I work at McDonalds, as you probably don't remember.
Anyways, today we started asking for one dollar donations from every customer. (In addition, every McDonalds is sending money and bottled water, and feeding the people in Houston.) We write down the names of everybody who donates on these pieces of paper, which I assume will get shown to somebody at some point, be they the victims or the families or whoever. (By the way, the money goes directly to the Salvation Army fund.)

This provoked a number of reactions in me, as did events that occured during my quest to get donations.

There were a few people who were very generous--I'm thinking in particular of one woman who ordered a 4 dollar meal, gave me a ten, and then (when I asked if she wanted to donate) told me to put all her change to that. And then drove off before I could get her name.

Others were quick to agree to give a dollar. One man came through the drive through, gave a dollar, and then came through again later (ordering something else) and gave again.

The most remarkable customers were a family of four in a white sedan, who came through, ordered food, and then, when I asked them to donate to the Katrina Relief Fund, agreed. They laughed as they gave me the dollar, saying, "We are the relief fund." They were refugees from New Orleans--luckier than many others in that they were together, they had money, they had transportation... Before leaving, they asked for directions to the mall. I was quite bemused: in a strange new town, in the midst of dealing with a horrible disaster, their instincts lead them to familiar food and then to the nearest shopping center.

There were many customers, of course, who didn't donate. Several agreed and then found they had no more money besides that which payed for their order. Others I didn't get a chance to ask.
Some said that they had already donated, through work or school; others said that they were planning on donating another way; still others said they had donated through other places of business. One woman said she would have donated but she was setting up her own fund. Others flatly refused.
I began to see trends: men seemed to donate out of sense of duty; women donated more than any other group; the elderly rarely donated; and the young rarely had enough money. (I had two kids come through with 7 dollars wanting 8 1-dollar double cheeseburgers. They asked me several times if I could do this for them, and every time I refused they miraculously "found" more money. Finally my boss got them to give us a penny less than the cost. Seriously, though--why did they need that many burgers? Why did they wish to spend every penny they had on them?)

Some of the people who passed through and said they had already donated elsewhere, some of those people were lying. I have no doubt of this. And that bothers me.

At first I felt... altruistic. Noble. For once, I thought, I am doing something in this job worthwhile instead of just selling fat people more fat. My primary task became getting these donations instead of selling the food... It gained much importance in my mind.

This was still mostly true after my boss told me that whoever got the most donations would win a prize. But my mindset was different. I didn't like it, but I admit that I was partially motivated by this "prize", whatever it was. I became confused as to my own driving forces; why was this idea of people donating so important to me now?
Before, I had never felt the urge to participate in such drives--I didn't give to 9/11 or the tsunami (well, maybe a token dollar for each)--and yet I found myself strongly reacting to the success or failure of each attempt tonight. I felt strong animosity towards those who didn't donate, and severely... proud might be the right word, of the people who did. Was this because in this case the disaster was closer to home? (I live near Austin, TX; our school district will be recieving a number of refugee children.) Was it because I was on the other side of the donation drive now? Was it because I was at work instead of in school, where past drives have impacted me? Or was it because I wanted to win this competition? To get more donations than anyone else I worked with--was this my guiding motivation?

These are not easy questions. As of yet I have no answers; the jury is still out. I'm working tomorrow--perhaps the morning will bring new feelings and ideas.

I do know that I turned on the television in the room behind me, so that I could listen to news reports. I usually tire quickly of media coverage of anything, but this time even the smallest minutiae, this time every person's story is fascinating to me.
I do know I wanted it to rain--it was that kind of peaceful melancholy I was in.

I do know there was a woman who came through the drive through and, when I asked again, "Do you want to donate to the Katrina Relief Fund?", she said, "No thanks, I already took care of that." Can you understand my anger at her callousness? "I already took care of that," meaning, I already took care of the minimum amount of money my conscience said I had to give; meaning I've already given all I need to give in order for my society to let me slide.

I do know I wanted that to mean, I already took care of that situation. It's taken care of--everybody is back in their homes, nobody's dead, nobody's missing, the city isn't flooded...

I always say that I wish for that old Chinese curse, that I may live in interesting times. These are fascinating times--and despite the bloodshed and property damage and money lost, I am grateful that this happened. Almost as grateful as I am to help in the small way that I can. In three hours, I got around sixty dollars of donations, and for that I am both thankful and proud.

*quiet applause*

I loved reading that.. it was... just so meaningful, so human... and so true. You sir are a credit to this forum.

I think I can help explain some (but not all) of the refusals to donate.

If my local McD's asked me to donate, I would not. The reason I would not is that the administrative overhead on these donations is ridiculous, and I know of better ways to give money where more (or all) of my money will be used for actual aid.

In this instance, my husband and I are ponying up a few hundred dollars to give to a friend of ours who lost everything in the disaster. 100% of our donation has gone directly to this friend, rather than every trickle down charity taking a cut. We don't get to deduct this donation on our taxes, but we can live with that.

The main charity running the show on the Katrina Relief efforts (most donations will funnel into it) is the American Red Cross, and frankly, after seeing their handling of the 9/11 funds, I will never donate a single dollar that could possibly end up with the American Red Cross. I am not callous, and I am not stingy. It actually takes me more time and effort to identify reliable ways to donate to make sure my money does good, and I tend to donate more now than I did back in my "donate to MegaCharity" days.

So, when at least some of us refuse to donate, it's not simply because we don't care. It's because we care enough that we'll make sure our help is effective help.

Malice,

You have managed to put into words the feelings that I have been having the last week. Thank you for that.

To add something to what Thyla said, had you asked me to dontae money, I doubt that I would have said yes. Why? Because I simply don't have it. (in the same vein, i dont' go to mcdonalds because i don't have the money, but that's not the point). I'm desperately trying to find something going on where I live that will take what I have in abundance. Clothing that doesn't fit me. Packed food that I won't eat. Toiletries that are sitting on my shelves collecting dust. I've tried the Red Cross, and they are asking only for Money and blood. I don't have the money to give, and they won't accept my blood.

I work for the phone company (verizon in case anybody wants to know). I can almost tell you exactly when things started to go downhill on sunday. I take 411 calls from Cingular customers and every day since Sunday, it's been getting harder and harder. More people are finding their voices and calling 411 for information.

I've fielded at least 20 calls this morning from people looking for relatives, looking for information, looking for anyway to get in touch with anybody that might know something. last night, I took a call from a gentleman in Florida, he was looking for the Red Cross in New Orleans. I ended up having to give him the Baton Rouge number because the ARC offices in NOLA are on Canal street. He wanted to let the Red Cross know that he has a farm house and a barn where he can safely and comfortable shelter about ten people.

The people calling are desperate for anything that I can give them, any information, any news, anything. And I'm there in the middle, my colleagues and I having to explain to the sobbing women and men on the other end that I can't connect them to that residence in New Orleans, or in Slidell, or in Gulfport, or Biloxi. It's just not there anymore.

Our company has given us some leeway in dealing with these calls. We have a sheet of Toll Free numbers to give out for FEMA, ARC, Sal Army, etc etc. We've also been told that if WE know anything, we can speak with the customers. Just this morning I directed several people to the MSNBC.com website where there is a list beginning of "looking for" and "i'm safe" posts.

What else can I do? I'm living paycheck to paycheck, and yet I want to do more than I can. If I were able to be down there, helping in any way possible, I would be. But i can't. So the best I can do is sit at my desk, cringe a little when that tired and sad voice comes over the line, and then express my sympathy and do my best to help them get the information they need.

There's not much else for me to do, but why do I feel it's not enough?


I'm not looking for absolution, or even applause. I'm not even sure why I typed all of this down here. Another rant from Ahava. And for that, I apologize, but I'm finding words again, and this is something I don't think should be kept quiet on....

Forgive me for being a bit dull. But if I can't vent here, then there's no place left for me to do so.

--Ahava[/i]

It might be just that, or think of it this way. If they've left home with nothing but a car and a plastic card, then the first stop is food, the second is clothes and maybe some more food, toothpaste etc. to get through the next however long.

You're doing a good thing - keep at it.

Ahava - don't apologise.

I gave at Church this morning.

I decided I'm going to give when its A) reputable and B) I have small bills, as I feel horrible asking a charity to give me change for a $20. I'm waiting til I buy my books to figure out what kind of large donation is in my budget, but I can afford this in the meantime. And a few dollars at a time adds up.

...right?

I'm too poor at the moment to give any kind of financial donation, but what I am doing is going through my closet and gathering up any clothes I don't really need. It's not as multipurpose a donation, but at least this way, I know what I give is far more likely to reach the people who need it.

Malice - that is really insightful and disarmingly honest.

Ahava - I'll read yours if you'll read mine. ;-) As you say - where else?

*******
As I did for the Boxing Day Tsunami, I am working extra hours on top of my usual workload to produce paintings whose proceeds are earmarked for donation to funds set up to help in the aftermath of Katrina. Working, painting, drawing, framing does more to assuage the feelings of helplessness and sadness that the whole situation causes me than does donating at McDonalds etc, though I do that, too.

As for the Tsunami, the theme of the pictures are aquatic. Fish. Shells. Seabirds. Those images always sell well, even though I can't legally advertise that their sale is for disaster relief. I keep the pictures smallish and I frame them in nice second-hand frames and left-over mats to keep the cost minimal so that I don't have to worry about deducting professional framing costs. Or any framing costs.

It will probably take some months for this dedicated run of pictures to be sold. When a picture sells, I donate the money - each sale's proceeds to a different reputable organisation, as I have my qualms about the administration of any charity in this day and age - so that not all my eggs are in one basket, so to speak.

I haven't gotten a chance to take orders lately, so I haven't gotten any more donations. Other people have, though, and our windows are covered with the little slips of paper. It's cool.

Also, today my parents donated my (and my little brother's) crib, along with a stuffed animal. They'll go to a ten-day old baby. I was a little sad, but also pleased. I mean, it's not like I need it, right?

Ahava et. al., thank you for sharing. Reading about all these helpful people makes me feel better about humanity in general, and offsets the idiotic, incompetent, evil people in charge of our government. So, yeah.

Just thought I would pop in and say hello. My little brother was going to Tulane, luckily he got out. He was able to fly from the city to Memphis then to Detroit where I picked him up. We both talked and don’t care about what he lost, everything can be replaced. The real loss is that of lives.

Through our office we have a program where we can make donations to the red-cross. The donation comes right out of our paycheck and our company matches every dollar we donate up to $250,000 for the entire company.

For those of you with friends or family involved in this horrible disaster I wish you and yours the best of luck and good health.

Hi, just wanted to spread the word about the webcomic telethon that Brad Guigar, of Greystone Inn is organizing to benefit the Katrina victims. I know that some Sluggite have their own webcomics and might like to contribute to it. You can find more information about it at Websnark.

Me and my brother drew a comic for the webcomics telethon and I donated $5 through my school. I wish I could do more but I don't know what. We are getting some refugees here so I'm going to see if I can help by vlounteering or something.

One thing you might find insteresting: Adventures in Missions, which has a base near where we live, is organizing refugees and putting them in temporary homes with volunteers. I urge you to mention this to local charities, because this is the best thing we can do for the displaced people. I am proud to say I will soon be sharing a home with refugees, and I know there are plenty more out there who need a place to stay.