This is the first year I didn’t write a check or put money in a red kettle. Most years I did both.
I kind of feel bad about it because I think they do help people in need. If they fire the asshats who started the mess I’ll think again.
In recent years, I could never afford more than a few bucks to toss in the kettle. This year, it’s all going to a local independent animal shelter.
There are a lot of good charities that help people in need. Choose some other ones and carry on. That’s what I’m doing.
Who really thinks you can chastise a whole population and then expect them to give you money? That’s some weird Sh*t right there.
I feel bad too and hope they can redeem themselves. They do a lot of good. Back when I was still active duty, I had read an article about a Navajo Indian family that, for various reasons, was not able to get into any sort of decent housing. They had a 3 year old son and their "home" was the body of an old school bus - on a dirt floor. Winter was coming and I could not get the picture of that little boy sleeping on a dirt floor out of my head, so I decided to take matters into my own hands and I started a massive fund raiser.
I went on radio and even TV to pitch the fund raiser. The one BIG problem I had was that I did not want to touch the money. I needed a thrid pary with some credibility to be the conduit for the collection effort.
I approached several organizations who turned down the proposal, but the SA were the ones who said yes, they would help me raise the cash. So, all of the donations were mailed to the SA and put into a special account. Sometime in December of that year we had enough and were able to buy them a second hand mobile home. It wasn't fancy, but it was a damn site better than what they had been living in.
When it came time to get the trailer, that's when we told the family what was going on and had them driven out to Albuquerque from Arizona so they could pick out the trailer they wanted. When they got here the mom and dad and the boy, along with about eight cousins and grand parents, ended up spending the night at our house. It was the firt time the little boy had ever slept in a real bed. The next day, we went to the used trailer lot (I had already gotten them in on the deal and they agreed to sell whichever used model the family wanted - at cost.