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Thursday, November 22, 2012

Giving Thanks For America’s Givers


Chandler Osborn, 14, watched Fox News coverage of Hurricane Sandy last week and decided to take action.

“Last weekend, me and my younger brother, Cooper, 7, did a fundraiser in Colorado Springs to help the people” affected by the storm, he told me. The siblings set up a table at the Colorado Springs Sugar Plum Festival, gave away patriotic car magnets and pins for any donations, and collected signatures on a giant banner of support for the victims. “We raised $612 in one weekend.”

The Osborns joined countless Americans across the country who stepped up, in small and large ways, to help their fellow citizens in need. While this election season was a contentious battle between makers and takers, this Thanksgiving season is a time to honor the givers who keep the nation’s private philanthropic spirit alive.

In times of crisis, it’s individual citizens, churches, businesses and charitable organizations — not federal government bureaucrats — who mobilize first and fastest to provide aid and comfort. Tom Laureys noted in the Parsippany (New Jersey) Daily Record: “The first people to help Hurricane Sandy victims were the neighbors helping their neighbors for free. The Red Cross was the first organization to arrive to help. FEMA was the last. The FEMA workers stayed at the Soho Grand Hotel at $310 per night.”

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Yeah, but in the $310 per night I bet they got a continental breakfast included, and that saved money. Now if they upped it to a full breakfast on our dime that would be irresponsible. That is how they think. All of the federal government workers I have ever met have convinced themselves that they work their asses off. That way they don't feel guilty for the money they are stealing.