UPDATE to a Week of Blog Prompts

If you read my list of "A" words, then no doubt you will have realized that this has not been a most productive week. Pan suggests that I add annoyed to it as well. What a great "A" word and it did not even cross the hemisphere of my brains.

What prompted this post though is one of the fundraising solicitors for the police department. They have been calling all week. They called at 8 a.m., the one morning that Pan took a day off to sleep in. The guy I talked to today swears it wasn't his organization; but his is the only one I have been solicited by in the past month.

Let me say this first (just in case the rude guy I was talking to, hey I was rude first, but I wasn't asking for money, is reading this), I, probably more than most really respect our law enforcement officers (that goes for paramedics, firemen, etc). They do a hard job and don't get nearly the credit they deserve. So I really resent these fundraising solicitors who "collect" money for the organizations and then keep some of it. Sorry in my mind they shouldn't keep any.

Way back, when I lived in P'cola, the fire department and police department who had people living in the neighborhood would come door to door with identification to solicite for their organizations. Honey, let me tell you I was the first one with cash or check in hand to help them out. These gals and guys were doing this on their own time; devoting a couple of hours to support their organizations. I love them. Even if it meant going without dinners out or a month's worth of cigarettes (I smoked then); it was something I was willing and still willing to do.

Now though we have these fundraising companies who keep half the money. In the midst of the conversation today, though, I specifically asked that I be sent a detailed report on how the money would be allocated. That if I deemed it to be of value and that the police (or their families) would be the real beneficiaries of the donation, then I would most certainly consider donating. Where he sent me was to www.flstatefop.org. Nope, didn't work. So on my own I researched and found www.floridastatefop.org. Surprisingly enough I could not find anything about how the donations were applied.

So if you are an officer of the law reading this, I applaud you and all that you do; but please understand that I will be heading down to my nearest law enforcement office with check in hand to be devoted entirely to your organization and not to some fundraising facility supposedly representing you.