Posted on 04/22/2014 6:36:34 AM PDT by econjack
Well, it's that time of year again. I get multiple calls from various charities--paid callers for The Police Athletic League seem particularly active--asking me for money so they can send an inner-city youth to a summer camp. I always ask a charity for an audited financial statement before I'll consider giving. Honest charities should be willing to do this. I do this because years ago I found one well-known charity that collected more than $33 million, but "after expenses" paid only $18000 to the actual charity. The rest was "admin and marketing expenses".
Well, yesterday I got the Summer Camp call and I simply told them: "I don't believe in what you're doing." I swear, that answer took their breath away. They finally mumbled a "Why would you be so heartless?"
I said: "Because, even though you mean well, you are perpetuating the idea that they are somehow a victim and the only way for their plight to improve is to have someone else give it to them." These people fail to see the relationship between work and reward. They often come from homes where they have never seen someone go to work and bring home a paycheck.
After the LA riots because of the Rodney King affair, the city pledged to create more jobs for inner-city kids. One of the major news networks found a young black girl who was hired by the city to work in their office as a file clerk. They filmed her getting ready to go to work on a Monday, arriving and getting some early instruction, and concluding with her doing some filing. They went back on Friday to do a followup filming, only to find out she had been fired for not showing up for work, starting on Wednesday. They went to her house and asked what happened. Her answer: "When they gave me the job, nobody told me it was for every day." Work was totally alien to her.
Somehow, we have to break this cycle that says these people need other people to give them things for their lot to improve. 50 years after the War on Poverty and it's worse than ever before. The reason: Piss-poor programs. Free cell phones? What's the logic for that, if not to buy votes?
I told the fund raiser how that program should be run for a long run benefit, not just for one week in the summer. I told them to work with the city and hire these kids to pick up the trash from vacant lots, mow the weeds, sow new grass seed, fix the fencing, and whatever else needs to be done to remove the eyesore. Next, you don't give them cash for their work, you give them credits for which they can redeem for summer camp. If the true cost of a week at summer camp is $400, then give them credits at $10/hour worked. Then they will see the relationship between work and reward.
It's a win-win, since the city gets vacant lots cleaned up, the kids learn not to view themselves as victims, they learn that honest work brings tangible rewards, and I think they will also gain a sense of self-worth...probably the greatest benefit of such a program.
So, the next time you're asked to give to one of these programs, give them an earful instead.
I’m sure my family was poorer during times of my life than these are. I never considered myself “under-privileged”. What a victim title!
As pointed out, many “charities” are businesses masquerading as such.
I used to get sucked in to the "whatever Association's" fundraiser to send local kids to the circus, until my husband told me that the group doing this is in actuality a union, not an actual non-profit interested in helping any underprivileged child!
St Judes Children Hospital, or our church’s children’s camp. Or VBS.
Almost always the case. If you need proof, ask for their precinct number, name, and badge number. Most will hang up on you. One time I was shocked when they gave me an answer, so I said: "Oh! Then you must know So-And-So", then they hung up on me.
I love returning this to them in their OWN postage paid envelop!! :)
where’s the like button?
Well done. When I was a teenager, I had to earn $40 to go to Scout camp for two weeks. My parents either did not have it in the budget or it was not a priority. Not sure which. There was never a thought of “maybe somebody else will pay for it”.
I mowed lawns, trimmed bushes and dug ditches for $0.85/hour. It did two things for me. I went to Scout camp and I decided there was a better way to make a living than digging ditches and I was going to college.
There truly is plenty of camp slots for”underprivileged” kids. I have a hard enough time taking care of my own. Go to any big city and there are a gazillion programs available. They don’t need any of my money.
When I was a boy in elementary school the first two weeks after school ended was camp session on one of the local college campuses. My neighborhood was essentially empty of kids for two weeks. Except for me that is.
My did worked his ass off in construction and therefore made “too much money” so I wasn’t eligible to go. The other kids either had no dad or dad was a drunk so Uncle Sam paid their way to camp. Quite a system we have in this country.
So, my initial reaction was man, I sure would have liked to get a trip to camp...
But I knew better, and you are right. I remember being poor. I remember it every day when I thank Almighty God for what he has done for my family. Those years in poverty imprinted on me, and I swore I'd never live like that once I was out on my own.
I made good on it. I have skills, they are marketable and I do it well. Our household income is 3X the US average, my kids are in private school and I only eat potatoes when I WANT to. So yes, your point is valid, 100% valid. Not having didn't scar me, it motivated me. Of course, my parents weren't deadbeats so I'm not sure how that works out for those types of households.
Hmmm. Never saw it in that light before.
Exactly.
Don’t you just wish you could get others to see the value in hard work. Despite humble beginnings, you made it through your own efforts...not some eat-fish-for-a-day bogus program. Good on ya!
I just wrote a $500 check for my son's Boy Scout summer camp. If I was unemployed, it would have been prohibitively expensive, but there would have been other ways to get him there.
Last year, the two of us did a two week road trip that included a day of canyoneering outside of Zion NP. IIRC, I spent about $500 for the two of us, but that's about what it would cost for the two of us at Disney World.
The memories I have of that trip are worth more than all of King Midas' silver ("Dodge Ball" reference).
I understand exactly how you feel, econjack. Another “request” I don’t contribute to is the “school supply” drive. The county gives every “underprivileged” kid a backpack filled with name brand school supplies. The schools then request additional supplies for the “needy”. Meanwhile.. every other working parent shops every single sale, clips coupons and buys in bulk when it is on sale. The summer camp donations are (once again) a subsidy. Somehow they have “earned” it. How? Not sure. However, it is a lesson to the young.. you can have anything you want if someone else pays for it. If “Johnny X” can go on vacation.. then you should, too. It starts/plants a lifetime seed of entitlement. IMHO.
Don't get me started on the Godfather of the charity world, the United Way.
LOL! If it helps, you aren't heartless, you're pragmatic.
While checking out, I had the cashier at the grocery store ask if I wanted to buy one of the pre-packed bags they sell at a low cost in order to 'help the hungry'. I told her no. She looked shocked and asked 'why'?. I told her "I've seen the people that show up to collect them, and most of them are driving cars that are 12 years newer than mine.....maybe that's WHY they're hungry!"
(This doesn't mean I'm not empathetic to people in dire straights, but DANG it's hard when you see welfare lines filled with people whose faces are glued to IPods and have impeccably manicured nails!)
I've pretty much stopped giving to just about everything except the red kettle at Christmastime.
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Okay, whose turn is it on the soapbox?
:-)
The older I get, the more I'm convinced adversity breeds character.
Sincerest KUDOS to you, and thank you for sharing your story.
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