today is do something for someone else day!
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Contagious generosity is one sure way of enlarging your spirit. So I want to try a group experiment. I mentioned before that Kiva.org is one of my favourite organizations for helping people.
So here’s what I’m thinking.
I thought we could talk about how we grow generosity. I don’t mean the dollar amounts.. I just mean where and how.
* What charities do you support?
* Do you give regularly or just when there is a special plea?
* How do you come up with the money?
* What are your giving goals?
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Aside from my local church, bishop’s relief fund, my college alumin fund, and united way (who I really don’t like due to high overhead but I get my arm twisted at work), I support Homefront http://www.homefrontnj.org/ with a monthly check for a long long time.
Born out of a bunch of rich white women bringing water (in America! in New Jersey! near Princeton!) to poor women trapped by the gooferment welfare system, these women were horrified at what they saw. For anyone unlearned in the ways of gooferment, the poor women were enslaved by a system that would “give” them a handout that enabled them to “live” such as it was, but gave them no hope ever of escaping. The Princeton gals were not stupid. It didn’t take very many water runs (i.e., the welfare motel had been condemned for a toxic water supply, but the state welfare bureaucrats had no where else to put these 100 or so wretched souls. So, the Princeton women would bring drinking water to the motels from their homes.) before they were enraged.
I got involved when I introduced the chief firebrand to a package of dynamite at merrill lynch. Like throwing gasoline on a match, these two hellions started raising money and “arms” (volunteers) at Merrill and among Merrill’s local wealthy.
Homefront has become a gateway out of the cycle of poverty. They have several levels of involvement with the poor and help those people pull themselves out of the clutches of the NJ welfare bureacracy. It my pleasure to help them help people. (A few years ago, I pandered dentists to donate dental care to these indigents very successfully. It’s hard to get a job when an abusive spouse has knocked out all your teeth. And the gooferment thinks that’s cosmetic?)
The fact that the NJ Welfare Establishment is irritated, annoyed, and down-right hostile is merely a cherry on my cake. I used it as an example of what happens when the gooferment is allowed to take over the “charity industry”. People get hurt. Perhaps even die of the neglect. Charity is personal. And, these Princeton women are a force to be reckoned with.
I’m not good at writing checks or paying bills. So, I put everything on auto pilot as much as possible. My source is my paycheck. Unlike the Federal Reserve Bank (which is NOT “federal”, a “reserve” of anything, nor a “bank”), I can’t print money. I have to just earn it the old fashioned way. My giving goals are that when I die at Final Judgment, the fellow at the check in desk says “well I see all the bad things you’ve done. but they pale in comparison to the good. anyway, the boss says you get a pass to paradise”.
Seriously, I have no goals other than to help people. Very unstructured! Very hippie like. See a need and fill it. I have a “charity checkbook”, where — surprisingly — I make an automatic deposit from my real checkbook. When I hear of a sad tale, where someone has met misfortune, thru no fault of their own, I write a check. No fan fare. No tax deduction. No records. The checks don’t even have my name on them. No need for people to thank me; so there’s no way for them to find me to thank me. (Guess they could go to the bank!) — And no pain because the money was already “spent” when it left my real checking account. I use the checking account system so that I actually do give away that amount of money and it’s less painful for me to actually spend it. I used to use money orders. I’d have a few already in my desk at work in various odd amounts from 5$ to 100$, an envelope, and a stamp — instant charity.
Yeah, I know I’m weird.
Reinke Faces Life 
Reinke, thanks for the post. I’ve made a $25 contribution to Kiva.org as a result of your comment. You can check out the recipient here
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