A Challenge to MURCers

[KvHagedorn]

Since some of you think I'm just such an awful, terrible person and have told me in such a petulant way to put up or shut up, I went and donated to the Hurricane Katrina relief fund. I chose to give to Feed The Children, which is a well known and established charity providing relief supplies directly to the victims. I was impressed by their efficiency rating, which reports a very small percentage of their revenues going to administrative expenses and a very large percentage to actually purchase food and relief items for the victims.

Since many of you are better off than I am financially, I challenge all of you who can to donate at least the same amount I have ($50.00USD) to one of the charities providing relief. A list of highly rated charities is listed here.

Just in case you doubt my veracity:

[Helevitia]

Great idea to challenge everyone KvH. And I applaude your efforts to put your money where your mouth is. I haven't donated yet as I am waiting for a collection to be finished at my wife's work. Once that is done, I will take the money to my company since they match dollar for dollar. I will at least match your donation.

Dave

[Jessterw]

You have proven me wrong. I commend you and the fund you have chosen is an excellent one. For my part I had already chosen to donate to the Red Cross in Mississippi. When I am sure that I have enough funds to do so, I hope to donate to another that would go towards the people in Louisiana.

For the record, I don't think you're awful. I simply wanted you to show (and you've done so in an exceptional manner) that you were willing to at least do something.

[Helevitia]

KvH, I never thougt you were an awful person. We just have different views. If I didn't like every person I had different views with, I'd have no friends

I actually enjoy reading a lot of the things you write, though not all of it

[Jammrock]

[work pimage]
Work is matching donations to the Red Cross. I am getting together with the in-laws and together we are donating $135, which will double to $270 thanks to Sprint. And for matching the employees donations they deserve the pimpage Sprint has also paid for severl Red Cross ads in newspapers, too.
[/work pimpage]

Jammrock

[Jessterw]

That's awesome Jamm.

On a somewhat related note, many of the universities here and in Texas are offering scholarships to students affected by the hurricane, many of them Oklahoma and Texas natives that are returning and others that have simply been displaced.

[Dr Mordrid]

$300 went to the Salvation Army earlier this week and as much will be going to the Red Cross as soon as I can cash out some bonds.

The Salvation Army got the first nod because when we were newlyweds our apartment building burned to the ground in the middle of the night during sub-zero weather and they came to the rescue in a huge way.

No less than 6 huge Salvation Army trucks came to the scene w/heated tents, food, medical care, cots and kitchens. They also paid for local hotel rooms and provided clothes, furniture and arranged for placement in a temporary apartment until the complex found us another apartment.

Talk about making a lot of friends for life....

Dr. Mordrid

[Sasq]

I am not going to meet your challenge.
why?
I donate my small change every day, and I do mean every day, to the charity box in the local store, I donated cash to the quake from last year, where 30k people were left homeless.
I donate server space, that I pay for, to people with cancer, and to other good causes.

I donate constantly in small amounts to these charities, because they are there, as doc pointed out above, for large and small.
I too have benifited from the salvo's. I give always, because no matter how down on my luck I have been in the last 10 years, there was a time before that, when I needed their help. There is a time, all the time, when someone, somewhere, needs their help, not just after a quake, or typhoon, or other natural or man mande disaster.
That, is why I will not rise to your challenge.

[Brian Ellis]

I refuse to be caught up in this stupid "I'm more generous than you" frenzy. When I give to charitable causes, whether it be a small or large sum, nobody knows except myself and I always do it anonymously, so I expect no acknowledgement.

When thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth.
That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward you openly.
St Matthew ch. 6, v. 3

[Nowhere]

Luckily not everyone, as it seems, are cought even for this populist method (yep, continuation of obvious populism in other KvH thread...but the continuation is much harder to resist)

[TransformX]

A lottery ticket costs around 5 USD here (don't take my word for it, as I didn't buy one in almost 10 years). I prefer giving it for the anti-cancer organisation here.
Why? Their 'lottery ticket' is better. If you win, you don't get cancer. If god-forbids you lose, they'll invest in curing you much much more than you've given them.