Salvation Army refuses Lotto winner's $100,000 donation

Naples News ^ | 12/28/02 | Ray Parker

[Fighting Irish]

Lottery winner David Rush was irked Friday to find out local Salvation Army officials rejected his $100,000 donation.

The religious charity, popularly known for its bell ringers outside shopping malls during the holidays, preaches against gambling.

"The money that Mr. Rush received was via the lottery: We preach against gambling," said spokeswoman Maribeth Shanahan, who spoke on behalf of Cleo Damon, who heads the Collier County chapter and decided not to accept the donation. "To accept it would be to talk out both sides of our mouth."

Rush, a financial adviser, doesn't see lottery money as gambling. In his view, the money reaped from Wall Street investments involves a risk-gain factor, not unlike a lottery ticket.

"Everybody has a right to be sanctimonious if they want to be," Rush said. "I respect the Salvation Army's decision. I do not agree with it, but that is their prerogative."

Instead, he will donate the money to other groups with similar missions.

The Marco Island resident donated to charities such as the Salvation Army prior to his windfall last week, which amounted to a 25 percent share of the $100 million lottery jackpot.

The 71-year-old took a lump sum payment of $14.2 million.

Earlier this week at a Rotary Club of Marco Island luncheon, he handed out checks for $100,000 to the Salvation Army, $100,000 to Habitat for Humanity of Collier County, and $50,000 to the Rotary Club.

Jerry Brunette, the Rotary Club's Salvation Army liaison, accepted the check, not knowing there would be a problem.

Even so, Brunette said he understands why the Salvation Army rejected the money.

"If everyone acted as strongly on their principles, we wouldn't need a Salvation Army" to help the poor and needy, Brunette said.

In addition to those three groups, Rush said he made contributions to his other favorite charities, including two churches.

Shanahan, the local Salvation Army director of community relations and development, stressed the group could have used the money.

Over the holidays, from Nov. 18 until Christmas Eve, local Salvation Army bell ringers collected more than $105,000, Shanahan said.

There's not a final figure on the total donations collected by the group, which, she said, helped more than 6,000 people with food, toys or clothing during the holiday season.

[HiTech RedNeck]

It was a real hot potato for SA. Too bad Rush didn't know that ahead of time, but his donation will certainly not go wanting for another Christian home. He should keep it quiet, however, except of course to the IRS.

[alnick]

It doesn't matter whether you agree with the idea of gambling being wrong. What matters is that they stood on principle based on what they believe. I admire that.

[Gorzaloon]

Lottery winner David Rush was irked Friday to find out local Salvation Army officials rejected his $100,000 donation. The religious charity, popularly known for its bell ringers outside shopping malls during the holidays, preaches against gambling. "The money that Mr. Rush received was via the lottery: We preach against gambling," said spokeswoman Maribeth Shanahan, who spoke on behalf of Cleo Damon, who heads the Collier County chapter and decided not to accept the donation. "To accept it would be to talk out both sides of our mouth." ... Shanahan, the local Salvation Army director of community relations and development, stressed the group could have used the money.

This is precisely why the Salvation Army gets my money, including the share that the Red Cross, in its various guises, never will.

Anyone who thinks that lotteries are not gambling have never been in line in a convenience store watching the desperate, pathetic people buying tickets with rolls of coins, or the piles and piles of losing scratch tickets in the parking lots. But it's for the State, so it's not gambling.

And one can be certain that when the directors of the Red Cross get out of their Learjet, they would have fellated the Devil for this donation, regardless of where it came from or how it was won.

[glory]

Yeah, I'll believe that when the "poor" don't have a better Christmas than folks I know in the middle class who don't get WIC, food stamps, etc.

[Miles Bennel]

There's a principle here that is being overlooked:

Matthew 6:
1 Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
2 Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
3 But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:
4 That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Lotteries are "not gambling" in a similar sense to that McDonald's is "not overeating."

[glory]

apples and oranges---lottery is getting something for nothing, getting a college education would be considered earning your money by the sweat of your brow as God decreed.
I do think though that the man was blessed with this to bless Christian charities though. I'm sure it's been a long time since someone who won one of these things was so blatantly Christian and would give so much to Christian organizations. Perhaps SA refusing the money is God's way of saying to the lottery winner to make his donations more discreet or anonymously to avoid pride ya think?

[Happygal]

I trust the Salvation Army are going to track down every drunk and gambler who dropped a couple of bucks into their kettles over the holiday season too.

[TopQuark]

It is scary when a financial advisor does not see the difference between the lotery and investments: Rush, a financial adviser, doesn't see lottery money as gambling. In his view, the money reaped from Wall Street investments involves a risk-gain factor, not unlike a lottery ticket. Poor clients.

Nor does he appear to know the difference between the singular and the plural: "Everybody has a right to be sanctimonious if they want to be," Rush said.

So what does he know?

[Gorzaloon]

There is no Bible injunction against gambling, just like there is none against alcohol.

"Drink not wine nor strong drink": Leviticus.

There are injunctions against greed, theft, and drunkeness. The man just wanted to give a little back and I just don't see a Bible injunction<"Thou shalt not take winnings from gambling as a donation for the poor!" in my Bible.

I would think that the chance of getting a million dollars for a dollar would be not only the ultimate example of greed, but also pretty high up on the "covet" scale.

Look at the frenzy surrounding each big jackpot. There is nothing healthy or virtuous about it.

Satan loves despair and bitterness, and every jackpot produces millions of disillusioned people.

[alnick]

There sure is, it falls under "Thou shalt not covet"

That's a stretch. "Thou shalt not covet" is only part of it. It goes on to say "thy neighbor's..." So it doesn't just generally say that we shouldn't covet, period. It says that we shouldn't covet what belongs to other people, as in "I wish that I owned that nice car instead of Jim."

[Clifdo]

He needs to be revealed and criticized publicly because he made a public donation. Of course, he did this publicly because he wanted the approbation for doing such a thing and it would not have been possible either to deduct it nor to be applauded for doing it if he had done it quietly. Gambling is wrong because even tho' there might be a winner who will give a portion of what he has won to a worthy cause, there are millions of losers and that has to be wrong!!! The Salvation Army deserves much credit in sticking to its biblical belief that gambling is wrong because it is!!! Praise be for organizations like The Salvation Army and praise be to the Lord from whom all blessings flow.

[mdmathis6]

Yeah...it was the poor being hurt in order to prove a point and support...a priciple. If God had stuck to principle he would have let Noah drown with the rest of humanity and folded up the universe and stalk back to gross darkness and comisserate with his three in one self.(sorry Lord, you know my heart)If God had stuck to principle, he wouldn't have taken on flesh and blood to suffer the indignities that men suffer, and to die for our sins, instead he would have let us destroy our-selve in due course. You know why we haven't yet Nuked ourselveas out of existence...it is God, not sticking to the principle of his Perfect Glory over all else. Ironically by extending to us grace he actually sticks by a greater principle..For God so loved the World, he gave his only son....His love for us in spite of our foolishness provided a way out of our sins(of which he cannot ignore, I realize that). It's his grace and mercy that makes his perfection palatable, the more you have of it,in spite of the sober knowledge it gives you regarding your inner darkness, the more you want it. God knows the Heart of man, and provided a HUMAN interface thru which he could share his glory with us, a HUMAN intercessor who pleads our case like a seasoned lawyer before his throne. Moses could not look God the Father in the eye but he could Jesus is he had come then. Abraham saw Christ's day and was glad.
The SA should have taken the man's money and shut up about it! The man should have given the money quietly...and shut up about it. And God who watches in secret would have rewarded all of them openly!

GRACE....GRACE is the heart of the matter...with such grace extended to us, shouldn't we learn to extend it to each other as well? GRACE should be one of our FIRST PRINCIPLES....it is principle we are talking about...right?

[sausageseller]

What do you think?

1 Timothy 5:23 NIV

Stop drinking only water, and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses.

[mdmathis6]

Yeah...it was the poor being hurt in order to prove a point and support...a priciple. If God had stuck to principle he would have let Noah drown with the rest of humanity and folded up the universe and stalk back to gross darkness and comisserate with his three in one self.(sorry Lord, you know my heart)If God had stuck to principle, he wouldn't have taken on flesh and blood to suffer the indignities that men suffer, and to die for our sins, instead he would have let us destroy our-selve in due course. You know why we haven't yet Nuked ourselveas out of existence...it is God, not sticking to the principle of his Perfect Glory over all else. Ironically by extending to us grace he actually sticks by a greater principle..For God so loved the World, he gave his only son....His love for us in spite of our foolishness provided a way out of our sins(of which he cannot ignore, I realize that). It's his grace and mercy that makes his perfection palatable, the more you have of it,in spite of the sober knowledge it gives you regarding your inner darkness, the more you want it. God knows the Heart of man, and provided a HUMAN interface thru which he could share his glory with us, a HUMAN intercessor who pleads our case like a seasoned lawyer before his throne. Moses could not look God the Father in the eye but he could Jesus if he had come then. Abraham saw Christ's day and was glad.
The SA should have taken the man's money and shut up about it! The man should have given the money quietly...and shut up about it. And God who watches in secret would have rewarded all of them openly!

GRACE....GRACE is the heart of the matter...with such grace extended to us, shouldn't we learn to extend it to each other as well? GRACE should be one of our FIRST PRINCIPLES....it is principle we are talking about...right?

[TightSqueeze]

"Drink not wine nor strong drink": Leviticus.

"Give beer to those who are perishing, wine to those who are in anguish; let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more" (Prov. 31:6–7).

Leviticus Ale House.

[Gorzaloon]

Timothy 5:23 NIV Stop drinking only water, and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses.

Good one! Glad you found it! :-)

[xm177e2]

What I do see is a hypocritical organization making a public spectacle of this man,humiliating him instead of extending him Christ's grace.

I'm sure the Salvation Army turned him down privately, and HE chose to go to the media. Why would the Salvation Army go to a newspaper with this weird story?

[Redleg Duke]

These idiots remind me of "Single-Issue Conservative" voters!