Christmas, a season for giving.

[Clipper]

This is one of those holidays that makes one think of how fortunate we are to have what we have. The custom of putting together holiday meal boxes stems from my time in the fire dept at Griffiss. We civilian firefighters always took up a collection and put together boxes for the young one and two strip airmen that had kids. Quite often between the A-shift guys and B-shift guys we would end up with 3 or 4 hundred bucks. When I moved on to the 485th EIG the booster club had a similar thing that people all participated in. That program often had enough money to provide food boxes as well as finance small gifts for kids at a Christmas party sponsored by the booster club. It is a custom that Kathy and I continue since we retired and don't donate at work. We already have purchased the food for the two boxes we always donate. We always buy turkeys for a low sale price after thanksgiving to put in the Christmas boxes. Thank goodness we had bought the turkeys before the prices went through the roof.

I always have a soft spot of the homeless here. Both Bristol Va as well as Bristol Tn just passed ordinances making it a misdemeanor to sleep in a doorway, a park, or any public area. They drove everyone out of a homeless camp in a field behind a Food City store. It was a couple hundred yards from the road, not visible from the street, and there were actually families living there in tents. A local church is temporarily sheltering some of those people. Kathy gathered several extra blankets that we had in a chest and haven't used in years, a couple of her coats and one of mine, and I dropped them there this morning. We had a 3 foot fiber optic Christmas tree that had a color wheel that ceased to work. Pretty little tree, so i bought two strings of lights at Dollar General and donated the tree to the Haven of Rest Men's shelter. They said it would be used in their dining hall.

I don't want to sound like a street corner preacher, but if ya have the good fortune to have all you need, give a thought to helping someone who is less fortunate.

My mom and dad instilled that charitable gene in the DNA of all three of us children. I may be a miserable bastard the rest of the year, but mom and dad left me with the desire to carry on THEIR charitable contributions. Especially around the holidays. Our dollar store has a donation bin where people have been dropping off toys, mittens, gloves, and ski hats that are donated to a stuff a bus drive put on by the school system. It's going to be a rough year and tough Christmas for those less fortunate. I hope people will dig a little deeper to help those folks this Christmas. Whether it be a quarter in a red kettle or a donation of some other sort. Our grocery store has a donation bin that collects for a food pantry. If a person in fortunate enough to be financially stable, a couple of cans of soup or veggies, a couple boxes of Kraft Dinner, a jar of peanut butter, only costs a buck or two. The couple bucks always seems like a drop in the bucket when added to the price of our basket full of groceries.

[BHU]

I wish more grocery stores would have a donation box so people could donate an item or whatever they want to give. I haven't see any unless I'm missing it on the way out but I doubt it. I always drop my spare change or a buck or two in a red kettle but the only place I've seen one is WM in New Hartford.

[Clipper]

Red Kettles are all over down here. They ran an ad desperately seeking people to work the kettles but they must have done well in hiring because there is a bell ringer in front of just about every major store. I give those people credit. I would never be able to stand as long as they do, and ringing that bell constantly has to be physically tiring and pretty boring.

Krogers has a barrel in the front of the store near the exit, and Food City has donation jars on the cashier counters as well as an $10 option that purchases a pre-packed carboard box with an assortment of non-perishable foods. Occasionally they run a food drive for the animal shelter. Yep, I am a sucker for dogs and cats so I always donate to that too, haha.

[Atticus Pizzaballa]

Turkeys at Walmart now are 98 cents /lb! Thanks Walmart many are grateful to you. Red Kettle at Walmart is interesting. When I am there she sits inside that store with the Kettle outside ringing that damn bell. Looks funny to me and always gives me a chuckle. New Hartford has two kettles one at each door all set up to grab your money.

I have had 4 mailings now from St Jude's Hospital all with a gift inside like small notepad and /or return address labels. This is the first time I have gotten 4 mailings from them...

[Clipper]

I get the mailings from St Jude a couple of times a month. I have a stack of their little note pads in my desk drawer. I send them a donation about every 3 or 4 months. My god, if you sent them a donation every time they sent you a mailing you would go broke. They have a form where you can donate $19 a month or something like that. That would be over $200 bucks a year. I send them $25 at a time. $75 or $100 a year is adequate. Pretty expensive note pads, hahaha.

I received a bill from a Catholic mission the other day, addressed to my mom and dad. The letter said that they had not received any money toward their "pledge" recently? Recently? My mom died in 04 and dad in 08. I guess they will have to leave them a note with St Peter at the gates.

[BHU]

Dec 16, 2022 13:49:35 GMT -5 Clipper said:

I get the mailings from St Jude a couple of times a month. I have a stack of their little note pads in my desk drawer. I send them a donation about every 3 or 4 months. My god, if you sent them a donation every time they sent you a mailing you would go broke. They have a form where you can donate $19 a month or something like that. That would be over $200 bucks a year. I send them $25 at a time. $75 or $100 a year is adequate. Pretty expensive note pads, hahaha.

I received a bill from a Catholic mission the other day, addressed to my mom and dad. The letter said that they had not received any money toward their "pledge" recently? Recently? My mom died in 04 and dad in 08. I guess they will have to leave them a note with St Peter at the gates.

I've donated to St. Jude's but I'll never give a dime to the catholic church. Catholic charities maybe, if I know for sure that the money stays local.

[Clipper]

There are so many non-profits soliciting donations this time of year that you cannot possibly give to them all. I focus on the Disabled Veteran's Association, to the Wounded Warriors Project, and the local homeless men's shelter ( Haven of Rest Mission). Of course I drop a buck or some change in those red kettles this time of year, and put a buck in the occasional donation jar on a check out stand at a store. I make more donations to more charities, but in minimal amounts. I would rather donate needed goods to local charities where I know the goods are being put to use to directly take care of local people's needs. I am far from wealthy and when I donate money I want it to go to the cause and not to line the pockets of an administrative hierarchy. Sadly some charities have as much as75 or 85% of donations going for administrative costs.