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By Michael Thompson, Contributing Writer
I never would have dreamed of being a Salvation Army bell-ringer. Then I received a writing assignment to ring a red-kettle bell for a day. As a shy person, there was much trepedation. But I went ahead and sucked it up. You know what? Once I got started, it was fun. (Of course, it was an unseasonably mild December day, so it's not like I was out there getting frostbite.) If your local Salvation Army is like mine in my Michigan hometown of Saginaw, you can pick your day(s) and your hours at your convenience starting around Thanksgiving. When I received the writing assignment, I figured it would be good to glean some advice from a veteran. The Saginaw Salvation Army sent me out to see to see a man who became one of my heroes, Ted Kolhagen, who in recent years is dearly departed. What a guy! When I encountered him, he was 76 years old and in his 49th season of bell-ringing. He had an act where he would whistle and dance and clown around with anyone who approached the kettle, child or adult. And so I told my editor, Ted was far more interesting than anything I might write in the first person. To see the resulting article, look here: http://www.newreviewsite.com/articles/Profile---A-Whistling-Holiday-Bell-Ringer-Has-a-Deeper-Purpose-at-Heart/519. Well, I still was bound to do my bell-ringing, even though I had chosen to write about Ted instead of myself. And so, armed with Ted's advice and examples, I was out there. Ted's first rule was that "shy" is no excuse. If you just stand there and tinkle the bell, you're selling the program short. Indeed, Ted would bring in about $60 an hour, compared to about $20 for the listless bell-ringers whom The Salvation Army is forced to pay minimum wage because of a lack of volunteers. So I found myself out there shouting "ho-ho-ho" (I couldn't whistle like Ted, in spite of -- or because of -- the David Letterman gap in my front teeth.) One lady walked past the kettle and smirked, "Do you think that helps you?" But then a guy in professional business attire walked past, laughing, and jammed a folded $10-spot into the kettle. He laughed and said, "Those are some hearty ho-ho-hoes." And I said to myself, "Ted Kolhagen, you are vindicated." (Curious? I made $35 an hour.) Two-liter pops were on sale in a big stack at the storefront, and people were grabbing 'em up, and so I stole another lesson from Ted and slid the kettle over near the pops. Sure enough, donations increased. It was like, the customers were contributing the money they saved on the pop discount. Then a woman walked by, like so many folks, with her nose up in the air. Her checkbook fell out of her purse. "Ma'am," I called out. She thanked me when I returned the checkbook, and, feeling guilty, stuck a pair of dollar bills through the slot. The Salvation Army assigned me to a pair of places for half-day shifts. At the Kmart in the low-income neighborhood, I got a regular stream of donations -- no big ones, but a bunch. But in front of the high-rent Macy's, most people ignored me, although that's where I got the fin from the guy who laughed as my ho-ho-hoeing. I'm not making any comment here, just passing on what I experienced. Readers: Consider an experiment in volunteer bell-ringing. You won't know whether this fits you until, and unless, you try it.
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By Michael Thompson, Contributing Writer
The school year is beginning after a long and too-hot summer, and many teachers and students will consider community service projects, including outreach to the homeless. Intentions may be honorable but care and advance planning are crucial. For example, I once encountered a high school class that volunteered to serve a Christmas lunch at a shelter. Two key mistakes occurred. First, the kids simmered the chicken soup noodles for two hours. Normally that might be okay, but these were ramen noodles. Yuck! One may be homeless and hungry, but even then, the appetite has limits. Second, the students (or their parents) made some high-quality afghans as gifts. This was a wonderful and thoughtful idea, but alas, there weren't enough afghans to go around. Not wanting to exclude anyone, the kids wrapped some alternative gifts. Unfortunately, these were mere canned food items. One shaggy fellow opened his can of beans, somewhat understandably took offense, and started cussing. The whole deal was a disaster. The class adviser should have known better, and the high schoolers were old enough to know better, too. Therefore my first tip for school projects to support the homeless is to always put oneself in the other's shoes, making sure dignity and personal respect are the top priority. Don't look down on homeless people, either intentionally or unconsciously. Consider projects other than feeding. Homeless shelters and rescue missions by and large have that covered. A class might consider providing entertainment at the shelter, bringing along school musicians or performing a skit. Caroling works good during the holiday season. Think of interactive things to do, as simple as breaking into groups for card games or board games. (A lot of older guys, homeless included, know dominoes. They might get a charge -- and some self-worth -- from teaching the kids to play.) Story telling is another idea; a student tells a story, then a resident, taking turns. Above all, aim to schedule several visits rather than just one, which can seem sort of like a hit-and-run. Establish a relationship. What the heck, maybe the school system could bus the shelter residents out to the school for a visit. By Michael Thompson, Contributing Writer
When it comes to poverty in the United States, it seems to me a growing number of wealthy and upper-middle-class people are resentful of poor folks. There is a perception that people at and near the bottom are shiftlessly going along for a free ride. Although this may be true in some cases, it's not true for the vast majority. I'm an advocate for the poor and a political liberal, but also a realist. There are good and bad, mostly good, in all income groups. We see the have/have not friction in debates regarding taxes. I don't understand why the haves are so honked off, because they're paying their lowest rates since the Eisenhower years, but over and over I hear the complaint, "Half of the people don't pay any taxes." Well, actually it's 46 percent, according to a recent CNN Money report. So let's check a few facts: -- Most of these people are working. Under the tax code, they don't make enough money. -- Most are paying taxes, just not general federal income taxes. They're paying entitlement payroll taxes for Social Security and Medicare. Often they're paying state taxes, which are less progressive than the federal code. They're paying local property taxes, even as renters, because the property taxes are part of the rent. And they're paying sales taxes, the most regressive form of taxation. Consider a low-income family of four. The father makes $12 an hour as a janitor, not too shabby, but he only gets 30 hours per week. Mom makes $9 an hour as a nurse aide (the nation's most underpaid profession, in my opinion), but she only gets 20 hours. Their income is $510 per week and $26,400 annually, deducting a handful of uncompensated sick days. (People in these sorts of jobs don't get paid when they call in sick, so they often work when ill.) So, $26,400, eh? What a coincidence! If you combine the standard deduction of $11,600 with four individual deductions of $3,700 apiece, that's a matching amount: $26,400. And so this family pays no federal income tax (although plenty of Social Security and state/local taxes). What bugs me is that somebody earning $200,000 or maybe a cool million (with only the first $110,000 subject to Social Security) would have such a big problem with the less fortunate family. There are families and individuals making more than $26,400 that also pay no taxes. In fact, many receive rebates. The main reasons are child care credits, education credits and mainly the Earned Income Tax Credit. The purpose of the EITC, first advocated by Richard Nixon and then embraced by Ronald Reagan, is to justify keeping the minimum wage artificially, and despairingly, low. Conservative tax-baiters should realize that the EITC is not a liberals' concoction. Small business owners and their chambers of commerce love the Earned Income Tax Credit, so that they can continue paying poverty wages. Nearly half of Americans indeed pay no federal income taxes, but if the various credits and deductions were canceled, the figure would drop to 18 percent. Maybe that would make some deep-pocketed people at the country club happy. Why? SOURCE: http://money.cnn.com/2012/04/26/pf/taxes/income-tax/index.htm?hpt=hp_c1 by Michael Thompson, Contributing Writer
The Fourth of July holiday was the United States' 236th birthday, and the nation has been at war for 193 of those years. Some of these conflicts can be described as "necessary wars," such as World War II. Still, beyond the lives lost, consider how all the money spent on the military -- or at least a share of it -- could instead have been invested in combating poverty. Simply in the 2013 federal budget, according to the War Resisters League, $839 billion is for current military and $516 billion is for "past military," which includes interest on the debt and veteranss benefits. Combined, this is 47 percent of the budget. This is more than all of the social aid and entitlement programs, ranging from the "biggies" (Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid) to those that take a comparative pittance (food stamps, school lunches). Here's a war history list, as compiled by the Mid-Michigan Home for Peace and Justice: * Revolutionary War, 1775-1783. * Indian American wars, 1775-1890. * War of 1812 (through 1814). * Mexican American War, 1836-1848 * Civil War, 1861-1865. * Spanish American War, 1897-98. * World War I, 1914-1918. * World War II, 1941-1945. * Cold War, 1945-1992 (Readers may object to this inclusion, since Soviet and U.S. forces never met on a battlefield, but consider the $$$ costs.) * Vietnam War, 1962-1973. * Grenada invastion, 1983 * Panama invasion, 1989. Gulf War, 1991-1992. * Somalia, 1992-1995. * Kosovo, 1998-1991. * Afghanistan War, 2001-present. * Iraq War, 2003-2011. SOURCE: warresisters.org by Michael Thompson, Contributing Writer
Parishioners may wonder what their churches can do to help the homeless, other than to raise funds or to donate food to a shelter. Bridge of Hope, organized through Evangelicals for Social Action, offers another option -- adopt one homeless family, and personally help pave the way toward permanent solutions through stable housing, gainful employment, personal growth and positive friendships. "It can be daunting to consider the needs of all homeless families in the United States," acknowledges Edith Yoder, Bridge of Hope national director. But then, notes Yoder, the number of churches also is large. "If each church reaches out to one homeless family, one by one we can make a difference," Yoder says. Bridge of Hope provides professional training for churches, or combinations of churches, to operate their own support projects. So far, Bridge of Hope supports 17 local affiliates in seven states through Evangelicals for Social Acton, which also publishes PRISM magazine in the spirit of the Bible's Numbers 13: 19, 20; What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? ... How is the soul? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees in it or not? Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land." SOURCES: BridgeOfHopeInc.org PRISMmagazine.org by Michael Thompson, Contributing Writer
Many people link global hunger with overpopulation. In other words, too many people, not enough food for all. World Hunger Educational Service tells us differently. "The world produces enough food to feed everyone," the organization flatly asserts, stating that even though the global population has grown by 70 percent during the past three decades, agricultural production has surged so massively that calories per person have increased by 17 percent. Match the two numbers, and we see that the total calories produced have nearly doubled. So if all this is true, why are nearly 1 billion of the planet's 7 billion souls suffering from hunger and malnutrition, including 578 million in Asia and the Pacific, and 239 million in sub-Saharan Africa? World Hunger Educational Service cites three main reasons: Poverty, corrupt governments, and conflicts among nations. Poverty and hunger create an especially vicious cycle because each causally contributes to the other. Five million children die annually from hunger-related afflictions such as malaria, diarrhea, pneumonia and measles. Lack of necessary nutrients also has tragic effects. Shortages and their effects include Vitamin A (blindness), iron (anemia) and iodine (mental health troubles). SOURCE: http://www.worldhunger.org/articles/Learn/world%20hunger%20facts%202002.htm |
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