Charity Begins At Home

Like most people, I truly believe in many causes and try to give as much to various charities as possible. My wife is the same way and sometimes the urge to give is so great that we make sacrifices in order to accommodate them. It’s in appreciation for how fortunate we are.

On occasion when we can’t give as much as we would like to, the guilt factor kicks in and we go overboard trying to fulfill donation requests. For instance, my wife will get a phone call from a charity requesting to pick up used clothing and household items from your home.

Even though we just gave to another charity that does the same thing, my wife can’t say “no” and tells them to come by. Since there’s not another shred of old clothing left to give away, she’ll go out and buy items we can give to them.

I laugh telling her that she simply has to say that we don’t have anything to give at this time. She looks at me and says that I’m worse than her. She might be right, because these days I’ve been in donation dilemma because of a popular method people use these days to collect donations.

The method is stationing collectors at busy intersections with fishnets, boots or hats in order to collect money from passing cars waiting for the traffic light. The recent Hawaii Foodbank drive employed this method near the only exit and entrance to the area where I live.

I had to run a quick errand so, not thinking, the first time I gave them all my cash. On the return home I was solicited again, so I gave them all the change I had in the ashtray. I had to go out again and I was actually praying that the light would be green so I wouldn’t have to stop.

Of course, they don’t give receipts so I couldn’t prove that I’d already given two times in the last half hour. I rolled down my window and told the volunteer that I would go to the closest ATM and come back. I don’t think they believed me until I actually returned with the cash in hand.

I guess I’m just a sucker for good causes — a cash-poor sucker, that is.

Ron’s WEBSITE OF THE WEEK

www.hawaiifoodbank.org

Guess what? You can make donations or volunteer for the Hawaii Foodbank all year ’round day or night. Just visit their website.

I’m banking on you to send me your favorite sites. Send them to me at: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

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