Catholic Ping - please freepmail me if you want on/off this list
Posted on 11/25/2004 5:34:53 AM PST by truthandlife
A pro-family organization has issued an alert to those who may be considering giving to one of the nation's largest charities this holiday season. The group's spokesman is warding donors away from United Way, and he also wants shoppers to know a thing or two about Target stores.
Bob Knight, director of the Culture and Family Institute, says the United Way has been crossed off his gift list. That is because the well-known charity refuses to share its money with the Boy Scouts of America while it openly supports numerous pro-homosexual groups with its money.
"I don't know why people still give to United Way," Knight says. He contends that people are already giving to government bureaucrats by paying taxes, so he asks, "why would you give to a group of private bureaucrats who have decided as a group that the Boy Scouts are worthy of being kicked out of various chapters across the country."
The Scouts had been a long-time beneficiary of United Way funding, until pressure from the homosexual community led to the BSA groups nationwide being cut out because their national organization promotes faith and moral values and prohibits homosexuals from serving as scoutmasters. Since then, at least 50 United Way chapters across the U.S. have excluded the Boy Scouts from a share of their fund-raising drives, claiming the BSA's Christian values are discriminatory.
But it is the apparent discrimination against the Scouts by the United Way that has angered Knight. Although not all the nation's United Way chapters have severed ties with the BSA, he points out that "the national headquarters has done nothing to stop the trend." Meanwhile, a major portion of the money the charity collects is being given to pro-homosexual groups.
CFI's director is urging individuals who are seeking out charitable giving opportunities to consider the manner in which the BSA has been treated by the United Way, and the organization's ongoing financial support of the homosexual agenda. Personally, Knight says, "I wouldn't give them a dime."
Unfortunately the United Way is not the only major U.S. organization that is drawing the pro-family leader's ire. In a recent interview on the Christian Broadcasting Network, he mentioned the recent announcement by Target that the retailer would not be allowing non-profit groups to solicit outside its stores this year. This means the familiar Salvation Army bell ringers will not be able to set up their kettles and collect donations at Target locations this shopping season.
Knight feels people of faith should be outraged over the retailer's actions. "Millions of Christians give Target millions of dollars," he says, "and what have they gotten from Target in return? A lump of coal. I think they ought to be ashamed of themselves, and I think consumers ought to take this into account when they do their Christmas shopping."
Salvation Army officials say Target stores nationwide helped raise about nine million dollars through last year's kettle campaign. Major George Hood, a spokesman for the Christian service organization, says the new policy prohibiting nonprofits from soliciting outside the department stores will hit some local communities hard.
"One Salvation Army officer said to me that the Target money that's raised in his community represents 75 percent of the income that he has in that community," Hood says. "When you begin to strip budgets of 75 percent of a revenue stream, it means that some very difficult decisions will have to be made in those local communities about what they will be able to do during the holidays with families, and what they will be able to do all year long once the Christmas season is over."
Still, God is in control, the Salvation Army representative notes. He says he is trusting in that truth, and he also believes many Christians who normally might have contributed at Target will help make up any deficit in the season's collections by increasing their kettle donations at other retail locations.
My husband donates to United Way at work through payroll deduction. It is such a corrupt organization. Several times people at the top of UW have gotten caught stealing MILLION$. I don't donate to them at all. I give things to Salvation Army and Goodwill. Clothes, furniture, shoes, appliances, cars.....
What is Target reasoning for not having bell ringers in front of their stores?
Find a local boy scout troop and send them some money, same thing with Target, find your local Sal. Army and send them money but when you are in Target complain to the management about the lack of a bell ringer at Christmas, (the squeaky wheel gets the oil).
bttt!
I never give to them either. They are nothing but middlemen taking a percent of the money donated. I give direct.
Speaking of businesses and charities to boycot can anyone give me info on Starbucks? I heard something disturbing about them slighting the troops. Before I jump to conclusions I would like some confirmation on this.
I'd never give a dime to UW anyway, the boy scout issue is only the tip of the iceberg. As for Target, I think the charges are a little unfair. They give a lot of money to support charitable causes and I don't think they should be boycotted over the new policy. Target is suffering from the new age of litigation. If they allow the Salvation Army to solicit they may not be allowed to refuse other causes which might offend their customers. Target did not make this new policy specifically for the Salvation Army, but for all groups, political and charitable.
Catholic Ping - please freepmail me if you want on/off this list
Ping!
But couldn't Target choose which groups it would accept on its premises, and which ones he would turn off ? It strikes me as real strange that if Target accepts the Salvation Army, it should be deprived of its right to turn down, for example, the Red Crescent or some bizarre cult professing to do charity.
Perhaps, and I certainly don't know the answer to that, but it strikes me that with all the litigation we are suffering from today a group could claim that Target has no right to pick and choose who can or cannot solicit in front of their stores.
Lowe's is allowing the SA bell ringers. So are a bunch of other national chains. Sears too, I think. Michael's Craft Stores are allowing them.
perhaps a reason why they're doing this:
the dayton family owns target.
mark dayton was elected to the u.s. senate in 2000.
he's one of the most liberal members of the u.s. senate.
There is actually a law severely restricting any business's right to determine who solicits and who doesn't on its premises. As a result, unions can organize without permission and under federal protection if Target or Wal-Mart allow any solicitations on their grounds. Blame the federal government's meddling here, not Target.
It really makes no sense. This "equalitarianism" is totally out of hand. It's amazing your federal judges don't get chased down more often by angry multitudes !
The company where I worked put a lot of pressure on the employees to sign up for a payroll deduction so the company could get a lousy certficate from UW. I signed up for a deduction of 50 cents per month. Im sure the administarative fees cost them at least that.
I used to be a 'fair-share' giver. When the queers took over the San Francisco United Way and began persecuting the Boy Scouts there, I quit. That was about 15 years ago.
It was 1962. I was in the 5th grade in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Mr. Shaw's class.
A naval officer came into our room, and told us that there were buses waiting for us outside. We were to get on the buses and get off directly in front of our houses. If we went ANYWHERE besides home, we would be left behind in the ensuing war with Castro.
We always kept an evacuation bag packed just for such an emergency. But my 9 year old brother and I had long outgrown anything with long sleeves or long pants. We left home within minutes and were whisked to an awaiting ship to evacuate from our home.
We left our dog tied outside in the hot Cuban sun, hoping some sailor or marine would come by and take care of her. She was a wonderful Schipperke.
I could see my dad's office from the ship. He was waving goodbye. Probably forever. At least, I thought that was Dad. Could have been some other Chief. There was a shipload of coffins being unloaded next to us. I guess they didn't use body bags in '62.
The ship my mom and us boys were on was heavy-laden with old ammunition. They had loaded the ship up to dump the ammo at sea. There was no time to unload it.
There were enough bunks to give us dependents (civilians) a few hours each day in bed. The sailors all slept on deck. The galley was feeding people 24 hours a day. I think the sailors got one meal a day. Those men were incredible.
A Russian submarine tracked us the entire way to Norfolk, VA.
It took forever to get to Virginia, because our ship was so overloaded. It was late October when we got there, and it was unbelievably cold. Especially to kids who'd spent years in Cuba, and were dressed in shorts and T-shirts.
The Navy put us up in some barracks in Norfolk. The Salvation Army came by and told us about some huge warehouses they had stocked with clothes, household items, toys, and anything else. They told us to take everything we thought we could possibly use. Not what we needed, but what we could use.
We had to set up housekeeping on virtually no money. The Navy wasn't able to get salaries to the dependents that were scattered across the US. Looking back, I don't know how my Mom made ends meet. We had no transportation, but somehow survived in the sticks of NC. I know the folks at our (previous) home chuch helped out a lot. That was Mt. Carmel Baptist in Chapel Hill. My dad had been stationed years before at UNC-Chapel Hill in the NROTC program.
Now I have 2 boys of my own, a thirteen year old and a nine year old. I make them suffer through this story whenever we see a Salvation Army volunteer asking for funds. We put money in the pot, and I make sure the volunteer hears what I'm telling. Those bell ringers were Jesus when my family really needed Him.
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