In continuing a tradition that fltsfshr and I started a number of years ago in the Politics subform, we once again placed bets on who would win, or who you wanted to win the election. The loser had to make a donation to the winner's charity. I bet on Biden and my charity was The St. Judes Hospital for Children. Flts bet on Trump and his charity was The Harry Chapin Food Bank. The bet was 25 dollars. This time we got 10 other people to participate with us. You can see it in the Politics subforum in a thread titled "25 clams".

Needless to say, if your candidate won you could take satisfaction in knowing that the opposition had to donate to your charity, if your candidate lost your consolation was that you're making a donation to a worthy charity. And, with all of that, we all managed to get along and have a good time discussing politics.

Many of us, very much like we did last time, were so happy by the outcome of the election that we contributed to both charities. I don't have a total yet because not everyone has checked in, but without doubt two very fine charities have benefited. I am thrilled to say that there are a number of Menches in the Politics subforum, and I am thrilled to say that we've done some good. I am certain that this year's donation will far exceed the donations from last time.

It's not too late. Even if you never come into the Politics subforum, the charities that we support are worthy so if the candidate that you wanted won, you can make a donation as a way of saying thank you, if your candidate lost you can make a donation as a wish for better luck next time. There are a lot of hungry people and very sick children out there who need a little help.

Once again, thank you to the 11 other menches who participated in this.

A mench, by the way, is a Yiddish term for a good and honorable man. Unfortunately, we didn't have any women this time (they would be our Balabustas).

 

In the past, I've donated to both the Harry Chapin Food Bank and St. Judes. The former was motivated by something that happened in Vintage, but I don't recall the details. The latter is just a charity I like.

However I now receive a mailing from both at least once a month. I would not be surprised to find out they have spent as much tracking me, making stuff to mail to me, and in postage to offset a good bit of my donations.

So I only donate to charities now when I can do so anonymously. Doesn't help with my tax situation but it feels like the money might be going a little further.

 

Nice to know I am not alone in feeling that way. I am SO turned off when they ambush me every week with a request for more. And then some put you on mailing lists for other charities. There is a Veteran's charity I have given to annually for years - I have soooo many mailing labels and Xmas cards from them I could scream and I just keep tossing them out. I use their pocket calendar, and only their calendar, so I have written them to ask they put me down for just the calendar every year and I will keep the donations coming. Ignored. Twice this year they actually sent me a check made out to me for $2 or $3 (an upsell from when they used to attach coins) which I naturally toss out. I know its a gimmick but I get tired of that kind of crap.

 

Rob you should mention, for those that don't venture into Politics, that Flts (Grant) posted and has made out his check to charity.

 

St. Judes strikes me as such a fantastic organization, providing free medical help to children is just the best thing I could imagine. Even as a Canadian I've wanted to support that charity. I don't mean to suggest that other charities are not as deserving but they just do damn good work at St. Judes.

 

St. Judes is a fantastic organization founded by Danny Thomas. Here's a little history from wikipedia.

St. Jude was founded by entertainer Danny Thomas in 1962, with help from Lemuel Diggs and Thomas' close friend from Miami, automobile dealer Anthony Abraham. The hospital was founded on the premise that "no child should die in the dawn of life".[4] This idea resulted from a promise that Thomas, a MaroniteCatholic, had made to a saint years before the hospital was founded. Thomas was a comedian who was struggling to get a break in his career and living paycheck to paycheck. When his first child was about to be born, he attended Mass in Detroit, and put his last $7.00 in the offering bin. He prayed to Saint Jude Thaddeus for a means to provide for his family, and about a week later, he obtained a gig that paid 10 times what he had put in the offering bin. After that time, Thomas believed in the power of prayer. He promised St. Jude Thaddeus that if the saint made him successful, he would one day build him a shrine. Years later, Thomas became an extremely successful comedian and built St. Jude Children's Research Hospital as a shrine to St. Jude Thaddeus to honor his promise.

Discoveries at St. Jude have profoundly changed how doctors treat children with cancer and other catastrophic illnesses.[11][12] Since St. Jude was established, the survival rate for acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the most common type of childhood cancer, has increased from 4 percent in 1962 to 94 percent today.[12] During this time, the overall survival rate for childhood cancers has risen from 20 percent to 80 percent.[13] St. Jude has treated children from across the United States and from more than 70 countries. Doctors around the world consult with St. Jude on their toughest cases.[14] Also, St. Jude has an International Outreach Program to improve the survival rates of children with catastrophic illnesses worldwide through the transfer of knowledge, technology and organizational skills.[15] St. Jude treats infants, children, teens, and young adults up to age 21 and for some conditions, up to age 25.


The follow up story that I heard was that once Danny Thomas became successful he wanted to build a shrine to St. Jude. His priest told him that there are plenty of shrines, build something that will do good for people. With that in mind Thomas founded the St. Judes Childrens Hospital. St. Judes takes no money from the families of the children they treat yet it costs them about $2.8 million per day to operate the hospital. St. Judes is worthy of support.

 

^ thanks for that information, very cool to know that. What a great story.

 

Our candidate won. We will be making a donation to our local charity, Bless our Children, Sunday breakfast mission St. Jude and the Salvation Army. We know where those donations will go. Thanks for sharing Robb. I plan to make a connection with Grant when we go to Naples, Fl. this winter. We always have coffee at the Bad Ass Coffee shop in Naples which is next door to his business. I think he still has his Vette. I can't wait to tell him that I am putting a protective coating on a new C8 mid engine Vette. The owner is a friend so in return for the coating he is letting me take it out this Saturday. It resembles a Ferrari. Cant wait.