Something quite remarkable happened last month.

A crowd of 860 people – twice the number who took part last year – converged on Meydenbauer Center to contribute a total of $278,000 to support Bellevue College and our students. That’s a $43,000 increase over last year, despite the fact that giving nationwide is down more than 5 percent.

What inspires such generosity?

Many guests at the Bellevue College Foundation luncheon that day gave because they want to reach out directly to someone who needs help overcoming financial barriers to a more positive future – making life-changing higher education accessible to those for whom it would otherwise be just a dream.

Others contributed because they know the vitality of our community as a whole is equal to the sum of our individual circumstances. They recognize that post-secondary education has become a nearly universal pre-requisite for success in well-paying jobs that not only secure a family’s future but also enable positive contributions to society, as well.

Others gave because they want to enhance Bellevue College’s impact as an economic engine, crucial to growing out of and beyond the current recession.

Employers tell us the down economy has intensified their need to reshape operations for improved competitiveness, but in many sectors the skills of our workforce are woefully insufficient. To bridge the gap, employers and students alike are turning to two-year colleges, where the most sought-after skills are taught.

Our guests also held one distinctly American value in common: a commitment to improving society through charitable giving.

Did you know that most of the charitable giving worldwide is done in North America? And while donors elsewhere in the world direct the majority of their giving to family and friends, in the U.S. we give primarily to help people we don’t even know – to the tune of a quarter-trillion dollars each year!

Beyond that, millions of Americans also contribute their personal time and effort as volunteers, doing everything from serving at homeless shelters or cleaning up the environment, to assisting students challenged with various disabilities.

The benefits of such involvement flow two ways. Surveys reveal that the vast majority of those involved philanthropically in their communities feel stronger within themselves as a result. They suffer less stress and enjoy better health.

What Churchill said is true: “We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.”

But we seem to be failing somewhat in our responsibility to pass this value on to succeeding generations. Forty years ago, the primary reason UCLA students gave for attending college was “to develop a meaningful and responsible philosophy of life.” In the new millennium, the primary reason has shifted to “becoming very well-off financially.”

Despite its benefits all around, community involvement appears to be an acquired taste, so we must take special care to “pass it on” by proactively teaching it to our children.

We at Bellevue College deeply appreciate the outpouring of support we continue to receive from our community. On behalf of our students, our faculty and staff and the dedicated volunteers of the Bellevue College Foundation – who themselves do so much to advance our mission and help our students succeed – I extend our deep and heartfelt appreciation.

In the same way, I offer my gratitude to all who, through charitable giving and volunteer labor, support the many non-profit organizations that improve the quality of life in our community: Thank you for cherishing and acting on this most American of values.

Thank you, and please pass it on.

Jean Floten is president of Bellevue Community College.