Operation Yellow Elephant v. Operation Blessing

Adam's Web ^ | 09/20/2005 | Adam Graham

[Keyes2000mt]

So, at Operation Yellow Elephant, I segued to make the point that liberals too support causes from government, they won't take part in. I made the point about liberals lack of personal support for the alleviation of poverty and noted that the Generoisity Index proved this as the top 25 most giving states were Red States and 27 of the top 28, while liberals were holding day jobs and not joining the peace corps to alleviate poverty.

In response to this, Meilor observed:

What Adam failed to note is that his source considers being scammed by Operation Blessing to be a "donation", rather than what it is, feeding a Ponzi scheme of charlatans who prey off the naivete and vulnerability of senior citizens. That money doesn't go to the troops, or the hurricane victims, or the needy, it goes to buy satellite time, diamond mines, and hookers for radical cleric Pat Robertson and his cronies.

I checked on the Internet and found that Kos and others have been circulating attacks on Operation Blessing. However, fair and balanced our friends on the left aren't. Thus, I provided the other side and because I spent so much time researching it, I'm posting it here.:

First of all, Operation Blessing is a seperate entity from CBN. There've been some allegations , some concerns, mainly a lot of innuendo. The independent Ministry Watch which reccomends people NOT give to TBN or Benny Hinn has this to say on Operation Blessing, for efficiency in their operations, they rank 2nd of 457 ministries, in addition they get an "A" grade for their financial transparency.

Here's some of what Operation Blessing has done:

Holiday of Hope offers opportunities for gift-giving and volunteer involvement in making traditional seasonal and religious holidays memorable for low-income and impoverished families.

Hope Works offers economic stimulus, development resources and entrepreneurial imagination to struggling communities, families and individuals through broad co-operation of local churches and other Christian volunteer groups. OBI involvement ranges from education in business and development strategies to training in life skills. OBI’s International involvement emphasizes culture specific ideas and solutions to local problems.

Hunger Strike Force transports tons of donated fresh and canned produce, essential dry goods and non-perishables, medicine, nutritional and agricultural supplements, cleaning and building supplies, and varied appliances to disadvantaged and disaster victims across America and around the world. Begun with three tractor-trailers in the early nineties, HSF today has traffic routing hubs on both coasts, accepting donations from nationally recognized retail chains and facilitating volunteer humanitarian efforts of local and nationally recognized groups from every profession and walk of life.

Medical Services undertakes to provide a broad range of emergency medical services and urgent health care necessities to poor and underdeveloped areas world wide, through volunteer medical personnel, medicine, vitamins and equipment. Quick-strike teams numbering in personnel as few as 8 and as large as 150, followed by volunteer support personnel and educational services have provided a full range of needed medical responses in dozens of countries around the globe. Long-range support and preventative services have included establishment of pharmacies, mobile clinics, prenatal care and immunization programs, continuing-education, and ongoing co-operation among churches, volunteer support groups and existing government agencies.

Project Hope enhances local direct-service efforts to address basic, currently unmet human needs with a view toward instilling a sense of individual significance, personhood and human dignity. In perhaps the broadest effort of its kind, Project Hope assists existing, demonstrably sustainable programs with promising track records in improving access, availability, and administration of a broad range of services, from community-based transportation needs to low-income home ownership.

The fact is that by creating Operation Blessing, whether you like him or not, Pat Robertson has done more good for humanity that every member of Operation Yellow Elephant combined.

Now, having examined that record of financial responsibility, if you still doubt it, then consider that Operation Blessing only got $193 million last year of all the charitable dollars given, which is about a 1/5 of what Feed the Children gets. Operation Blessing has a small piece of the pie. Secondly, when we're dealing with left wing causes and ideas whether they work is irrelevant, its the thoughts and feelings behind the action. 70% of welfare dollars used to go to federal bureaucracy, yet its all good because of good intentions. Apparently, there's a different standard for Christian charities. And how many people strongly avoided religious charities and encouraged giving to the Red Cross despite the scandals that surrounded their efforts after 9/11.

[Ursus arctos horribilis]

I have first had accounts of the work Operation Blessing is doing in the gulf coast disaster, and it is all positive.