On Saturday morning I did something new- I rang bells (well, one bell) for a Salvation Army kettle.\u00a0\u00a0It was a very rewarding experience and I’m already planning on volunteering next year. I’ve supported them all my life and here’s why:<\/p>\n
#1 The Salvation Army is an extremely well run charity. \u00a0For decades they have been the gold standard on distribution percentage to their programs vs. admin costs and they continue to do so. \u00a0Very few other organizations have been this good for this long. \u00a0Quite a few other of the highest rated charities- such as Catholic Charities and the YMCA- also have their origins in Christian churches. \u00a0I don’t think this is a coincidence.<\/p>\n
#2 My dad. \u00a0I have many memories of my dad putting money in those red kettles. \u00a0One trip in particular stands out in my mind when I was about 6 years old. \u00a0We must have seen 7 bell ringers that day and he made a point of donating at least a couple dollars every time, chatting with the folks ringing the bells, and thanking THEM. \u00a0 That will stick with me until the day I die and every time I put money (coins or paper) into a kettle I think of my dad and smile. \u00a0We haven’t seen eye to eye on few things this year so this has been extra special for me this Christmas.<\/p>\n
#3 I know people who the Salvation Army has helped, in some cases when other charities turned them away. \u00a0I know folks who got stranded during snowstorms and the Salvation Army gave them a warm meal and a warm place to spend the night. \u00a0I know caregivers whose lives are greatly improved by their mothers being able to spend time in Adult Day Care. \u00a0I know people who lose everything in a fire who received not emergency shelter but clothing, coats, hats, and mittens.<\/p>\n
There have been people criticizing the Salvation Army in recent years for their church’s stance on LBGT issues. \u00a0People who know me know how strongly I feel about LBGT rights. \u00a0For me the good that the organization does is what’s important and I know for a fact that they distribute services without asking anyone who they love. \u00a0So for me it’s a non-issue.<\/p>\n
However, if you choose to donate elsewhere I respect that. \u00a0Just please do your homework and make sure you are also donating to a well-run organization. Some good national options without religious connections are: the Boys and Girls Clubs, Toys for Tots, the Innocence Project, and the Michael J Fox Foundation. \u00a0Or, you can donate to a local food pantry, animal shelter, woman’s shelter, etc. \u00a0There are all kinds of great ways to be charitable this holiday season and I encourage everyone who can, to be generous this special time of year. \u00a0It feels great!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On Saturday morning I did something new- I rang bells (well, one bell) for a Salvation Army kettle.\u00a0\u00a0It was a very rewarding experience and I’m already planning on volunteering next year. I’ve supported them all my life and here’s why: #1 The Salvation Army is an extremely well run charity. \u00a0For decades they have been the gold standard on distribution… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":924,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[20,27,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faith","category-its-all-love","category-myself"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/beckypalmer.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/15578006_10212179260256029_2658257797496531642_o.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/beckypalmer.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/beckypalmer.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/beckypalmer.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beckypalmer.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beckypalmer.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=916"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/beckypalmer.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beckypalmer.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/beckypalmer.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beckypalmer.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beckypalmer.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}