How I got shamed. What I did about it. Can you beat me.

So there I was feeling pretty good about myself.

I had weathered a 20% cut in hours (meaning pay), and my wife and I had managed to trim some costs by brown-bagging it more, cutting movie channels, letting magazine and pod-cast subscriptions lapse, refinancing the house, being satisfied with our '04 PT Cruiser, and so on.

After all that, and managing to pay all the bills, fund our 401(k)s, and putting a little aside for vacation, I had even finally scraped together $500 for a G12 to replace the G9 that was stolen last year. Was planning on heading to Samys this weekend to pick it up.

Then, yesterday I saw this and this and thison a blog normally used for political satire: (links only, POTN rules!)

Picture One

Picture Two

Picture Three

The blogger captioned them with the sentence: "And my heart grew three sizes that day."

Well, shoot then.

I had just been shamed by a bunch of Afghani youths. Boot to the Head reality check. Not only could I have it a HELL of a lot worse, those who DO have it a hell of a lot worse can still demonstrate compassion for those less fortunate than them. I knew what I had to do. The result is below.

And the challenge is this: Try to beat me. Try to come close. Solo, with a group, with the whole friggin workplace if need be, just try. Please, please, please try.

At the start of this post I said that I had been feeling pretty good about myself. Now I know that it's possible to feel even better. My father taught me about charity, that it doesn't really start to feel good till it hurts. He was right. And with a little time and luck, I suppose that there is a G15 out there with my name on it.

Rad

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great job man! Karma ++ for you

Living fairly close to Japan, I want to fly there and help with anything for a month or two, but I can't speak Japanese and have no idea if they even allow it.

Wow, that's awesome! I've set up a fairly large charity portrait session with some local vendors, all proceeds going to the Red Cross. Hope to generate a good donation.

Very nice thought!

I sure wish I could be there with my tractor or truck and trailer, pounding some nails or hauling some water or just puting on gloves and getting to work. Can't happen. contributing some vacation time at work instead.

Hard to imagine the devestation despite the best efforts of some great photographs and videos. The CNN/google before and afters are numbing.

If we never endure anything like this in our lives we are truly lucky people.

While I applaud the effort, I'd like to point out that here in the Detroit metro region,
over 60% of the Red Cross' intake goes toward internal salaries and operating expenses,
while over 80% of The Salvation Army's intake goes directly to humanitarian efforts.
Quite a huge difference.
They're actually driving Hummer vehicles around my region, if that tells you anything.

Not trying to start any wars about it; only reporting how it is here as reported by
independent local alalysis, year after year. It's an ongoing bone of contention
locally between the Red Cross and The Salvation Army, albeit a quiet one.

I'm doing my part with The Salvation Army now, donating what I can, and helping out
with receiving and repackaging goods for immediate shipment to those affected.
We've reinstated the system from Katrina that won us praise from the recipients,
and this time, we have a larger warehouse operation to work from.

Rest assured that The Salvation Army already has a huge presence in the areas of Japan
most affected, and that we will do whatever is possible with whatever supplies we receive,
as we continue to receive more for the relief efforts.

SkedAddled wrote in post #12066603
While I applaud the effort, I'd like to point out that here in the Detroit metro region,
over 60% of the Red Cross' intake goes toward internal salaries and operating expenses,
while over 80% of The Salvation Army's intake goes directly to humanitarian efforts.
Quite a huge difference.

If what you say is true, then the Detroit administrative staff should be half-hung, drawn and quartered. Those numbers you quote do not come anywhere near to jiving with the national numbers.

Nationally, the American Red Cross utilizes 91.8% of its income for humanitarian aid. That actually smokes the 80% you give for the Salvation Army.

The American Red Cross's administrative expenses are 4.4% of income, and it's fund raising expenses are 3.6% of income. (Numbers are rounded, they don't add to 100, but why confuse the issue with too many decimal places.)

And finally, since the American Red Cross is not a church, I don't have to worry about my donation being used to support or propagate a religious point of view I do not share.

Rad

Well, then.
Got any numbers to support your views?

SkedAddled wrote in post #12067004
Well, then.
Got any numbers to support your views?

I thought you'd never ask:

CharityNavigator's report on the American Red Cross

http://www.charitynavi​gator.org …search.summary&​orgid=3277

I assume you will be posting a link to the report you spoke of showing a 60% administrative expense for the ARC in Detroit. Would be only fair.

Rad

[QUOTE=Radtech1]If what you say is true, then the Detroit administrative staff should be half-hung, drawn and quartered. Those numbers you quote do not come anywhere near to jiving with the national numbers.

Really guys? Comparing the size in inches over charity?

Good Grief!

Oh, just let it be.
There's obviously a contest that won't be won here.

My apologies for defending a charity of my choice.

You can piss off, RadTech.

whoa.

I agree that it is a sad thing that some of the dollars don't get past the shipping and handling, but it is a necessary evil that running a charity is like running a railroad, someones gotta run the train.


This is why I say I would rather be pounding a nail or filling a dumpster or just helping an older Japanese gentleman find a few posessions in the rubble. I would rather give my time than my money in any charitable donation, but it isn't possible here so I donate my vacation time to a company organized releif effort. It is as close as I can get to actually giving feet on the ground manpower wich is always my first choice.

Radtech- Hoorah for you. This thread is inspirational, as are you.

birdfromboat wrote in post #12067276
...but it isn't possible here so I donate my vacation time to a company organized releif effort...

Radtech- Hoorah for you. This thread is inspirational, as are you.

Thank you for the relief support that you and your company provided.

As to me being an inspiration - well, the real inspiration is (and should be) the Afghani people that I linked to in my original post. In spite of their abject circumstances the found they were able to contribute the one thing their circumstances still allows them to keep - their voices.

Thank you and thank them.

Rad

My apologies for the sour mood and lousy use of quoting above, and to Rad for my harsh words.

The system is a very troubled situation here locally, which is what got my hackles up.
There was even legal investigation into the local Red Cross' misappropriation of funds
shortly after Katrina, which is why I won't support them locally, and probably forever.
Besides all of that, I've been involved with The Salvation Army since before katrina,
so my loyalties lie with them.

But I'm back to make amends, not fan the flames.
I've indicated what my local scene is like; this is not to imply there's such troubled
operations at the national level, nor does it represent averages.

My apologies again, to all.