Save The Alpacas! We volunteered at an Assistant Living facility that had a petting zoo one Sunday. This guy was SO cute!

We regularly donate money to the Lupus Foundation and the Alopecia Foundation because our friend’s teenaged daughter suffers from both of these conditions. In gratitude, one or both of these organizations sold our name and address to other charitable organizations seeking donations.

Today, we received in the mail, the Tony Soprano version of a solicitation for a financial donation. It was for an organization that surgically repairs deformed cleft palates of children.  I’m sure you’ve seen the photos on the metro or on the side of a bus.  There’s nothing more pathetic. You cannot get out your Visa card fast enough when you see one of these adorable blue eyed babies in a pastel onesie with a huge harelip.

I don’t object to the heart-rending photo. What was so offensive was the shakedown of a salespitch. “If you make one gift now, we promise we’ll never ask for another donation again.”  The implication of this is that if we do NOT make a donation, they will pester us until we do so or we can expect a visit from Pauly Walnuts and company.   It seems pretty implausible that we would never hear from them again based on the relentless requests we receive from the charities we have given to in the past. Then I thought about it. Of course, they don’t need any more gifts from us. Once we give them a gift, they will make a killing selling our name and address to other 501(c)(3) organizations! Duh!

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