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COMSUBBBS
Posts: 3202
Location: Alexandria, Virginia | Subject: Two cents worth on donations to vet causes
Every day I get SOMETHING in the mail wanting money for some damn HELP OUR VETERANS cause. You get this stuff and the first thing you ask yourself is, Who are these guys? Next, Where does the money actually go? Folks, there are folks out there who prey on patriotic people like yourselves....Non profit doesn't mean that the BOARD OF DIRECTORS consisting of the bastards who thought up the the whole scam can't "vote" themselves obscene salaries, expenses...hire their wife...kids...next door neighbor...and six of their best friends and the manager of the local Jiffy Lube....vote themselves bonuses and create lavish offices and crank up a level of overhead matching King Kookamonga of Afkrakistan. That POW-MIA logo is patented, copyrighted and licensed....Who do you think is benefiting from that? Just how many unreturned Viet-Nam era POW's are there? Do you think those wiley little North Vietnamese buggers, knowing what we would be willing to shell out to get em back, wouldn't have collected all the big bucks by now? Sure they would have....which leads me to believe that there aren't any more....Except in the very active minds of marketers and event organizers. NEXT...And to me this is the kicker...We all know of the extraordinarily great work done by the AMERICAN RED CROSS, NAVY RELIEF, THE SALVATION ARMY, THE SOCIETY OF THE PURPLE HEART, AMVETS, THE DISABLED AMERICAN VETERANS and all the other tried and true. Screw this buy a vet a phone card...let him buy the damn thing, his parents, his brothers and sisters, his Aunt Mary...his church congregation, the guys down at Jiffy Lube....You don't have to shovel money into a black hole run by jaybirds you will never meet and who you know absolutely nothing about. You want to help out a suffering wounded vet and his wonderful family send some of your hard earned pesos to FISHER HOUSE.....Any outfit that collects money to send returning vets to Disney Land, Branson, MO, The Grand Ole Opry, A World Wrestling Federation event or Bush Gardens saps some of the available funds away from outfits truly helping the suffering gals and lads recovering from their combat sustained wounds. DON'T FEED THE PREDATORS...DEX....PS. Don't give me that old stale bulls**t about the RED CROSS selling doughtnuts to frontline troops in WWI....WWI was ninety years ago....the statute of limitations on continuous crotch kicking for the doughnut selling ran out years ago....Every woman who sold doughnuts to the soldiers' was caught and burned at the stake....THE AMERICAN RED CROSS does the lions share of benevolent work done to shepherd and protect our returning vets....They serve as tireless volunteers in our military and veterans hospitals and in many instances can be found holding the soon to be lifeless hand of a wounded warrior. My family has been the recipient of some major league RED CROSS caring. Hell, go out and find a homeless VET....cut out the middle man who siphons off a goosd chunk of your processed contribution and hand the poor homeless bastard twenty bucks and a fifth of Jack Daniels. |
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COMSUBBBS
Posts: 6180
Location: Summerville, SC | Subject: RE: Two cents worth on donations to vet causes
You said it better than I could, Dex. This BS Twitter collector just doesn't sound right. |
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Master and Commander
Posts: 1262
Location: Va.Beach,Va. | Subject: RE: Two cents worth on donations to vet causes
That's about what Ralph and I were trying to tell Mike on the other thread but you
were much more articulate in your eloquent rhetoric and silver toungued delivery.
( I mean you used a hell of a lot more words and commanded more attention)
( maybe it's just that you talk too damn much,I don't know,But it works.)
Thanks Shipmate! 
Edited by MAD DOG 2009-05-23 2:59 PM
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COMSUBBBS
Posts: 6180
Location: Summerville, SC | Subject: RE: Two cents worth on donations to vet causes
Dex, talk too much???? Why Paul, how could you ever say such a thing? |
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Great Sage of the Sea
Posts: 539
Location: Palm Bay, Florida | Subject: RE: Two cents worth on donations to vet causes
MAD DOG - 2009-05-23 5:57 PM
That's about what Ralph and I were trying to tell Mike on the other thread)
That was your first mistake Mad Dog..... that is, trying to tell him something. For further info, check the Pig Pen on Rontini's BBS. |
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Old Salt
Posts: 264
Location: Harrison, NJ | Subject: RE: Two cents worth on donations to vet causes
I tend to partially agree with Dex.
I've heard for years the story about the Red Cross. I don't know how true or not true they are. I'm not a fan of the Red Cross, anyway.
The charities I like are the Salvation Army and the USO. I believe that they are low overhead and they do a lot of good.
I think that over the years, I've more than "paid" for the coffee, donuts and free movie & show tickets that I received.
Anyway, that's my 2 cents worth. |
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Master and Commander
Posts: 2254
Location: Foothills of the Ozarks | Subject: RE: Two cents worth on donations to vet causes
Tom Conlon - 2009-05-24 6:25 PM
I tend to partially agree with Dex.
I've heard for years the story about the Red Cross. I don't know how true or not true they are. I'm not a fan of the Red Cross, anyway.
The charities I like are the Salvation Army and the USO. I believe that they are low overhead and they do a lot of good.
I think that over the years, I've more than "paid" for the coffee, donuts and free movie & show tickets that I received.
Anyway, that's my 2 cents worth.
According to the website I checked it was the U.S. Army who ordered the Red Cross to charge for the coffee and donuts during WWII since the "canteens" that were set up for all the Allied Forces were charging the Brits and Aussies and it didn't seem fair that U.S. Forces would get it for free; so if you want to blame some organization get the right one; it was the Army. When I was in Viet Nam we would occasionally get visited by the lovely ladies knows as "Donut Dollies" who were Red Cross Volunteers who would come out to whatever godforsaken camp we were at and bring hot coffee and donuts; they could have brought spam and stale bread and we would have been grateful.
http://www.snopes.com/medical/emergent/redcross.asp
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Old Salt
Posts: 338
Location: Oak Island, NC | Subject: RE: Two cents worth on donations to vet causes
I'll side with the Red Cross as well. No issue with Salvation Army and USO, they both do great work and deserve recognition as well as support, but so does the Red Cross. When I was stationed in Orlando in the late 80's, I became a certified CPR instructor, primarily to help teach and certify CPR for Recruit Company Commanders. The local Red Cross chapter asked if I would be interested in teaching infant and child CPR to home-care providers (babysitters) at the housing complex at McCoy Annex. Initially, I was reluctant, since I was already working a long schedule and didn't get a lot of time to spend with the family. I wasn't interested in traveling down there, setting up a classroom, teaching, and then breaking down the classroom for 3 days a week. The Red Cross volunteer assured me that all of that would be handled by their own volunteers, they just needed an instructor. Sure enough, all I had to do was show up and teach the class. They set up and broke down, provided refreshments free (interestingly enough, the refreshments were Dunkin' Donuts and coffee), and prepared all the documents. I truly enjoyed working with the fine ladies who volunteered their time. |
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Old Salt
Posts: 264
Location: Harrison, NJ | Subject: RE: Two cents worth on donations to vet causes
I think everyone has his favorite charities. Whether it's the Red Cross, Navy Relief, USO, Salvation Army, they all do good work for the active duty men & women. They're there when you need them.
As I said, I'm partial to the Salvation Army and the USO.
Like the others here, I primarily support the charities that deal with the military folks. They were there when I needed them, and they'll be there when today's men & women need them. They are good people and they deserve our support. |
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COMSUBBBS
Posts: 3202
Location: Alexandria, Virginia | Subject: RE: Two cents worth on donations to vet causes
My first grade school teacher, a Mrs Dorothy Temple was a Red Cross volunteer in England, serving in hospitals handling the severely wounded...Her husband was an officer in the 8th Air Force (I don't think he was a pilot...but I have nothing concrete to base that on). He completed the obligatory 25 missions and could have come home, but elected to stay and was assigned to an aircraft with a composite veteran crew. at that point of the war the Bomber Command stepped up the frequency and intensity of the raids. Major Temple was in his assigned position when according to Dorothy, a close aboard flak burst took out the entire side of the fusalage next to Fred and filled him with shredded aluminum. They met following his initial surgery and Dorothy propped him up in bed when he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for gallantry in action on a previous mission. Anyone saying ANYTHING derrogatory about the American Red Cross in the presence of Fred Temple would have finished the sentence with loose teeth. His favorite story about Dorothy was about a night he was supposedly asleep in Dorothy's ward...They brought in a youngster who was a side blister gunner on a B-17 who was terribly shot up by a passing ME-109....In the hustle of the triage of the returning wounded, the lad's chances were so discounted that he was designated as a "medicate until death" case. Fred said he heard the Doctor pass those instructions to his future bride and saw her sit for several hours wiping the way the perspiration on his brow, periodically injecting him with pain killing medicine and humming the popular tunes of the day...especially DON"T SIT UNDER THE APPLE TREE...Fred never forgot that night. OPnce at the Mountain City Club in Chattanooga...someone brought up thqat old "But they sold coffee to frontline GI's during WWI...so I wouldn't give a dime to those Red Cross bastards." Fred got up and opened his wallet...one of those long wallets that acommodate a checkbook and vertically stored bills....in that wallet was a numbered Red Cross pin, a gold wreath with a white enamel center and a bright red RED CROSS...He softly said, that belonged to my wife...it is my proudest posession...I would greatly appreciate it if you would take yourself out of here right now....I will pay your bill, just leave and as a member of the Board of Trustees and a founding member of this club, I'm telling you to never return. The man it turned out was the President of Southern Railway. On the way home, Fred Temple said, "Cannot stand the twisted minded men who can't see the tremendous good the Red Cross does. I get on my knees every night and in my prayers include a request of my maker to bless and keep safe my wonderful Red Cross ladies." Fred Temple made a fortune in both the furniture business and the manufacturing of industrial pumps. My youngest daughter was named for the Volunteer Director of Volunteers of the National Red Cross and the Paid Staff Director of Volunteers of the National Red Cross (Elisabeth Houghton, daughter of Arthur Houghton, the Ambassador to the Court of Saint James prior to Kennedy and heiress to the Corning Glass and Stuben glass fortune and Catherine Hough, daughter of Major General Benson Hough, commander of the 42nd Division (the Rainbow Division)...MacArthur's CO...and later the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Ohio. Those two lovely ladies devoted their lives to the American Red Cross....I don't know a lot about these veteran's outfits that have sprung up overnight...don't know where the money goes, what they do with it and why. I do know that the American Red Cross does a lot of magnificent work and keeps a low profile. I too thank God that we have the Americabn Red Cross watching over our deployed forces. DEX |
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Great Sage of the Sea
Posts: 602
Location: Visalia, Ca. | Subject: RE: Red Cross Volunteers
My two sisters and I went to a funeral yesterday afternoon (5/29), for the mother of four of our high school classmates.
She was a Nurse, and her late husband was a cardiac surgeon. She worked in the schools, and later worked for the local hospital district, establishing the Home Health Care and Hospice services there. She also served on the board of the local Red Cross affiliate.
After the service and talking to our classmates, we went home and went through my late mother's dresser, looking for a ring one of my nieces is interested in. Among other things, we found a navy blue Red Cross garrison cap.
Mom didn't talk about it much, but as a teenager during the War, she served in Red Cross and USO canteens (and maybe the VA hospital) in Milwaukee. Can't help wondering what stories that cap could tell.
Connections - we are all connected in myriad ways.
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Two cents worth on donations to vet causes
