Giving

I'm curious how charitable the folks here at TBR are? I was listening to the radio with my wife during lunch earlier and 102.9 is doing a telethon for the Children's Miracle Network. The wife and I talked about making a donation but didn't really decide anything as I had to go back to work.

She just called me and told me she'd sponsored TWO kids at 40 bucks a month for a year. She's a stay-at-home mom so we're a single income family which isn't the biggest income by far.

My faith tells me to give and I want to give but at my core I'm a penny pinching, no debt, don't buy anything on credit kind of guy. I'm actually glad my wife went ahead and did this as hopefully this will be enough of a lesson to me to quit being a tightwad.

Any other reforming scrooges out there?

 

I'm too big a skeptic to give to many charities and maybe that's a bad thing. I've heard too many stories of the money not going where it's supposed to go, especially if it's for a child on the other side of the planet. Sounds bad I know, but if I could know for sure that the money was going for what it was intended, I would give more.

 

I am volunteering at the Family crisis center for the holidays. One thing to remember when giving you money or time. It is not about you.

It may make you feel good but the point should be that you are giving back. Your life has been blessed and now it is time to share that blessing.

And your time is more important then any money.

 

My wife and I give 10% of our gross income to our church, so we're fairly choosy as far as other charitable donations. She also volunteers as a co-leader for the local lupus support group sponsored by Lupus International.

In the past, we've donated to firefighters, police, and veterans' charities, but the telemarketing got to be overwhelming -- it's like if you give to one, they spread the word to the others. Before long, we had 2 different charities for police, 2 charities for firefighters, and 3 for veterans calling us every single night during the week.

So we stopped the extra giving to those charities, with the exception of AmVets, and that's mostly clothing.

The Red Cross scandal really pissed me off after 9/11 and Katrina, too.

 

I gave it to my girlfriend all weekend. Does that count?

 

God so loved that he GAVE.... You're never more like God as when you are giving. More of us ought to act more like the one we were created to be like. It's difficult because of all the dishonesty out there, but if we would give as if only God were the one looking, we wouldn't have to worry about what people do with our gifts and we could still benefit from a generous heart. Don't get me wrong, we need to use a little street smarts and not get had. Live to Give is a great motto!

 

Honeslty, id be pissed if that was me. Its one thing to donate and help those in need when you get the chance. Its another to be committed to it on a monthly basis like a fucking bill. Especially for a single income family.

And im also seriously skeptic about what happens to said money once its handed over. I just saw the world wildlife fund is being abused just the other day. So I tend to keep my charity giving to those situations where my money goes directly to the person in need. Maybe a person or relative in the family that could use a helping hand.

I"ll throw a dollar in most anyones bucket yeah, but im not getting nailed down to some kinda charity contract like that. It just stinks of abuse to me.

 

In our talk at lunch beforehand I'd suggested doing one sponsor and giving a 100 flat donation. We always give some portion of my Christmas bonus to a charity. I do wish we'd decided together because honestly I don't like the monthly "bill" either but like I said, a monthly reminder that giving should be a bigger part of my life isn't a bad thing and probably something I need.

I'm skeptical too but this money actually goes directly to a Charlotte hospital that works with the CMN so I feel better than sending my money to Africa or the Red Cross. I don't want to be scammed and I want to help those in need but there's also the aspect of myself being a more giving person that is important regardless of where the money ends up.

 

Helping those in need does most certaintly feel good and everyone should probably strive to do/give more. But remember, there are other ways to give and help those in need. I know it says "In God we trust" on the dollar bill but God knows money isnt everything.

Off on a tangent here, but im always haunted by one day when i was a kid. It was my Holy Communion and i was all dressed up like you do and my parents took me into the city for dinner and a movie, Fox and the Hound.

Now, its customary on this day for people to give money in a card like your birthday. Unfortunately, I dont have a big a family so i didnt get as much as say my friends. In fact by this time in the day all i had received was 50p from my gran, as funny as that sounds it was true.

On the way back to our parked car we passed a old long grey bearded man on his knees begging for money. For some reason i couldnt take my eyes off him and i wanted to give him my 50p. I had an incredible urge to give all i had to this man who looked so sad and needy and my day was already filled with enough joy. But my father wouldnt let my hand go and made some comment about him being a drunk, which was probably true. So we walked on by and i never gave him my 50p.

I'll picture his face every now and then, wishing I had given it to him. What he would have done with 50p, i dont know, it couldnt have been much. But since then ive always had an affinity for Rescue Missions, and my old boss happened to be on the board of the local one here which makes me wonder about Karma and all that. But at least i knew when i gave money it was going for new beds, sheets and stuff like that. I help him with the design drawings of churches, cemeteries and stuff every now and then too. But in the end im still haunted by that memory every now and then.