Real Sharing?

The brief article on “A Day for Sharing” (Jan. 19) about developer Sandor Shapery’s birthday party for his 1-year-old son, Sage, including 40 homeless children, has increased my sense of dismay at what is too often considered “sharing” or “giving” to those far less fortunate than ourselves.

Is providing 40 homeless children with one day of Disneyland-esque delights a true gift? Or is it a more painful reminder of what they do not have 364 days of the year? I wonder, too, what “hundreds of dollars in party favors” could mean in terms of longer-term, basic food and clothing supplies to these 40 homeless children.

I would submit, perhaps unpopularly, that the Shaperys fulfilled more of their own needs with Sage’s birthday party than the needs of others.

And I worry that such an annual birthday party bash with homeless children will do little to teach young Sage the true meaning of giving. Real sharing and giving goes far beyond working the soup kitchen on Thanksgiving Day, giving canned goods at Christmas or treating 40 homeless children to Big Bird and llama rides one day a year.

DEBORAH HALL

San Diego