By PHYLLIS ZORN

Staff writer

Telling the story of how an act of generosity made a difference can land the storyteller a $5,000 gift to give to the charity of their choice.

Now through April, Mennonite Brethren Foundation is asking people to submit stories of generosity to The Giving Challenge on the foundation’s website. Stories will be entered into a drawing to win a $5,000 donation to the winner’s favorite charity.

MB Foundation President and CEO Jon Wiebe, Hillsboro, said the foundation won’t judge the stories on their content. Winners will be randomly selected, Wiebe said.

“We’re not evaluating the strength of the story at all,” Wiebe said.

A story can range from a single sentence up to the 1,000-character length limit, Wiebe said.

Wiebe said the stories can be about things people might be doing in their churches, through local Boy Scouts, in schools, or in any sort of situation. It might be a story about a chance encounter on a street or a random act of kindness that brightened someone’s life.

“We’ll be randomly drawing at least one winner, and potentially more based on the number of entries we receive,” Wiebe said.

There is one rule about the stories, though. They have to be stories from the teller’s life — no matter which side of the generosity they were on.

“A personal story of where you were making a gift to someone else or you were the recipient of someone else’s generosity,” Wiebe said.

The Giving Challenge is new this year, Wiebe said.

Stories can be submitted at http://mbfoundation.com/givingchallenge.

Contest winners will be announced in May, Wiebe said.

“Really, we think as we hear each other stories of generosity, we’re inspired,” Wiebe said. “It keeps growing and growing as we encourage one another.”