Gunnnies Helping Gunnies: A Follow-Up

Ugh, this past weekend has been allergy hell for me. But as miserable as I am, there are people who have it worse than I do, which is why I try (not always successfully) to adhere to a "No Whining" policy. Fortunately for me, there isn't a "No Ranting" policy on this blog.

A week ago, I saw this video on Jim Braaten's blog. It... bothered me, for reasons I will explain in a moment.



Now, I agree with the message of the video:  change your message to be effective, get more help. As a writer, I can't not get that. But here's what bothers me:  the woman who changed his sign goes by him twice, and neither time does she give him any money.  She's all, "Oooh, I wrote words, that's better than any money I could give him."

It would be one thing if the writer was unemployed, or a student, or a small child, because then I could reasonably think "This person doesn't have any money, so she is helping the only way she knows how."  I get that because, far too often, that's my life.

But this bitch has a business suit and an attache case and designer fucking sunglasses. She can damn well afford to give this fellow some change, and yet she doesn't. She doesn't know that her change in words will work, either... which is probably why she came back. Maybe it's just me, but while I dig the overall message, the execution of this video just pisses me right the fuck off. Perhaps I'm over-sensitive.

Anyway, the point of all this is that I'm not the woman in the video. I want -- no, I need you to know that before I ask you to contribute anything to a cause or an individual, I've already donated my own money to the cause. I don't ever ask you to do anything I'm not willing to do myself.

All right, rant over!  Let's check in on some folks I asked you to help out in a previous post.

• The Indigogo fundraiser for Brigid's friend Kat M. has been successfully funded, and there's still time on the clock!  Thank you everyone who donated -- you're awesome!
• Glen Furtado, the gun store owner who was robbed and run over, is doing better. He is out of the coma and, according to his son, "is doing very well at this point in time. He is alert and aware of everything. He is also back on facebook and his phone. He is remains hospitalized, but is making great strides everyday. There is still a long road ahead, but we will all be here to help him along the way. If anyone wants to get in contact with him, let me know through this page, facebook, or my email james-furtardo@hotmail.com. On behalf of the entire Furtardo Family, thank you all so much for the support and help."  Not a lot has been raised in the past 40 days, so I encourage everyone to visit his Fundrazr page and give what they can, even if it's a dollar.
• This last one is hard to write. One of our own, Squeaky Wheel, is having a hell of a time dealing with complications stemming from Lyme disease and the TWO surgeries it will require. She's trying to be strong, but I don't know how she does it... I read her Lyme Journal entries and just shudder, and am ashamed at how thankful I am not to have anything as horrible as what she has.
  
  The Evict Lyme FUNdraiser raffle that Jennifer is running end midnight on Wednesday (that's tomorrow), so if you haven't donated then PLEASE DO SO.  Squeaky is one of our own, dammit! We take care care of each other!
  
  

You know what?  I made a care package for Tam, and I'm going to make one for Squeaky. I don't know what's going to be in it or how I'm going to get it to her, but it's something that I can do. If you know what she likes and can make suggestions, let me know -- let's make this happen, folks.

Begin Operation: Lymeparty!



(Yes, I totally went there.)