In August 2017 an envelope with no return address arrived at the RFC office. Inside were two pieces of blank, lined paper and seven $1 bills. There was no note or identifying information other than a postmark from Greensboro, NC. I recorded the donation as an anonymous contribution and didn’t think much more about it.

The next month, I received another donation: same envelope, same blank, lined paper, same seven $1 bills, no additional information. The same thing happened each month through the end of the year and continued into 2018. Since then, similar envelopes with seven $1 bills arrive irregularly; sometimes it’s several months in a row, sometimes half a year will pass without one.

Anonymous contributions are not unheard of at the RFC, but I don’t remember any other instance of ongoing contributions without any additional information. The writing on the envelopes looks the same, the postmark is always Greensboro, NC and the $1 bills are always folded in blank, lined paper. I have to assume they’re all coming from the same person.

It reminds me of stories my dad used to tell me about checks he received in the early days of the RFC for modest sums, often in somewhat odd amounts (e.g. $8.49 or $7.52). As someone who has facility with numbers and is fascinated by them (something he definitely passed on to me), he wondered about the reason behind those amounts.

After meeting a number of donors at events over the years, my dad finally figured out that many of these donations were from supporters with fixed incomes who were often quite elderly. At the end of a month, after paying their bills, they would donate what was left in their checking account to the RFC. Many included handwritten notes apologizing for not giving more and sharing how my grandparents’ trial and executions impacted their lives.

My dad always felt especially grateful for those contributions. They represented support from his parents’ generation and from people of modest means who cared enough about our work to give what they could, even though it wasn’t a lot.

I’ve thought about those early donors each time I’ve opened another anonymous $7 contribution and I’ve wondered about the motivation behind these recurring gifts. Is there a significance to the amount? Unlike the donations in multiples of $18 we often receive from Jewish supporters, I don’t know of any tradition to explain this gift. (Each letter in Hebrew has a numeric value; the letters that spell “Chai” or “life” add up to 18. It is a Jewish custom and considered good luck to give monetary gifts in multiples of 18.)

I’m still curious about why this donor chooses to remain anonymous. I wish I could ask the supporter about their gifts and thank them but I don’t know who they are. I’ve started to look for the distinctive handwriting that accompanies these donations and receiving one always makes me smile.

Maybe one day I’ll learn the story or significance behind these contributions. Until then, I’m thankful to receive them and grateful for all of you who give in ways and amounts that are meaningful for you.

I still wonder what motivated this particular supporter to make irregular anonymous donations of $7. But more than anything I’m grateful that they, and so many others, continue to support the RFC in ways, and at amounts, that are meaningful to them. I hope every supporter knows how much we appreciate their generosity and value the impact it makes for our grantees.