Eleemosynary:  A Word to Remember

Eleemosynary:  A Word to Remember
by Drew Edmondson

I first heard the word “eleemosynary” in law school, but cannot remember which course.  It could have been torts because there was a time when eleemosynary organizations were exempt from being sued for torts (think slip and fall or malpractice).  Those times and those exemptions are a thing of the past in most states.  More likely it was a course in federal income tax law because those organizations are, by and large, exempt from taxation on income under section 501(c)(3) of the IRS Code.

If I heard it in my tax course it may be the only thing I remember from that particular course.  I do not do my own taxes, much less anyone else’s.

Rotary Club 29 is organized under 501(c)(4) and is not a charitable organization.  That is to say charity work is not its prime function.  The Foundation is a 501(c)(3) and is a non-profit organization.

I am proud to say the Club and the Foundation do some very meaningful charity work.

Last December many of our members were ringing bells for the Salvation Army and its programs at locations across the metro.  I have done that a few years and thoroughly enjoyed it.  The more one says Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays, in my opinion, the merrier and happier one becomes.

We also mounted a campaign for our annual “One Pledge” which, this year will go to Ronald McDonald House.

A grammarian was quoted as saying of “eleemosynary” that “a long and learned word like this should only be used under the stress of great need.”  Absent that need it became shortened, ending up as “aelms”, or more recognizably as “alms” or charity.

Our club’s charitable work begins at home but stretches across this land, and over the seas to foreign lands we may never visit.  At home we respond to tornadoes, wild fires, floods, earthquakes and other natural disasters.  In foreign lands the causes are more likely to be health issues, such as malaria in Zimbabwe and Zambia and Kenya.  Also, earthquakes in Somalia, Pakistan and Turkey.  Medical equipment was needed in Romania and many times we are helping with water projects to make sure drinking water is safe to drink.

Why do we do these things?  Because we are involved in the world.

Ernest Hemingway, in 1940, wrote a book called For Whom the Bell Tolls, set in and during the Spanish Civil War.  The title of that book came from a poem written by John Donne in 1624:  it reads:

“No man is an island,

Entire of itself,

Every man is a piece of the continent,

A part of the main.

If a clod be washed away by the sea,

Europe is the less,

As well as if a promontory were.

As well as if a manor of thy friend’s

Or of thine own were.

Any man’s death diminishes me,

Because I am involved in mankind,

And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;

It tolls for thee.”

Our four-way test speaks of truth and fairness, but it also speaks of Goodwill, and Better Friendships and being Beneficial to All.  We believe in “Service Above Self.”   Mohammed Ali said “Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.”  And John Bunyan said, “You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.”

Often attributed to Theodore Roosevelt is the admonition to “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”  Rotary Club 29 does that – In Oklahoma City, around this country and in countries in all corners of the world.  We can all take pride in that.  But remember what President Kennedy said when asked by Helen Thomas, in the White House Press Room, “Mr. President, what have you done for the women of this country?”  “Well, I am certain it has not been enough.”  There is more to do, and Club 29 will answer the calls.

Drew Edmondson