Attitude of Gratitude

Feeling gratitude had not been on Dave Tally’s mind for the previous six years as he had been homeless and living on the streets of Tempe, Arizona. He readily admits that losing his career as a landscaper was because of his own poor life choices of drinking and drugs. One day in 2010 he bent over to pick up a penny at the light rail station and noticed a backpack on the bench. He opened it and found a laptop, iPod and $3,300 in cash. He had lost his drivers license because of a DUII and his bike was in the shop for repairs. Oh, what he could do with this money. During the next two hours he imagined all that he could buy.

Then he took the backpack to his boss where he was working at the homeless shelter. He said, “I don’t want this money, because it would cause more problems than it would solve.”

There was no identification in the backpack until his boss found a hidden pocket with a small jump drive that had a resume on it. He emailed the college student, who thinking that no one would turn it in, hadn’t even looked for it.

Dave was accustomed to life on the streets where he was treated as if he was invisible. After returning the backpack, he gained national media attention. He used his 15 minutes of fame to tout the nonprofit homeless shelter that had helped him stay alive. People saw the news report and were overwhelmed with Dave’s honesty. And then gifts to help Dave started pouring in.

Today Dave is clean from drugs and alcohol, has an apartment, job and has created a community garden using his landscaping skills to feed the homeless. He said, “It's a great feeling to be able to put back into society after being a person who was dependent on society for so long." In an interview today he said that he doesn’t want anyone to think it is easy, because each day he has to work at not being the person he once was.

Dave’s story inspired me to volunteer. For today’s gift, I offered to help with a major local event.

When I called to volunteer, she asked what I would like to do and gave me options that ranged from a small time commitment during the weekend of the February event to being on the planning committee. My first instinct was to take one of the smaller roles and feel like I’ve done my part. But I resisted that urge. I told her that my skills are in fundraising, marketing and public relations and that she and the co-chair could decide where they could best use me.

Dave keeps a gratitude journal, “I am grateful for waking up. I am grateful for putting my feet on the floor. I am grateful for waking up to see the sun come up and not being up when the sun comes up.”

During the upcoming year I will strive for an attitude of gratitude.

In giving,

Robin