Lincolnite

If that was my only option, I’d give half to my church (they support a number of local missions and charities) and half to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Nice.  The LJS runs a seemingly innocuous article designed to make you feel guilty for spending your hard-earned money on something other than charities.  The centerpiece of the article is a website that may as well be MoveOn.org.  Propaganda at its best!

But anyways, I think I’m going to go shopping with my tax rebate. 😊

I would probably split between Planned Parenthood (they were my only health place for years, and I made so little it was free, so I wanna pay back) and People’s City Mission.

Since I already donate, though, I will be adding to my retirement account. I already had my shopping spree after Christmas. 😊

If you ever need a hug I am here for you Dave.

I will give hugs for $600 each, the married couple rate is $1150. You’ll still have money left over for a romantic evening at Chili’s when you’re done!

As much as I would LOVE to go out on a “Shopping Spree”.....Mine will be going towards the dreaded bills.  You know the ones….Gas bill ((Because I like to cook and stay warm))  Electric bill ((Because I like to have lights in the evenings))  Water bill ((Because I like to stay relatively clean))....well…you all get the idea.  I have to agree with a comment I read on the LJS site.  This is like taking a bucket of water from the deep end of the pool and dumping it into the shallow end…...

Don’t get me wrong - I’m not giving the money to charity. The question, as posed by Mr. Wilson, is IF you decided to give, and gave it locally, to whom would it go?

Personally, the wife wants to invest in furniture while I think the prudent plan is a Playstation 3 and another big HD TV.

I think it’s my civic duty, as an American, to spend that money and put it into the economy. Sure, sure, I know Sony is a Japanese company, but the local guy will make a little off of me. Lincoln will capture my sales tax dollars unless I buy online.

Sadly, my wife will likely win out, and we’ll have a new bedroom set instead of a nice HD plasma/PS 3/Rock Band combo that would have true some meaning in our lives.

Can I also change my vote on Make-A-Wish? Nothing against them, but I think my new favorite local charity is the school backpack program from the Food Bank of Lincoln. Sure, I may be (to some readers) a heartless Republican creep, but the thought that there are young kids, in a city I love, that leave school on Friday to go home for a weekend with the prospect of no food on the table until Monday morning… that just chokes me up every time I think about it. Those kids will get some of my refund money (via that program), absolutely.

I definitely recommend the PS3/Rock Band Combo. Tons of fun. 😊

Thanks. I currently rock out (not that well) on a PS2 with Guitar Hero. I am dying for Rock Band and the drums, but I hate to invest another $170 plus tax, etc., on games and hardware for the PS2. Thus, I am jonesing for a PS3. I hope soon they can get the guitar compatability to work between the two games as originally promised.

I think its laudable what this group is doing, although I disagree with their hint of China-bashing. The fact of the matter is, our government chooses to overspend and investors everywhere (not just in China) buy our debt through US bonds. And yes, we do have a trade balance with China because, hey, they manufacture things and we don’t anymore! So if we want to get out of this mess, our reps in DC need to stop overspending and re-invest in manufacturing. 

But to answer your question, if I were to give to a Lincoln based charity, I agree with Karin - it would be the People’s City Mission. They do good things for people in need and try and give them a hand up so they can help themselves.

Being someone that, not too long ago, had to stay at the Peoples City Mission, I have to comment.

I will say that they do a LOT of good things for people.  Unfortunatley, whe I stayed there, it was very hard to get any sort of help.  The main programs that are available were available only to the women and children.  It seems that the men were relegated to pretty mych fending for themselves.  While I appreciate the fact that they DID provide a warm place to be in the winter weather I wish that they would have had more options for men to help them get back on their feet.

Yes there are those that only want to live for the next drink or are just hoping for the next hit off of the crack pipe.

But there ARE those that, like myself, were wanting help to get back on their own two feet.

That may have changed with the new area of the mission being built.  I haven’t been back there in a little over a year.

Your comment hits on something I’ve often wondered about. I toured the Mission several years ago, and back then there was a definite “we help women / we shelter men” vibe. It’s interesting to hear that the service divide still exists.

That’s really unfortunate. I wonder if it is just a lack of resources or what?

I don’t think this is a problem just with the People’s City Mission, either. There are a lot of resources only available for women. Domestic abuse is one example- a male who is domestically abused (it does happen, in straight and gay couples) has no where to go, while his female counterpart has a few options.

Thanks for the feedback Hbrogan. That is unfortunate. I imagine the lack of services for adult men has to do with funding requirements.

I don’t think that it’s from lack of funding.  They have just completed a new addition that cost about 3 million to build.  This is supposedly to help the men with an “apartment” like atmosphere.

However, if you are NOT one of the “chosen few” then chances are you won’t get into that program.

I’ll give you a prime example…..when I was there I contacted a place about a job.  I did get an interview scheduled.  But I LITERALLY had to beg just to get a simple haircut.  How tough is that????

As mentioned above the “we help women/we shelter men” comment is more than correct.  It’s too bad as there are a number of men that are more than willing to bust their butts to get out of that place.  It’s definitely NOT fun.

Amen, 2 kudos and a bucket of chips to the Lincoln Food Bank backpack program.  I got to see this firsthand shooting some video for Lincoln Industries.  They encourage volunteers to help run the backpack program ON THE CLOCK.  These kids really need an apple, box of macncheese and a hug.