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I Just Have to Find Out For Myself!
I decided to walk across the United States to raise money for
charity. Specifically for the troops in Iraq and the Katrina
victims. I have found that many people always seem to have a
different cause they prefer to give to other than the one you
are trying to raise money for. Or, they don't seem have the cash
to spare for any cause, claiming that times are tough and money
is tight.
I have found that even people who claim that money is tight do
seem to have money to buy cigarettes, beer, tee-shirts and other
items. I decided to address this by putting together a few
books that I have created for my fellow gym rats and to help
teenagers make better choices about training and avoiding the
use of steroids. It is my hope to sell these items, giving over
half of the money to good causes and using the remaining to run
this expensive machine.
I also thought that creating a tee shirt that I could sell for
the sole purpose of giving all of the proceeds to the charity of
the purchaser's choice. (Even though I am pushing hard for money
to go to our troops and the Katrina relief fund). Since I am
aware that the level of money that I can raise from tee shirts
alone for good causes is limited, It is my hope that the greater
the distribution of shirts the greater the feeling of team
spirit and solidarity that can form among everyone that
purchases the shirts.
This building of team spirit is essential; nevertheless the need
for funds to be raised for good causes is also essential, this
is another reason why I decided to build this site. I felt many
people, businesses and organizations that give generously or
want to give to good causes needed a place to showcase their
products and services for free.
Many of these fine people and businesses have promised to give a
good percentage of their net proceeds to charity.
I want to reward such people and businesses.
I still was not satisfied with the limited funds that tee shirts
and the items I crated will generate for charity. To be honest,
many people that know what I am trying to accomplish are not
satisfied by these efforts. They felt that it is self serving or
ineffective to just sell tee shirts. I decided to once again,
try to show my willingness to sacrifice. I learned in the
marines and from what I observed in the federal sector that
leaders must be willing to sacrifice at least as much as they
are asking others to sacrifice.
I decided to sell my home to help finance my ability to give my
life to philanthropic causes. I felt that the extra finances
would help to jumpstart my effectiveness to build an
infrastructure that would better facilitate my ability to
generate greater sums of money for good causes.
Last summer, I shopped for a realtor who would help me with
selling my house. It was during this time that the U.S. Armed
forces were unable to adequately provide all of the troops with
needed body armor. To add insult to injury they were not
allowing the troops to wear body armor that their friends and
relatives have purchased for them. Certain people within the
U.S. Army claimed that if they could afford to purchase body
armor for all of their troops it would be a different make from
a different company.
Once again, a dysfunctional decision from the federal sector.
"Okay, I thought, fair enough." I will raise money to help the
U.S. Army to purchase the body armor that they require." I knew
that would be a hell of a lot of tee shirts to sell. I mentioned
to the realtor what was transpiring with the troops. This
seemingly innocent comment triggered an emotional outburst from
him. Evidently he was more than aware of what was happening, and
he mentioned that his son was fighting on the front lines in
Iraq -- without needed body armor. He railed against our
government. In outrage, he told me that he wish he knew how he
could help the troops in Iraq.
It was at that moment that an idea hit me. Since I was selling
my home to help facilitate my mission, I thought it would be
appropriate to give a percentage of the proceeds to the troops.
After all, the Katrina relief fund would be around for awhile,
and I thought it was better to help prevent death and disability
than waiting to help those who become disabled.
I told the realtor that if he was really interested in doing
something, he could give his commission over to the purchase of
body armor and I would match him dollar for dollar. He seemed
surprised by the idea, but he quickly agreed. Unfortunately,
this never happened, He started to avoid my calls and after
awhile it became apparent that he was ducking. me. His duplicity
set me back mentally. I felt dismayed and depressed that a man
who had cried and fretted over the safety of his son and the
other youngsters fighting in Iraq, could step away from the
chance to help.
If I had not been struggling to tie up other ends on creating
the infrastructure of my charity machine, (Website building,
collection of network databases, recruiting help from other
people, et cetera), I would have enlisted the help of another
realtor.
Another factor that set me back was the lack of interest from
many of our legislators. I e-mailed and wrote every legislator
that had expressed publicly their concern for our troops and for
the Katrina victims my intention to raise money for those worthy
causes. I told them how I had intended to raise money, (tee
shirts, my house, et cetera).
I asked them to give me public support by walking with me and to
help me to find out who the appropriate people and department to
send the money that I wanted to give along with the money that
other people want to give.
Very few legislators returned my inquiries. Only a few accepted
my invitation to walk with me and only DeFazio offered
information as to how to get the funds to the right place.
For my efforts, I got a letter from the Justice Department
telling me that they had heard about my mission to raise money
for worthy causes. They had heard this from the legislators. They
warned me against doing anything fraudulent.
(I had apprised the Justice Department the previous year of my
intentions and I took that time to ask for rules and regulations
on how I was legally able to raise money for charity.
Instead of the help that I had envisioned from the legislators
who claimed to be concerned for our troops, I was treated with
distrust and disinterest.
The veteran oriented website that Peter DeFazio sent me did not
have any contact information. The letter that I was instructed
to write to the Department of the Army for him to send forth, I
never received any response.
I decided to enlist the help of a local VFW office. I told him
what I wanted to do, I showed him the letter from DeFazio, I
told him about the money that I would give from my house and I
asked for his help. I asked him to help me to find out who the
appropriate people were for me to give the funds for the body
armor, and I asked that he ask his membership to help me to hunt
down the people and department. He told me that he was not
interested.
To say that the world started to feel surreal would be an
understatement. I fell into dark depression.
My ex-coworkers in the federal sector shook their head and with
dark glee pointed out that they had tried to warn me. They once
again stated that Legislators, and other bureaucrats just talk
bullshit. They also took pleasure in the fact that a private
citizen would bullshit me and not raise a finger for his own
son.
As I recouped my thoughts and rethought my strategy to raise
money, I believe that perhaps the few items was an anomaly due
to the fact the most people do talk bullshit. This may have been
the cause of the distrust and disinterest by these people. I
believe that if I write another promissory note to give a
portion of the proceeds of my house to the troops along with a
letter to many prominent and who I feel may be the most
competent my desire to give the proceeds to the proper people in
the proper department to be used only for the purpose of body
armor and needed supplies and equipment for only the troops on
the front lines (and not for the lifeguard stationed in Kuwait).
I will be addressing a letter to all of the Presidential
hopefuls as well as our current administration and a handful of
who I believe are dynamic legislators. In addition to my
signature on these letters, I am asking for the signatures of
any and all dynamic private citizens who are also interested
that our private funds go to the right people. I want to
emphasize that we all want a place were any of us could send
money.
A lot of people are outraged that we should even have to put on
bake sales or give our own personal cash towards the war effort
that our tax dollars have been paid to be used. A lot of these
people say that our money is being misspent. To these people I
say, "We are not giving to the war effort, we are giving support
to our troops. Also regarding the accusation that our money is
not being used properly, I have not seen the books, and besides
that is not the point.
The point is we should not be negotiating or complaining who
should be paying the milk money, while our troops die or suffer
disability that could be avoided. A lot of people would say that
it is not our job, but the job of our legislators. To them, I
say, let us show the world what the American people are made of.
They already have their opinions of our federal agencies and our
legislators. In their minds they have defined themselves by
their past performance.
I say, lets show the world what we as individuals and as a
collective what we are capable of doing, that we all are willing
to walk the walk, instead of talking the talk that many of our
government agencies and their administrators are content to do.
Remember performance is the coin of the realm and we will either
define ourselves by our performance or our lack of effort.
Remember, we cannot expect or earn the trust and respect from
our legislators if we are not willing to do what it takes for
them to act in our interest. The choice is yours.
Considering what I have sacrificed and what I will continue to
sacrifice I figure I have a right to expect other people to
stand up and walk the walk instead of merely whining and talking
bullshit, especially if they have asked for help from others.
It is of great interest to me if the parents, friends and family
of our troops in Iraq will put out the effort I have and will to
honor and protect them. My ex-coworkers are betting against
this. But what do they know, they were federal employees and
part of the problem instead of the cure.
Finally, I have found a realtor who has promised to give all of
his commission to the troops, and as I said, providing that I
can find the appropriate people to send the money too.
I will be going from town to town as he endeavors to sell the
home I love for the love I have of America.
As I go I will ask for everyone to sign this letter of request
for the information as to where we can send money. I will be
contacting churches, fraternal organizations, clubs and
associations and various unions to also be part of this cause.
This letter with the signatures will go to all of the
presidential hopefuls to see how many of them would be willing
to help us. On my site will also include web address, e-mail
address, phone numbers and physical address which I would ask
anyone truly interested to contact these presidential hopefuls
aside from the letter that I will send. If they are unwilling or
unable to help, then my question is, is this the type of person
to lead our nation.
You decide for yourself.
Me, I will finally find out what I needed to know for myself.
Sincerely,
Vinny
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