A big THANK YOU to everyone who contributed to my last minutes "Make a Christmas Miracle Happen" post. Thanks to you, my generous and kind readers (whom I have affectionately named my Flying Monkeys), we were able to help out three cash-strapped single moms by helping them buy presents for their children along with Christmas dinner for all! In addition we helped a gent pay his rent for the month, so that he and his dog weren't evicted in the middle of winter.
You're all wonderful and I'd like to give each of you a hug for making these miracles possible.
I seem to have a gift for getting people to donate money. I take that as a huge compliment, because you are effectively saying "We trust your judgement that these people need help, and we trust you to get this money to them." That might not seem like much to you guys, but that's a huge deal for me, so thank you very much for the trust you've placed in me.
I don't know how it could be done, but I would love to be able to administer/maintain a small cash reserve (say, $1000 or so) that could be held in reserve and donated to good folks who need it. It would really make me feel like I was accomplishing something with my life if I could solve some of life's small crises for decent folks by just saying "Here, some cash ought to fix that for you," and BAM! Problem solved like a bullseye.
If anyone has experience with this sort of thing, please let me know.
I keep a small amount of cash on hand, hidden somewhere on my reloading bench (never more than a couple hundred dollars) that I call my "widows and orphans fund". I use it for just such emergencies, to help out folks going through a rough patch. Over the years it has paid for Christmas gifts for a single mom, made a student loan payment for a suddenly unemployed friend, put a muffler on a neighbor's car (after she got a ticket), and various other minor emergencies. I don't keep it on me because I have a problem with impulse buying.
ReplyDeleteYou should be able to set up a PayPal (not the best option) or POPMoney (http://www.popmoney.com/) account then put a link on your blog page for people to add to it as they want. POPMoney has a flat fee structure ($0.95 per transaction) and works with a bank account.
Have you ever considered going to work for a non-profit? You have a gift for soliciting donations.
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