Doing what they can

When I got out of the subway today, a group of high school kids were setting up outside the station with violins, a cello, and a bass. They put an open violin case out front to collect money. I thought, "Strange, never seen high school kids playing for money before." Then their instructor put out a sign reading:

[CENTER]PLEASE DONATE
to
THE RED CROSS
VICTIMS OF KATRINA
SHS Orchestra[/CENTER]

When I came back a half hour later, the case was overflowing with money.

Cute as it seems, I don't trust any of that following a disaster. Too many opportunists taking advantage of folks with good hearts and good intentions.

Stick with donating to known organizations ... Red Cross, Salvation Army, etc. Even if the Red Cross declares this disaster funded, they put the money into their general fund, for the next big bad thing.

In general I agree - donate to causes you know, not the ones who come calling, cause who knows what they're up to. Even if the charity is legit, they may be going through a fundraising company that takes 80% of the money.

However this didn't seem like a band of roving violin-playing scam artists to me, so I decided to trust them. I thought it was incredibly sweet of them to want to help out, so I wanted to encourage that.

axlrosen wrote:

In general I agree - donate to causes you know, not the ones who come calling, cause who knows what they're up to. Even if the charity is legit, they may be going through a fundraising company that takes 80% of the money.

However this didn't seem like a band of roving violin-playing scam artists to me, so I decided to trust them. I thought it was incredibly sweet of them to want to help out, so I wanted to encourage that.

HUZZAH!! :thumbsup:

In addition to your points, what would I want to teach my young? Do nothing? Trust only big organizations, you can't do anything on your own? Individual initiative is bad?

I do want to teach them: yes, use your judgement. Err on the side of generosity. You **DO** make a difference. Keep trying and encourage others to do so. Do your best and don't agonize over what's past or other things you can't control. And throw a dollar in the kids' case.

Or grab the case and teach those eight kids a valuable lesson they'll never forget.
I'm kidding of course, although when that hit the evening news it might spur far greater donations.

I'd prefer to work on a more personal level if possible. In this case I can because friends of friends have lost their house, stuff and jobs. They are stranded in Georgia at the moment.:(

xoxoxoBruce wrote:

Or grab the case and teach those eight kids a valuable lesson they'll never forget.(

This is why I love Bruce!!