I have been reading Scott McMillion’s series in the Bozeman Daily Chronicle on wealth in our community. Seems to me the disparity between the rich and the poor just keeps getting bigger and bigger. I remember when one of our guests was working as a housekeeper and she told us that one of the rugs in the bathroom of a fancy house they were cleaning cost $18,000 – more than she had ever earned in an entire year. There is something just plain wrong with the present situation.

Maybe we have forgotten that we are all in this together.

One of the best things about Family Promise of Gallatin Valley is that everybody wins. People that are homeless can receive meals, housing and support. Volunteers who help can receive a better understanding of others and the satisfaction from doing something worthwhile. Everybody wins. Whereas wealth – or the lack of it - drives us apart, Family Promise brings us closer together regardless of our economic status.

Lately I have witnessed some amazing examples of a winning strategy that works. A newly retired couple decided they wanted to give to a struggling family in a tangible way. Every time they went to Costco they remarked to each other how big the packages of food were and how long it took them to finish everything and how some of the produce went to waste. They remembered being young and poor, and the difficult choices they had to make at the grocery store when there wasn’t enough money to go around. This couple decided to donate half of their food to a struggling past guest family of Family Promise. I connected them with a single parent with 2 hungry boys, and the mom was overwhelmed by their generosity. Now each month food is dropped off at Family Promise of Gallatin Valley and I have the joy of delivering this wonderful gift. By sharing everyone wins.

What creative ways can you think of to lessen the growing gap between the rich and poor? Email me at . Together, we can learn ways that will bring us together, not apart. ‘Remember, nobody wins unless everybody wins.’

— Gloria Edwards

”Remember, nobody wins unless everybody wins.”