[ds968]

I donated, and am encouraging everyone else to do the same. It's not that we'll solve all the world's problems and misery by donating a few dollars here and there, but on a few occasions as devastating as this is, particularly in a place where people had little or nothing to start with and now have nowhere to turn, every little bit will help. So put off buying that carnauba wax kit until next month, the 968 shine will last another couple of weeks [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cool.gif[/img] , and send something to the red cross or other legit organizations ..

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[PorscheDude]

Sorry I only donate to help American causes.
We have our own problems within our own borders.

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[ds968]

while i agree that american causes should be given priority, i believe that's where our tax dollars ( or a decent portion of them anyway ) should go .. instead of being squandered to the order of billions of dollars by "our" politicians on things that are of absolutely of no benefit to anyone ..

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[gryphon]

A few bucks thrown to Scott Brown in Massachusetts would be money well spent.

Tom

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[biotechee]

While I will probably be unpopular in my view, I side completely with Pat on this one.

Our government has pledged 100 million to Haiti, and somehow I imagine more will be on the way.

I'll leave it at that.

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[Mark]

Our government has pledged 100 million to Haiti, and somehow I imagine more will be on the way.
And your 31 cent share of that 100 million is appreciated [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif[/img]

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[biotechee]

Made no mention of my share... [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif[/img]

Point is 100 million in aide from our government would, more than likely, get Haiti up and running without further monetary contributions. As with generally all 3rd world entities, the amount of money "donated," "given," or "pledged" during a catastrophy is not the issue. The logisitcs of utilizing said money becomes the issue.

Call me cold, but thems the facts.

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[PorscheDude]

I'm cold....

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[biotechee]

I'm so cold, if I could get my $0.31 back from the gubment, I would.... [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif[/img]

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[ds968]

yeah, we're damn good at spending money [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/dry.gif[/img] ... check this out : http://www.costofwar.com

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[Mark]

Dan,
I have no idea if Patrick or Jim are serious but many people are tired of being nagged to donate. Trust me if they've turned on a TV or radio, gone grocery shopping or logged on to the internet than people are aware of the need in Haiti. Most who are going to donate have already done so at least once already. While I think both Patrick's and Jim's responses were unnecessary (other words come to mind [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif[/img] ), I believe the original post was also. Nobody likes to badgered every where they turn for days on end about donate, donate, donate. I'm actually surprised how mellow the thread has been based on many of the others I have seen out there.

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[ds968]

Point taken. I'm also getting a bit annoyed at every grocery store asking me for contributions only to walk outside and then be pestered by the guy with the bucket standing by the door, but when I put the original post up it was a spur of the moment thought
and felt it was the right thing to do at the time... before the flood of reminders hit everyone, everywhere as is the case now..

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[rhudeboye]

[img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif[/img] SELFISH BASTARDS.

Donations in general can be misleading. I understand that the organizations have overhead cost and that that is a part of your contribution. But its far too easy to keep the majority of money received. There is, often, a surprisingly small amount of money that is given to the cause and little the Gov does to regulate.

I recall going to NY not long after the towers came down and visiting ground zero. I noticed that every other block had 2 brand new BMW X5s with Red cross emblems on the doors. These X5s were all over the city. Did BMW donate them? Dunno. We travel back home and start hearing all the reports of how victims and firefighter family's haven't received a dime. Not a friggin dime after months of donations. One widowed wife of a firefighter was being taken care of by the Dept as there home was going into foreclosure and her son had an ongoing illness. SAD. What happen to all the millions, was it ever distributed?

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[flash]

i am very jaded about charities, having worked for a number of them over the years, and seen how badly corrupted many of them are

charities are often merely the platform set up to allow someone to exist tax free - for example, we have a cousin who inherited a bunch of money, and set up a "foundation" which allows the money to be sheltered - that foundation makes contributions to various charities, but by means and for the reason of attending black tie events they would otherwise not get into - meanwhile the rest of the money sits in an investment portfolio growing daily - sure, donations are getting made that otherwise wouldn't, but if someone were truly philanthropic, wouldn't they just donate the whole lot?

nice work if you can get it

churches are another big one that bug me (not the religion, but the church itself, so don't start pounding me about that) - the catholic church is one of the largest businesses on the planet, owning many companies, with resources in the countless billions - they exemplify the contradiction - they are pretty bold about it too - lol - how could someone with a vow of poverty wear all those jewels and gold? - the mormons aren't far behind - their vault is enormous, and packed with billions - ever looked at fallwell or any of the TV evangelists books?

again, nice work if you can get it

i think we have enough homeless and destitute people here in this country that would be better served by focusing our attention on them, and while disaster like this is always a problem, we have no business being there expending our much needed and already over-stressed resources

i think we have a lot of our own housecleaning to do before we run around the globe throwing pennies at a situation expecting results - we need to fix the things here that have put so many of our own citizens out of work, out of their house, and onto the street - if our own problems continue, there will be no money for others

this is basic economics - we cannot continue to be the world's police, fire and rescue services, unless we are prepared to increase our taxes to pay for it - with so many out of work, there are decreased tax revenues already - this is a downward spiraling problem that is heading us for disaster every time we stick our nose into something outside our country before shoring up our own economy - cold hard reality for sure, and there is no way to say any of this without coming off like a heartless bastard, but it is what it is

china has a bunch of money - let them take care of this

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[94SilverCab]

My wife and I have a policy about donating money locally. We support the local food bank, women's shelter, library, philharmonic, and animal sanctuary. Because we live and donate in our neighborhood we got to see our money in action. we know the people involved and what they are made of. If everyone else gives money to Haiti in lieu of donations to local charities then our money is even better spent.

One thing about Red Cross. I was disappointed that the money that so many donated for 9/11 victims went into their "General Fund". I felt it was a diversion and lead to my decision to act locally.

Regards,

Jay

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[rhudeboye]

There are websites like guidestar that help in finding a suitable organization but there's nothing like knowing who is running the show and what they are currently doing to help ease your mind. When your not armed with that info, you could be better served throwing your money out the window.

i.e. We had a guy walking up our street in a firemans shirt and hat asking for donations of $80 or $40 if you said no to the 80. I happen to know a fireman at our local fire house. He's a good friend of mine. He mentioned that dept specifically, so I asked "do you work there?" He rambled off how many volunteer at that house and went back to where my money would be going and how they would be the ones to help me if I needed it. I ask again,
so do YOU work there. No, he says.
Ahhh. I then ask are you a fire man. No.

As we got to talking I asked how much goes to the fire Dept. I cant rcall exactly but I was told something like 14%. He then went into a schpel <--- Have no idea how that's spelled) which he read right from his clip board of the org that sent them out.

So hard to trust these days.

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[ds968]

I think United Way got blasted many years ago for spending the majority of all donations on admin costs.. true, it's tough to trust any organization anymore, I thought Red Cross was about as safe of a bet as anything, but seems even they're not all that transparent [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/dry.gif[/img] . Wiser to donate food instead of money, surely 100% of those goods must end up in the hands of the needy, insead of the greedy..

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[Darryl]

Speaking of the greedy, there was quite a bit of negative press about the various credit card companies skimming their 3% off of all of the donations being made by credit card. Nothing like donating to a cause only to make VISA or MasterCard richer. If you decide to donate through a credit card, text message, or web site, make sure 100% gets donated.

Good suggestions about donating food or other supplies.

Also, I must agree with Jay and others about donating to local charities and US based organizations. We have plenty of internal issues that can use our help.

- Darryl

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[Mark]

Good suggestions about donating food or other supplies.

<b>Not really</b> unless it is to your local food bank or food drive. For a long distance issue like this if you wish to donate you are much better off donating cash (do your homework first). Sorting, packing and transporting your old canned asparagus to a different country costs a fortune and may very well be tossed aside as they may not eat asparagus. I know you are thinking they are starving and they eat dirt cakes normally they'd love asparagus, I'd rather eat the dirt cakes. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif[/img] The organizations can take your cash and buy pallets of supplies be it water, rice, tents, clothing, bandages, etc. closer to the event and put it on a ship or plane far cheaper than even your free supplies. If you are Pepsi and can donate a plane full of bottled water that is different. Here is a much better explanation.

http://blogs.redcross.org.uk/emergencies/2...+Cross+Blogs%29

I wholeheartedly agree with all the stuff about working with local groups and hopefully those who say it actually do it. I am extremely skeptical of most people who make that argument actually do it However I doubt for too many of you the local people are worse off than the people were in Haiti before the quake let alone after. Dan's original post implied that you should consider making another sacrifice like that wax kit for your Porsche and not that you should move money from your local charity pot to the Haiti disaster pot.

Donate don't donate, whatever.

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[Mark]

And since I am going to hell anyway, just think of the number of new zombies if you do not donate. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif[/img]

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