The first piece of Christmas charity junk mail fluttered into our letter box ahead of the first snowflakes.
I've binned it.
One time in the spirit of giving I signed-up to help animals.
I was reminded of this act of kindness, as I saw it then, by a recent discussion on helping animals at the popular Weaver of Grass blog.
The animal charity?
In truth I was tempted by their 'free gift'.*
To cut to the chase . . .
it all unfolded swiftly as follows:
The charity president the noble King Juan Carlos of Spain who'd taken over from the Duke of Edinburgh at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) resigned after it was discovered he'd been hunting elephants in Africa. Or perhaps he was sacked.
Did he jump or was he pushed? It matters not.
To make matters worse my free cuddly lion failed to materialize.
Did I protest on both counts? Yes.
Did they answer my letter? No.
This year I shall hand my charity donation directly to The Lions.
After all, they're on every Christmas Market . . .
and they do a good Glühwein!
German-English Dictionary check:
*gift Ger. (poison)
I wish I had thought of putting all the charity junk mail I have already received this year in a bag so that eventually I could make a pile and photograph it for you. Some comes almost every day. I have my charity I support and that is where my money goes.
ReplyDeleteThere was a famous person, sorry can't remember who, who used to deliberately put all the begging letter reply forms in the wrong reply paid envelopes and then post them all back to confuse them or nowadays it'd be to confuse their computers!
DeleteIt's never too late to start Pat. Get that bag filled and I'll do the same . We'll see who gets the most ;-)
DeleteI give to various charities, mainly local, but I don't give to any charity that sends me a piece of junk mail. The thing that really gets my goat (apart from the waste of paper) is the 'suggested donation' bit, which is invariably ridiculously high!
ReplyDeleteNot to mention the postage, or maybe they get it cheap. I don't know. And they try and wheedle your email address out of you saying it'll save costs they won't share it . . . ha, ha, ha! But better still why not sign a standing order or direct debit. And don't forget the tax declaration so we get 25% from the taxman. It's a lot more than just giving a few quid to the poor isn't it? If I see a poor person and I think he's a genuine case, and not one of the begging mafia such as descend on us at weekends and block the pavements with their 'injured' leg outstretched I prefer to give my little helping hand, as it were, personally. Face to face. Eye to eye. Man to man or woman as the case may be - although sadly one woman was furious because I hadn't given her enough. I said, in that case you can give me my money back. Then, as I knew she would, she became even more furious. It was quite entertaining really. Strangely we have a lot men of gross stature and girth and who tip the scales at 100 kg and more who say they need money for food. One year I made a point of carrying an apple in my pocket to give instead of money. Am I being cynical and uncaring that is the question?
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