I heard Mazie’s story several years ago and I have never forgotten it. She was a middle-aged mother of three children. Mazie and her family lived in a rural community in the Midwest.
Mazie lamented the fact that there was no central place where all of the children in the community could come together after school and during the summer months and do all of the fun things kids do when they are not in school.
Mazie and a group of other concerned parents approached the town council about building a community swimming pool. They thought it was a great idea. But there was a catch.
The council said that Mazie and the other parents had to raise $250,000 toward the construction of the pool.
Neither Mazie nor the other parents had that kind of money. The other parents gave up on the idea of the swimming pool. But Mazie stayed the course.
She decided one way she could raise money was by collecting aluminum cans that could be redeemed for approximately five cents per can.
Whenever her neighbors spotted Mazie collecting cans from the dumpsters behind restaurants or from the side of the road, they would laugh and say, “There goes crazy Mazie.”
Guess what? Mazie kept collecting cans and eventually raised the money needed to build the swimming pool.
How long do you think it took her? One year? Ten years? Twenty years?
Actually, it took Mazie 27 years to raise the $250,000. Of course, by then her children had grown up and moved away, but there were still other children in the town. And thanks to Mazie, they now have a place to play.
What’s the moral to this story? Small change can make a big difference. You just have to stick to it long enough to experience the difference.
Photo Credit: Visual Hunt