When we are small, we show our love as openly as we show pain or disappointment when something is missing. Things change as we grow up. The grown-ups struggle alone and hide their feelings. Does it happen because they want to stay discreet? Or, they don’t trust the world anymore? It hurts us to see someone suffering, but still we turn away, just to stop seeing that. Does it scare us? Or do we just feel helpless?
Simply give it a thought – should we turn to our fellowmen, should dare to ask and dare to give, we would not only open our own lives to changes, but the life of other people would also open up for us. We’d become important to one another and start to stand out from the faceless crowd. Selfless behavior does not affect just one person’s life: it forms us into a community. In its turn, the community gives a sense of security and self-esteem. We realize that we should not only rely on the goodwill of others, but we also be a support to someone else. The more people are involved in the miraculous act of helping and changing, the richer will our own common story be in the end of the day.
The Tibor Jakabovics Goodwill Fund originated from the recognition of this simple truth. It does not intend to provide immediate protection, but rather to draw up an even stronger network of real-time human interaction by way of case-to case help. Over the recent five years, it has contributed to various goodwill initiatives and has been able to stimulate recovery and development in quite a number of individual crisis situations.
The Fund is not busy with money-raising, nor is it involved in the support of charity organizations; it rather sees its primary task in providing direct help and undertakes all related administration. Due to this, it has witnessed a variety of struggles and fascinating stories of ups and downs, depths and heights serving as a constant source of hope and inspiration.
The Fund is sponsored solely by Tibor Jakabovics and does not seek or accept external donations. It does not participate in money-raising campaigns or organize such events. Activities of the Fund are a personal service granted to the world by Tibor Jakabovics. His business success has enabled him to spend generous amounts on charity, which has gradually become an important part of his life. However, the experience of active participation in aid-giving has also led him to recognize that he could have started helping others on a regular basis much earlier.
The Fund’s activities have clearly shown to him that often it is not the size of the donation that counts, but rather the human goodwill, empathy and timely attention. Sometimes just a phone call is enough, as it is not always about money or material needs. At times, it’s rather about expertise – something that can be offered by another member of the community if you manage to bring him together with the person in need.
The Tibor Jakabovics Goodwill Fund believes in direct support. There are quite a lot of organizations in the world that do their job transparently and professionally. The performance of other organizations, however, cannot be assessed as highly as that. Therefore, based on the experience of his first years in charity, Tibor Jakabovics has decided on his major principle according to which instead of supporting foundations, he rather concentrated on solving the problems and crises he witnessed around him. That is, he has chosen to focus on cases in which he could get a personal insight in the situation leading to a particular problem, assess the needs of those involved and check the way his donation was used. This approach has proved very instructive and energizing. Because real help is about supporting the unquestionable inner strength of the person concerned – which will sooner or later lead him to change his own life.
In the same way as an athlete who got invalidized in an accident must endure – with patience and trust – the long years until the right treatment has been found for his injury. In the same way as nurses in the premature newborns department equipped with an incubator (donated by the Fund) care for the tiny infants and reassure their anxious parents. And in the same way as these babies struggle for their life, while they seem to be the most vulnerable creatures in the world. Or, in the same way as a childcare institution deprived of budget funds struggles to survive the lack of state financial support. This is when it becomes clear, how much loyalty that institution can expect from its personnel. This personnel for long months waive the right to strike for their wages, they encourage one another and never give up the principles they try to plant in the kids they deal with. They simply know that their cause is worthy and that it should continue to exist.
The above cases are only a few highlights from the history of the Tibor Jakabovics Goodwill Fund. Genuine help energizes the world and supports the person in trouble in assuming a vital and creative approach to his own life. It emphasizes not the weakness of the person in need, but the potential of his personality. It communicates gentle strength and empathy to the world.
Because of these principles of direct and personal contact, the Fund does not accept requests from outside. Tibor Jakabovics – as well as his company, the Lavylites – is pretty much exposed to the influence of the surrounding world. He is in contact with so many people, that just the problems revealed via such direct contacts excess the capacity of the Fund. Unfortunately, there is no lack of crisis situations in the world – but fortunately, there are as many good causes to stand for. However, as regards the needs already known, “non-selection” is the keyword. The Tibor Jakabovics Goodwill Fund is not “specializing” in certain areas of life, it rather strives to spread its support to as many cases as it can access. The scale and range of support also vary. The Fund may organize a puppet show on a playground. Another time, it may choose to donate life-saving medical appliances.
If the problem cannot be solved, it might at least be somewhat soothed. In certain cases, the aim is to simply help endure the situation. Supporting the birth of a child in one family or assisting a terminally ill child through his last period in another are various kinds of challenge. The Tibor Jakabovics Goodwill Fund has had a chance to get the taste of many different manifestations of help, from despair to complete fascination. Still, the common element of every such experience is that helping is an act of mystery. The one who helps someone else is rewarded by a deeper understanding of the value of life.
