OT:Vets & Vet Supporters

Received a nice coffee mug yesterday from an outfit called "The American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial" Even has my name on it and a full color American eagle with the slogan "Freedom Is Not Free!".

I had just run checks on a few outfits that my mother-in-law donates money to every month. One was a scam, the others OK. So I checked on this outfit.

Congress has authorized a memorial to American Vets who have been disabled for life and this outfit is in charge of it. The goal is $65 million and it has matching funds from the woman who inherited the National Enquirer (bells and alarms!!!). Gary Cinese (sp?) is the spokesman, I guess because he once played a disabled vet in Forrest Gump (Hi. I'm not a disabled vet, but I played one in a movie).

Bottom line: Total amount of expenses for fundraising is 94% That means that a whopping 6% actually goes to the memorial. The diot woman who provides matching funds was given this information by her son. She told him to destroy the report.

So, if you are a vet, a family member, a supporter or just plain like to help out a cause here and there, you might want to google this and other outfits before writing that check. 6% equals a complete scam.

Tom

PS. I'm keeping the coffee cup

Reply to
maiesm72
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There are a zillion 'foundations' and 'associations' that have nothing to do with altruistic work, but are just ways of parting gentle people from their money. I'd donated to a couple before I found out the hard truth.

Bottom line is donate to well-known, well-run organizations you believe in. Donating to some outfit like is described here sounds better but is not far from sending money to that guy in Nigeria who needs your money to free up his millions (which he'll happily divide with you).

I've gotten better at saying no. Thanks for the heads up.

---Stephen

Reply to
Stephen Tontoni

$65 million for a memorial? If you feel guilty about keeping the cup, send a donation to the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) where 76% of the donations goes to veterans services.

Reply to
willshak

Bill

No guilt here. In fact I hope that a lot of people get cups for nothing in return.

DAV is one of five donations that I make every year. Instead of sending money to the scam artists I increased my DAV donation by that amount.

Tom

Reply to
maiesm72

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