(MONEY Magazine) – "My mother taught me you don't need to be rich to share your wealth." She came to the U.S. from Havana in 1961 and worked odd jobs--as a seamstress, a tarot card reader--but she always managed to send at least $50 and sometimes $300 a month to the family back in Cuba. I sometimes wondered why my sister and I weren't always getting new toys and clothes like other kids. I realized later it was because my mother was helping so many people.

"I took over the tradition in 1998, two years before my mom died. I make a good living--$104,000 as a director of human resources for a retail company--and I max out my 401(k). But I happily drive a 2000 Volkswagen with 100,000 miles on it. It doesn't make sense to buy a $200 shirt when that same $200 can feed a family of four for 12 weeks. So I get the $40 shirt and mail a case of Pepto-Bismol instead. I've made four trips to Cuba, and every time I've arrived loaded with shoes and candies and bags from the 99¢ store and returned with nothing but the shirt on my back and a few cigars. My 84-year-old aunt loves American apples, and when I bring them she hides them like a little girl until everyone's asleep, then savors each bite all alone. If that's not reason enough to skip my morning cup of Starbucks, I don't know what is."