Its Friday again. finally. Sometimes I am so ready for the week to end. this is one of those weeks. Not that it was a hard week or anything like that, i just wanted it to end. I love the weekends.
Earlier this week, the husband of a lady i work with unexpectedly passed away on his way to work. he was very young, and I dont know what the cause was, but the whole thing is very sad. they have three children together, and she is on her own. her best friend at work, took up a collection to help with the services and rent and what ever else she may need. I donated, but not as much as others Im sure. Instead, I went this morning after work and went grocery shopping for them. I got the basics, milk bread eggs. stuff for dinner n lunch. The lady I ride with took me to a grocery outlet to shop, so I really got more for my money. We dropped it off at her house and left it with the kids, asking them to put it away for us. Their mom had just left, and Im sure it was strange to have these two strange women come and just drop off food. we were gone in about three minutes. It felt better for me to do that, than throw money at the situation.
Which brings me to my next thought. In some cases, money is what is needed to fix a situation. that doesnt always fix the problem though. the problem is what needs to be fixed. note the money the government threw at us. some of the money was used to pay debt, some was used for fun, but our nation is still in a financial crises of sorts. so my question is this. do you feel obligated to donate to every cause that rolls through your workplace. are you confident the cash is used to help in the way it was intended or does it even matter to you.
so after that, i got home and went straight for the shower. I had no plans for anything but to take a nap. Instead, i got out and started on my dusty filthy house. I really truely hate to dust, but john is having a really hard time breathing. so i changed my sheets, did two loads of laundry, dusted, but not great dusting, and vacuumed. then i sat down to read my mail, my feet were hurting so bad at this point, i could hear them scream. John came home for lunch and we had a small conversation. then he got up to go back to work, said good by and that is all i remember. i tipped over on the couch and woke up at 630. the doors were open, the tv was on, but i was out like a light, and it felt good.
one last thing. the swollow nest out front, the egg has finally hatched. i heard the baby up there squealing for a worm. then the mom would swoop in and feed it, sit for a minute, then take off again on another hunt for food. as much as I would love to see the baby, im not gonna chance it. i dont want to put the baby in jeaperdy. the last set of chicks died when when i looked at them, even though i never touched them. i will be happy watching from the front door.
ok, i think i am done. have a great weekend.
That is so sad..leaving a family like that at such a young age...any age really. I think what you did was just perfect. So many people dont think of those things...and Im sure she really appreciated it!
ReplyDeleteCant wait to see pics of the baby! :) But, I understand not chancing it right now.
I am always thinking of this and wonder how much of our donation goes to administrative costs or just the professional fundraisers that are well paid. I think alot more money would be donated if people knew the money was going where it was intended to. I would rather give my time to an organization knowing it would directly help.
ReplyDeleteWe already chatted about your good deed last night and Amber hands UCB an award!
ReplyDeleteI am glad you got some sleep!
Hey, hey, the egg has hatched! How exciting...I bet its not long before you see them peeking out! I adore birds! I do think you are wise to keep your distance! I bet the come back next year as well!
ReplyDeleteIts funny you should blog this now. Yesterday I was shopping and outside one of the stores was a table marked Operation Smile. A girl came up to me and said they were selling stuff to benefit the organization. I didn't want anything, so I tried to offer her a five dollar donation - and she said I had to buy something, but she had a pocket mirror that was five dollars. She wrote me a receipt, and I discovered that it was a scam - that only 5% of the money was going to the charity - and that these folks at the table were paid employees of a professional solicitation firm. I felt really scammed - so when I got home I called the store and told them that the folks they were letting solicit "donations" out front were scamming customers - and the manager assured me he'd make them leave.
ReplyDeleteAnyhow - it's a shame that we can't just assume that our money goes to help., At work, if I recognize the cause and someone is actually "doing something" like walking or running for a cause - I give - but if they are just selling raffle tickets or pizzas or some such I usually say no for just that reason - so little of the money goes to the cause.
You're right about donating blindly to every cause that comes along. Around here, a person could be donation poor and someone would have to collect for them. It was a nice thing for you to do by taking the groceries over to the young widow's house. Money alone wouldn't have solved the problem. She'd still have to go to the grocery store herself later. Your thoughtfulness saved her that trip in a time when she can hardly believe what's going on .. let alone get food in the house.
ReplyDeleteAs they say in my neighborhood, "You're good people."