Beggars

Yesterday I received a call from a lady soliciting money. Shortly I learned it was for some firefighters group. At that point I asked her where she was located, and found that it was some other city. I then advised her that I contribute to the local firefighters. Her response was "that is good" and she kept on going. Finally I advised her "no" and then she asked if I would pray for ? I then realized that she was trying to keep me on line, that she was not going to stop. So I hung up.

Has that happened to you ? It does to me too often. I get at least one such call a week

On the surface it appears that if you want an income then go to your Secretary of State, or whoever, and get yourself licensed as a charity, and then go collect money. Even if you do some good with collected money, you can pay yourself an income. When one of these contact you it is not charity in the true sense, but a business.

True charities have unpaid people, often wives of firefighters, etc, soliciting money. Whether I contribute or not I can appreciate them.

Today many, many, have a charity soliciting money. It seems to be a booming business. And far too many are professional beggars in my opinion.

It seems hard to cut down yet I have honed mine down to three, outside of church, who are all local to my city, or within the state. These I can check on, and assure myself of the use of the money collected.

For the others, or ones I don't immediately recognize, I have questions that go like this:

1. Where are you located ? A gentleman said he was in another state, collecting for a program in my state, a program which I happened to know never solicited money. You can imagine how quickly I got rid of him. And it sounded so phony that I actually related it to the police.

2. What group are you soliciting for, if they haven't told you up front ? If new to me, then I ask them about their group. I had one from a group out of state that claimed to help veterans. Sounds good, but it didn't seem just right. So I checked the national Disabled American Veterans, a well known group, and they had never heard of this group. So then I emailed the local BBB and they had never heard of them, and the group was not registered with them. Incidentally the BBB sent me a useful long list of registered charities nationwide.

3. They may have hung up by now, but if they persist, then ask for the person's name that is calling, and the name, address, and phone number of the group they are calling about. This request is likely to get rid of a more.

4. If still they are persisting, ask them to send literature detailing out the charity they are calling about. But do not give them your address or phone number for logically they already have it.

These kind of questions will usually get rid of the frauds, the scam, and the phonies.

By now you will also have the information needed to make a wise decision.

There are a number of good charities, many that are local, where the work is done locally, and to which you can contribute and know they are doing a good work. These should be listened to for they are helping in your community. And from them you can make an intelligent selection.

Be wise about contributing money, especially to unknown groups or those out of state, or your local city.

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