HE TITHES TO THE CHURCH OF HUMANKIND.

Byline: Linda Jones Dallas Morning News

Gilbert Caceres has found a way for money to buy happiness. He's not a wealthy philanthropist, but an ordinary person who gives some of his money away to people who are doing good deeds.

Since Christmas, Caceres, a computer software engineer, has been recognizing friends and acquaintances for performing unsung acts of kindness by presenting them with a certificate of appreciation and a personal check for $50.

He says he plans to make it a weekly thing.

"I love honoring people who do what they do because they are inspired to be themselves," says Caceres, who lives in North Dallas.

"Oftentimes, we feel that no one notices or maybe even cares. I want them to know that I notice, I care and I am doing something about it."

The certificate he gives bears the recipient's name and a simple message: "For spreading love and brotherhood in your community by sharing your beauty with all that you meet, in all that you do."

Along the top of the page are a heart and words that summarize one of his strongest beliefs: Love works.

"This is how I get my spiritual inspiration," says Caceres, who says he was raised Catholic but currently belongs to no organized religion.

"I consider myself a Christian with a Native American spiritual bent and some Zen thrown in," says Caceres, who is of Hispanic descent.

"With all that, I just couldn't find a church I wanted to go to, but I wanted to tithe. So I decided to give a part of my earnings to people."

So far, he has given gifts to a handful of recipients in the Dallas area and one as far away as China. Among them have been a teacher, a housewife, a writer, a musician and an exterminator who uses organic products.

"Who hands you money for nothing?" says Kweku Codrington, a drum instructor who gives weekly lessons to Caceres.

Caceres says he rewarded Codrington for his work teaching drumming to children in the community.