Sentence:  French Taylor and Andy Patterson also performed other <WSD>philanthropies</WSD> for their respective communities. They bought school shoes for the children of poor families in the autumn, and they made small cash loans to neighbors that some never repaid. Such men often disguised their <WSD>philanthropies</WSD> in requests for assistance with monumental hog killings and syrup makings. Patterson would rise in his Vistula church to announce such occasions and ask for help, though in truth he had all the hands he needed in his own sons and daughters. After the hog slaughtering or syrup making, many neighbors went home with wagonloads of meat and molasses, two of the "three M's" (meat, molasses, and meal) that tided families over the winter. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A philanthropic act.