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Elkhorn author 'gives away' plot in his chronicle of Christian kindness

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Photo by Dan Plutchak

Elkhorn author Dale Reich chronicled a year of offering daily kindnesses to others in his book, "365 Days of Christian Giving."

ELKHORN — We all give to others in one way or another. It’s what makes a family, a neighborhood and a community.

But few of us keep track of the things we give. If we did, we might understand how small gestures can have a big impact on those around us.

Dale Reich of Elkhorn is one of those few. Each day in 2011, he made it a point to give something to others. Some days it was as personal as a plate of cookies to a relative. Other days, it could be as random as helping someone change a flat tire in a neighborhood parking lot.

(Read all of this week's stories from Walworth County Sunday HERE. )

Reich logged each of these acts of giving and compiled them in a new book, “365 Days of Christian Giving.”

The listings for each day are interspersed with anecdotes and the stories behind some of the most memorable of his giving.

Reich is continuing the tradition of giving by providing copies of the book free to area food pantries. There, they are available for a $5 donation to the food pantry.

Feb. 9, 2011 -- Shoveled snow from the driveway of a woman in a nearby town: I had a vision in my head from the time it first snowed. It featured a little old lady struggling clear her driveway after a heavy snow. Each day as I drove to and from work, I looked for her, but she never appeared. The snow eventually stopped falling and the time of shoveling for most people came and went. I came to the conclusion that my vision had been just a figment of my imagination.

Then, one sunny afternoon, there she was. I pulled to the side of the road and jumped out to find a little woman struggling to shovel a foot of snow from a very long driveway in front of her house. But she wasn’t just any woman; she was a nun…”

Reich, a teacher at Gateway Technical College in Elkhorn, acknowledges that none of the 365 acts of giving are particularly earth shattering and that people do these things every day.

His goal, he says, is to explain how the little things any one of us does in our lives can really be big things in the lives of others. The transformation happens in the simple act of doing it.

(Correction: To contact Reich, email him at reichd@pensys.com)

FULL STORY