I have been out and about doing a little personal Christmas shopping on my own, which consists mostly of gift cards. After about an hour of driving around to the different restaurants, it dawned on me that I didn’t see any bell ringers, not even at Walmart. I think a lot of people are annoyed with them, so they don’t miss them, but I like them. They remind me of Christmas’s past when my dad would dump a bag of change into the kettle just to get a reaction from the person doing the ringing. My dad would make sure he was noticed by asking the bell ringer if they minded if he would dump his bag of change. My mom would tell dad his narcissism is showing.
My wife and I donate at Christmas and that’s it, except I am a dope for some of the people that stand on the corner looking for a handout. We give to the Ukraine and Russian Jews, Habitat for Humanity, SPCA (local branch) and T2T. We would like to give more and will just as soon as we hit a big lottery ticket winner. (Like that’s ever going to happen.)
A few years ago, we received a note back written in some kind of language we couldn’t read, so I took it to the local Synagogue and asked the Rabbi what it said. He didn’t know. My next stop was the Russian Orthodox Church in Harrisburg and spoke with the Rabbi, but I don’t think they are called Rabbi because this man kind of laughed when I called him that. He could read only a few words, one word was “thank” and then two words read “good food.”
I want to add that you are allowed to add your name and address on a small card they will put inside the food box, but I advise against doing that. You may end up receiving a countless number of requests for donations. We have a personal PO Box that we use for our return address when we don’t want it printed and can stipulate “No ads or circulars.” BTW, you can send a food box for $25 each. When that commercial comes on TV showing the Jewish women and the food boxes, she all but cries for them. I think that’s the effect they wanted to happen.
My wife and I donate at Christmas and that’s it, except I am a dope for some of the people that stand on the corner looking for a handout. We give to the Ukraine and Russian Jews, Habitat for Humanity, SPCA (local branch) and T2T. We would like to give more and will just as soon as we hit a big lottery ticket winner. (Like that’s ever going to happen.)
A few years ago, we received a note back written in some kind of language we couldn’t read, so I took it to the local Synagogue and asked the Rabbi what it said. He didn’t know. My next stop was the Russian Orthodox Church in Harrisburg and spoke with the Rabbi, but I don’t think they are called Rabbi because this man kind of laughed when I called him that. He could read only a few words, one word was “thank” and then two words read “good food.”
I want to add that you are allowed to add your name and address on a small card they will put inside the food box, but I advise against doing that. You may end up receiving a countless number of requests for donations. We have a personal PO Box that we use for our return address when we don’t want it printed and can stipulate “No ads or circulars.” BTW, you can send a food box for $25 each. When that commercial comes on TV showing the Jewish women and the food boxes, she all but cries for them. I think that’s the effect they wanted to happen.
