Just Wondering
Well, did they give a 1-800 number to call with donations or an address to send a check to? Not that I am interested in donating (it’s hard enough to have enough for my family’s needs), but I was just wondering if they were trolling for money.
I was an MSW Social Worker for years—hundreds of them as I recall ... Anyhow, there’s a game called “Let’s Pretend” : That the cause of homelessness is ‘the lack of affordable housing in this country’. This is an activity 1. you can play by yourself 2. uses fantasy 3. feels good. Reminds me of something else....
Also, you get to avoid any contact with The (real) Homeless and dealing soberly with their (real) problems.
Posted by Oink
02/06/2006 at 12:41 PM
MrC: Right, the tiresome & nasty business of dealing with fights, craziness, body lice and the DTs.
BUT MR. SOCIAL WORKER! Are these the Root Causes of homelessness? Or just the effects?
Mr Liberal: Who the
Knows? AND until we can get a man clean, sober, sane and non-violent we’ll never find out.
Posted by Oink
02/06/2006 at 01:30 PM
They are genuine capitalists, leveraging their money that way. Buy an ad, get attention and thereby more donations.
NPRheads are liberals.
Liberals care, they care about doing good, for everyone, especially themselves.
That’s why doing good ain’t got no end.
Liberals believe it’s much more important to toot their own horn about the good they want to do, rather than actually doing something to help their fellow man.
Many of the homeless are mentally ill and off their meds. California was a real circus when Reagan was governor, as he closed all the state mental hospitals and turned the mentally ill out on the street.
Posted by Mad Jack
02/06/2006 at 04:07 PM
Comrades,
Yup, these organisations purchase a “sponsorship” on NPR because it gets their name out. For groups like that, it’s always about appearance over substance.
I volunteer 3 days a week at our local soup kitchen. I do it because it needs to be done, I have the time, and I can get some leftovers to take home. Win-win all around. What just kills me, though, is how we are always short-handed volunteers-wise. It’s a chronic problem, EXCEPT on the holidays, when every wannabee suddenly discovers their guilt and decides they OUGHT to volunteer, you know, to help out “those less fortunate” than themselves. It couldn’t possibly be that they WANT to be seen in the paper, or on the news, or NOTICED by the other parishoners, could it? Naaahhh…
But just you wait. Come Thanksgiving, or Christmas, there will be a rush of liberals wanting to volunteer, to do SOMETHING to help, and offering all so useful hints about how we could better do what it is we do, etc.
Bitter, nnaaahhh… not me. Just a little p*ssed that they can’t seem to find time to help out the rest of the year, just only when the press is around to notice. Typical Liberal, although there ARE some conservatives like that too, sad to say…
Respects,
Gwedd
Posted by Gwedd
02/06/2006 at 04:28 PM
MadJack: U R correct! with one addition—it was not restricted to Kalifornia. I was a Welfare Caseworker. The do-gooders wanted to release the poor souls locked away in “Snake Pit” State mental hospitals. In some cases a good idea BUT NOT with no prep after 20 years institutionalization. They were given an appointment at an outpatient mental health clinic and a hearty “AMF”*. Many of the seriously disabled/retarded ended up in nursing homes—not a good match with the elderly living there.
* AdiosM.F. — It was our acronym for zero discharge planning. The clean version was “HCO”—Hat>Coat>Out.
Posted by Oink
02/06/2006 at 05:01 PM
Yes, the evil Reagan sat in Sacremento with Nancy and said,
R - Hey, mommy, I have a good idea. Let’s toss the mental cases out on the street!
N - Good idea, Ron, where’d you come up with that idea?
R - Oh, it just sort of came to me between planning to destroy schools and figuring out how to put arsenic in the water.
N - Very nice, dear. But the arsenic thing is a lie that won’t come up for a few dozen years for another guy the moonbats love to hate without facts.
R - Moonbat? They want to play baseball on the moon?
N - No, dear, that’s not cricket.
************
As I recall from my 1980s social work days in inner city Baltimore, holding a degree in pshycology and having done a good bit of counseling work, the mentally ill were caught in a perfect storm. The first part was the do-gooders who tsk tsk tsked at the terrible state of institutions, but who usually did nothing more than “tour” them, if that, and decided to “deinstitutionalize” the poor wretches held in bedlam. Then came the attempts to curb inflation and debt by cutting funding. If the crazies were going to be let out by the pollyannas, funding could be cut as there would be less demand. Of course, the “acceptable story” is that the funding was cruelly cut by heartless Republicans, but then the facts often do not bother some folks.
And, ain’t it interesting that of the 9 people posting thus far, 4 mention their own social and volunteer work, and the rest could likely mention donating time/money. And this on a right wing blog! Whodda thunk it! Aren’t we all supposed to be figuring out how to make money money money, preferably by screwing the poor to do so?
Rick: I did the “money thing” after SocWork, becoming a stock broker. My previous experience was rather helpful. ”Deinstitutionalization”—a lovely liberal-type word; you feel good and create a disaster. Then you walk away, on to to the next project.
Posted by Oink
02/06/2006 at 06:15 PM
I have very little use for organizations that are out for recognition and praise. I never donate to groups who call my home with some sob story about needing funds for this or that. Half of the time I have never heard of these groups who call, and I don’t think it is worth my time to research them and find out if they are legitimate.
I inherited some money from my Grandmother’s estate last year. After making sure I had sufficient to secure my situation and have education funds set for my children, I donated a large portion of what was left to organizations I chose. Not one of them knew I was going to do it ahead of time, nor were any of them groups that I have ever seen advertise in the newspaper, on TV or solicit by telephone. Some were organizations that have helped me in the past. Others were ones I knew had helped friends or neighbors. I believe that the most good comes from places and people who work quietly behind the scenes and seldom are recognized publicly for the good they do. At each place, the person to whom I entrusted funds was amazed and grateful and told me there were people who would immediately benefit.
I am not writing this to make myself sound good. I could care less about recognition or praise. I would prefer to remain entirely anonymous. However, I hope that those who read this will take the time to find the local charities who are worthy of their support.
It isn’t perfect, and people are going to denounce me, but I simplify and give money to United Way. Yeah, yeah, everybody hates someone one the list—such is life. I love the story about a stockbroker, single with no dependents, who needed a motivation to keep working. He adopted a Mexican orphanage run by Nuns; he could see for sure that his money was used well.
Posted by Oink
02/06/2006 at 07:15 PM
Rickvid - Make that 5 volunteers. I gave over 1000 volunteer hours to a local group last year. That was exceptional for me, about 300-400 hours being the norm, but the need was there, the people were really nice, and I got a spaghetti dinner in a tent at the end of the year as a reward.
