2005 - 09-02-05

And by
the way...I'm a chic. So if any of this
sounds a little touch-feely, you'll know
why. Ok, down to business.

As
for my recommendation. Regardless of
whether you agree with their
religious beliefs or not, it is my belief
(through the extensive research I have done
regarding disaster relief) that the
organization of Jehovah's Witnesses is going
to be your best choice when the primary
concern is maximizing the use of funds in
the most beneficial way for victims. Here's
why.

They
are the most non-profit of non-profit
organizations I've ever seen. All of their
workers are voluntary. *All* of them. From
the top down, the way the entity
is structured, even the executives of
the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society in
Brooklyn, NY (headquarters of their
worldwide organization) donate their time in
exchange for very modest room and board.
I've toured a few of their facilities in the
Brooklyn, Wallkill and Patterson, NJ areas.
I've seen it with my own eyes.

Everyone
who works at their printing facilities
(where they print bibles and bible
literature for their worldwide bible
education work) works for room and board and
they get a very small allowance (somewhere
around $120/mo.) for personal items. This
entire organization is supported by means of
voluntary donations. And it's
amazing......I mean, these people are not
driving around in fancy cars and getting
rich pocketing donations by any means.

They
spend their money on maintaining their
printing facilities, printing bible
literature, housing & feeding their
voluntary workers (who all live in an
apartment-like community maintained by the
Watchtower Bible and Tract Society),
supporting voluntary missionaries around the
world, language and reading programs (where
they teach illiterate people to read),
DISASTER RELIEF....I could go on.

But
the bottom line is that NONE of their money
is used to line pockets of greedy execs.
And there's more than one way to donate to
this organization. You can just give a
general donation to their "Worldwide" fund,
or you can choose to dictate exactly where
you want 100% of your money to be used,
i.e., "Hurricane Katrina".