Well I was thinking about Charity how some countries have more of a certain type of Charity to support some causes than others and how some Charities are "means tested" and the type of people who GIVE to Charities too.
Well I was chatting to someone how I came about donating my hair (they hadn't seen me since the Summer) and well I was saying how you sometimes feel that you've "exhausted your group of people who sponsor you"... like how many times can you ask the same people to sponsor you for a run/swim/cycle to raise money for charity?
We wanted to go on a vacation, a family vacation and ski... the problem was that the equipment came from a charity and they couldn't let it leave the mountain. (well that's fair enough)... so it looked like we'd have to pay $3000 to buy one of our own. Well then you think of how many other people who are non walkers who must ski, do they all have one in their garage... looking on a classifieds site... and seeing some for sale sadly not Oatie's size...... Ski shops rent "normal" ski equipment but no one except charities rent the BiSki's....
As it happens our nice instructor who is key in the charity that rents the biSkis found one that we could rent, he's such a lovely guy.... we have to go to another province... but we can go and ski as a family....
So I thought about setting up a charity, thinking well if it could raise money for a pool of the special sports equipment then people could hire and go and spend time with their family together rather than the non walking person not being involved and not paying $3000 to do so. I fundriase all the time and I know a bunch of people who do the same.... But then I looked there are just simply thousands and thousands of charities out there.... and you think WHY? even on just giving.com they were trying to promote the charities that people have never heard of... and you think well that charity was a plea for someone elses cause...
Well I could be wrong but I am sure it's the same sort of person who gives to Charity. Why are there charities in the first place? Apart from helping those who are less fortunate than yourselves... why is that money needed? Why is it 'necessary' to have Charities?
If you think of how many thousands of pounds/dollars you have raised personally during your life as in individual and then multiply that by all the people who you know do the same or those who regularly put their hand in their pocket to give......
Or we had a situation in England where there was one Cancer hospice and it was for adults, and there was due to be a childrens's respite hospice within 3 miles... and basically the established hospice fought tooth and nail and almost sabotage so the children's hospice never left the ground. Their reasoning was that if there were 2 hospices then the CHARITABLE DONATIONS WOULD BE HALVED!
So you have Charity Vs Charity wars too...
Or when only 20% of your £1 for example actually makes it to the people in need... so the rest is absorbed in overheads.
On a separate angle, we don't get any help whatsoever towards Oatie... the health care plan deems his treatment (which has made him go from a sack of potatoes to being able to stand freely in space and kick a ball) to adaptive gear for SPORT all considered a luxury... so he can be a PERSON rather than a "labelled disability, sit in a wheelchair and end of story".... you even have to pay for your disabled parking badge. Anything and everything for Oatie is considered a "Luxury" so nothing is covered, not even Diapers!hhmmmmm? The Diapers is a battle to commence...
I am sure that people might consider SPORTS for a non walking person to be a Luxury, but forgive me if I am mistaken, but whether you have able legs or not, you still have a heart and lungs (not to mention feelings) and surely benefit from exercise as are people who can walk.... not to mention the emotional benefit of exercising, making friends etc etc... But NO! it's a LUXURY!
Anything that will enable someone like Oatie to have a vague chance of leading an independent life or having a degree of normalcy it is all called a LUXURY! But hey, I think they'd under the medical insurance plan chop his tendons in his body in a heartbeat... and spend thousand and thousands of dollars on that...
A service dog... well that comes from a Charity.... a little bit of money towards an adaptive bike... well that comes from a charity... The skiing that we did, the loan of the equipment... well that came from a Charity... The Skating that Oatie we bought his equipment but its run by a non-profit organisation..... even speech devices a lot are considered LUXURY so you have to stump up a lot of the cost.
EVEN Kidsport that is a Charity state that they bring sports to those kids who can't normally do them... well it looks like that is for WALKING kids only... and is means tested.
Well we get means tested before taking into the cost of his clothes, diapers, equipment, treatment etc etc etc...
Anything that give him his humanity back... all comes from those with humanity (people like you, I...) from Charities...
Why is there so many Charities? Charity is like the hidden tax that people give from their heart...governments seem to DEPEND on it..... it seems to be the 'sandwich' between insivility and civility....globally....
Well I think that because there is the vast number of charities out there is a signs of failure of Governments who all like their fat-cat pay cheques, and are bureaucrats paper shufflers who are powerhungry for power rather having the vested interest of the people who live in their country and make constantly short term plans till the next election rather than a long term vision that encompasses all areas of society.
Rant over...and out.
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