Charitable Giving
Being on Substack gives me the opportunity to accept money from subscribers. However, my commitment is to provide this information at no cost. While I often ramble and editorialize, I regularly post health and nutrition info that I feel is too valuable and important to not make freely available. That said, since Substack offers the option, I encourage you, should you feel so inspired, to sign up for a paid subscription for whatever amount you choose (the recommended amounts are optional) and I will guarantee you that 100% of your donation will be forwarded to one of the causes I support, with not even a penny kept in my pockets or theirs! And if you choose to cancel a paid subscription, you will continue to receive the information at no cost.
I support the idea of private charity, because it is actually unconstitutional for the government to be involved. But I have been loathe to contribute to so-called charitable organizations for the simple reason that very little of the money they take in actually filters down to where it is needed. I believe that most major charities simply exist as a tax dodge. Perhaps the worst of all is the Clinton Foundation which, as far as I’ve been able to find, uses all of its money to support the Clinton Family. But even organizations like The United Way pay truly exorbitant salaries to their CEO ($1.57 million, which I find thoroughly obscene) and staff, and have beautiful, expensive offices, leaving very little money that can do any good. I will never give to the United Way.
I have only found five organization that I feel are ethically sound enough to send money to, and three of those are the Tunnel to the Towers Foundation (t2t.org) which only siphons off a small amount for operating costs, as well as St. Judes Children’s Hospital, and the Shrine Hospital. For those not familiar with T2T, they keep alive the memory of NY firefighter Steven Siller, who was on his way home from a night shift on 9/11/01 when the news hit. Because of traffic jams he left his vehicle and ran the nearly four miles, in full firefighter gear, through the Holland Tunnel to the Twin Towers where he gave his life in service to God, and his fellow men and women. T2T provides help, support, medical assistance and even housing to injured first responders and military veterans.
The two charities that I plan to support with your contributions are a private missionary caring for widows and orphans in Uganda, and a local group here in AZ called Veterans in Motion, which offers services to local vets, including transportation to medical appointments, sometimes as far away as 100 miles. I am one of their volunteer drivers. They/we also support our local vets in other ways and we are hoping to expand to offer even more services. Sending money to Uganda is uplifting because while $100 is nothing in the US, it can feed a dozen orphans in Uganda for a month. I will send the amount you donate, and pay the exchange fee myself, so that every penny gets there. Both my friend in Uganda and VIM have virtually zero overhead.
In closing, I will never require paid subscriptions, but I am grateful for any contributions and guarantee that 100% of any donations will be put to good use. Although I can’t offer any premiums for donations, if you ever get to Laughlin, Kingman, Needles, or Las Vegas, I’ll be happy to drive there and buy you a beer!