Today is Veterans day; a day we celebrate those who have served, as the country song by Billy Ray Cyrus, says “All gave some; some gave all.”
Most veterans that I know understand that there are really stupid people out there; that do stupid things.
We have all heard of people skimming off of the service of veterans:
- The medal wearing wounded soldier who actually didn’t serve a day in their life.
- The guy begging for money at the subway station who got the uniform from a charity store because they are too lazy to find an honest job.
Those people, while frustrating, don’t bother me as much as some of these charities running around out there making themselves rich at the expense of the veterans they claim to help. I watched a special on CNN this weekend that exposed not just the charities, but the fundraising organization(s) hired to fund them.
I ask each of you; before giving to any organization that you do not know much about, check out Charity Navigator (Support our Troops page) or similar device to measure the effectiveness of a charity. See the Charity Navigator’s criteria as a good rule of thumb. For those still in the service of our country, read the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) brochure – it lists how much each charity spends on administrative costs.
In the current state of our economy; donate money to the organizations that will actually put most of that money to work; helping our veterans (or whichever charity you chose).
I end this post thinking of this land of proud veterans and picturing the Hee Haw crowd saying “SaaaLuute!” to each of our Veterans; we’re proud of each and every one – and those injured in the service of their country deserve better.
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