The Good, The Bad and the Questionable

The thing about donating, whether it be time or money is you want to know that you are giving to a good cause, and all not all causes or organizations are equal. Whether it be how or where the resources are distributed. So when I recently was asked to donate to the "feed the homeless" in front of a local drugstore, instead of breezing past I took a flyer. A week later I finally got around to looking this charity up...and found numerous "scam" postings on the internet. Sounds like a family figured there was easy money to be had, they collect for months and then host a bbq for themselves in a park for which if any homeless people are walking by they will offer them a plate. Of course there are two sides to every story, but didn't really seem like it in this case. So in the trash the flyer went. It seems like there are numerous organizations and facilities raising money for the "homeless" these days; and it gets a bit hard to sift through. But at least in our neighborhood, Union Station seems to be doing the best of job, of providing food, housing and transition services. So now I know, random solicitations at Rite-Aid, do your homework first, then consider donating.

In terms of door-to-door, both my husband and I bought boy scout popcorn...we definitely don't need $40 of popcorn and I think that money could have gone somewhere else, but our own son did this fundraising and lets face it, the kids are cute!

So that covers the bad and the questionable, and some good too. But then I picked up the phone and called Healthy Kids Pasadena, and "volunteered", will see what comes of it, a little afraid to make school year long commitment, or even to walk into a classroom, but the volunteer coordinator was terrific, warm and friendly, professional and hopefully this is a start to getting out of a rut in terms of when and where I volunteer, basically for the greater good of "my crowd." So will just have to wait and see what comes of this. My heart is in the right place.

Yesterday I wrote briefly about business ethics, projects that weren't a perfect fit but where the need for business flow motivated me to position myself for them anyway. This did weigh kind of heavily on me, and I realized I really didn't want this work. Fate intervened, one potential client asked for further details, at which point I was very clear about what I had and hadn't done, no further word and that is just fine. As for the other one, am thinking it won't come through and praying if it does that I get so busy with other stuff that I feel comfortable turning it down. I know the high road is turning it down, even if it was the last dollar I would ever make and I needed the money to keep the lights on, but am just not that noble yet. We're working on it.