Amazing: Donors stay anonymous

There is a conspiracy of silence regarding funding of new amenities in Columbia County.

//

And it is for all the right reasons.

When the county launches its Books Alive! program this weekend at the library in Evans, it will include the opening of a children's section featuring award-winning books; an expanded playground; a much-needed covered pavilion with picnic tables; and soon, just in time for warm weather, a zero-depth pool.

Most of the funding for these features comes from 1-cent sales tax dollars as approved by voters. But a hefty amount also comes from a private donation from the Metro Augusta Youth Foundation.

What's that? Well, in essence, it's an organizational name that allows an Evans family to make the donations - and there is much more coming, we're told - to boost the quality of life in Columbia County.

This also allows the family to make the donations anonymously - and they insist on it.

We aren't talking chicken feed here, either. Columbia County Community and Leisure Services Division Director Barry Smith says the donations already have exceeded $130,000, and one of their conditions is that they be allowed to give the money without personal fanfare.

Understandably, some of that anonymity is for their protection. They don't want to become the targets of the tin-cup crowd seeking handouts from deep pockets.

But just as their largesse is motivated by nothing more than a desire to give some of their good fortune for the improvement of the community, their insistence on anonymity is driven by selflessness. They just don't want to be the public recipients of a back-patting spree, even though they well deserve it.

There is a Biblical quality to such anonymous donations; in the New Testament, a message of awaiting heavenly reward rather than seeking earthly praise is repeated often.

We don't know if this anonymous family has any religious background that would follow such solid teachings. But it's easy to believe their actions are angelic.