Collective Thoughts

Saturday 8 - Charity Begins At Home

1. the millionaire "secret santa" has passed. do you contribute to charity? Yes, but not discriminately.

2. if you had a million dollars to donate to any charity or group, where would you give it? I have started to lend money through an organisation called Kiva and I would probably contribute a lot of teh money this way. Instead of just giving the money away it could go to third world entrepreneurs who could otherwise not get loans from normal banks. Then the money would be repaid and start all over again.

3. do you think that the tax deduction benefit is worth giving? Not absolutely sure how it works but if is means getting more money off the government for a worthwhile cause then it has to be worth it.

4. do you patronise goodwill or any other community charity store? We have frequent clear-outs ( I hate clutter and I spend endless amounts of my time clearing and tidying in the hope that the idea will eventually rub off on the kids ) and clother, toys, books etc all go to a charity store, normally for cancer relief.

5. do you give money to people who are begging? Never. This has been quite prevalent almost right outside where I work and with most of them they either spend it on booze and drugs or live quite a nice life as professional spongers. I even saw one get up and get into his Porsche at the end of the day!

6. many cities are starting ordinances that bar or limit charities from giving out free food/clothing to homeless people in municipal areas. do you agree or disagree with this limitation, and why? Why???? Surely this is another example of bureaucracy gone mad.

7. many homeless are mentally ill and it is difficult to locate them, diagnose them, and monitor their medication/intake. do you think that the federal government does enough for the mentally-ill homeless in your country, and why? No, I think we are only just waking up to trying to deal with the issue properly. It isn't many decades ago that these people were locked up in sanatoriums or workhouses. But it is hard ( not impossible ) to deal with them with their noadic lifestyle, bit like education and the gypsy community.

8. how "giving" are you with friends? have you been burned in the past lending money/time to someone who either does not pay you back or is ungrateful/expectant of your time/money, or have you had relatively good experiences with giving/lending? Now that I earn good money from a job that I enjoy I have started thinking more about what I can do with what is left after all the bills have been paid, hence the motorbiking ( for those who know me ). I haven't had anyone I know ( apart from the immediate family where it is fairly constant! )asking for money yet and I am not sure how I would cope with that.

posted by Frederick The Butler @ 10:12 pm