved.
Eric Bollman
Secretary, Board of Directors
Operation Come Home
P.S. I asked Chris to send me photos for this piece, because my car broke down and I couldn’t get to Knifewear to take any. This is literally the only, and the best, photo he sent of himself.
