The Steel Soldiers 1st Annual Fund Drive Benefiting Our Wounded Veterans

[big1096]

Contribution made!

 

[lthairdog]

Just chipped in. Great Cause!

 

[Katahdin]

Payment sent. Thinking of the wounded Veterans on Veterans Day.

 

[Buttweet]

Just kicked in a "Jackson"--more later...Buttweet

 

[itsbrokeagain]

Ill be donating as soon as I get paid next week.

 

[rosie]

Come on guys (and girls) contribute to this good cause!!!

 

[ARYankee]

***********************BUMP*******************

 

[steelsoldiers]

***********************BUMP*******************

Thanks for the BUMP!

We have passed $3000 at this point. Let's keep on giving guys. No donation is too small. If we all kick in a little, we will reach our goal. Thanks for supporting this project!

 

[onegmjack]

Made donation,will try to make another one or two.Thanks to you Chris for the great drive plus the site we all enjoy.

 

[steelsoldiers]

Thanks Dwight. I appreciate your support.

 

[islandguydon]

Bump,

It's almost the end of the month and I noticed the goal is far less than I expected so here is another BUMP.

 

[steelsoldiers]

Thanks for the bump. I was hoping we would be further along than this too, especially after the initial flurry of donations. Dig deep folks and help out our wounded vets.

 

[porkysplace]

bump

 

[Stalwart]

I endeavor to do my due diligence on charities that I support and WWP spends just too much on administrative expenses for me to support them. On the surface they claim 83% goes toward helping soldiers but when you see that nearly 25% goes to fundraising, $9.4 million of the total 2010 revenue of $41 million. The current Executive Director was paid $199,000 and former officer and founder received $230,000. One charity rating site gave them a "D". Someone with FAR more patience than me read through the financials and found that lots of travel and perks go into "program expenses" on that claimed 83%. I'm going to donate to some with better ratings myself . . . SORRY!

 

[3dAngus]

I endeavor to do my due diligence on charities that I support and WWP spends just too much on administrative expenses for me to support them. On the surface they claim 83% goes toward helping soldiers but when you see that nearly 25% goes to fundraising, $9.4 million of the total 2010 revenue of $41 million. The current Executive Director was paid $199,000 and former officer and founder received $230,000. One charity rating site gave them a "D". Someone with FAR more patience than me read through the financials and found that lots of travel and perks go into "program expenses" on that claimed 83%. I'm going to donate to some with better ratings myself . . . SORRY!

Thank you for the statistics Stalwart. I usually look for these things. I donated and am proud to say I did, but I usually look for less overhead on the expense accounting, and rarely donate more than once after finding out some of the costs of doing business. I try to spread my money around in smaller amounts here and there, all for a good cause. I recall when the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) campaign on Robins threw a party for the brass that ended up topping the $100K mark, and that was back in the early 80's. We were almost punished if we didn't meet our goals, back in those days. It's crazy what some of these companies in the name of charity spend on lavish salaries and expenses, all in the name of good deed and good business.

They do good work for our wounded. They are valued contributors to our war heros. They also consume much more than they should in the process of doing what is expected of them.

I feel no remorse if this group does not meet a "goal". Goals are good, and I hope they achieve it, but there are many other ways to make a contribution.
And there are an awful lot of people here who can stand to put some bread on their own table.

 

[islandguydon]

3dAngus

Personally, I am more Proud of the guy in Kentucky with 4 kids a mortgage and worried about buying Christmas presents for his kids, then he donates $20.00 that he dosent have but he knows others have it worse than he does.

Over a CEO with more money than most who donates $500.00

I would rather shake the hand of the Proud American with the 20 spot.

.

 

[littlebob]

I used to donate more, to a couple of things, but my income is 1/2-1/3 of what it was, my daughter will be graduating from High School and going to college, at this point I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to be able to do all that and keep the Deuce, the Barret and maybe the wife.

 

[onegmjack]

I give in good faith,that it is used for what it is given for.Then the rest is on them.

 

[3dAngus]

3dAngus



I would rather shake the hand of the Proud American with the 20 spot.

.

I'm with ya Don! It is what it is. I guess we can all find fault in any thing under our microscopes if we wish to, but there is goodness in everyone.

My favorite thing of all is, going to the grocery store, buying up bags of groceries, and dropping it off on the old sharecropper's house with sideboards still stuffed with newspaper to keep the draft out and give them some meat and milk, something they can treasure, if only for a day or two. Also do this for friends on hard times, with bare fridge, and empty stomachs. Interesting how when things are down, these same people do more than most to help out others with their free time.

Spread it around, I say. One day, it might just come back. I wish we had something like this cause when I came back from Vietnam. It could have helped many. Today, suicide rates are higher than ever in history with returning Vets. They had a rough go of it with all the tours in and out, something not seen since WWII.

 

[swbradley1]

I donated to the WWP because Chris asked us to. I would like to see less going to pay the head of the project and less perks but I still donated.

Personally, I donate and volunteer to help out The Thank You Foundation. My wife will be the incoming president starting Jan 1 so yes, I do have an interest. Since she is I got volunteered to be on the advisory board.

They support all vets, including their families, not just wounded ones. I have been to fundraisers with my trucks and so has Gimpy. Since we (wife and I) are both part of the Miss Ohio Scholarship Program we got the two connected and now Miss Ohio does events for them as well.

To give you an example we have wounded vet north of Dayton who wanted a flagpole for their home. TTYF put in a flagpole along with three stones with the names of his KIA buddies and had a dedication ceremony as well.

TTYF also helps out families during the holidays. They help as many families as they can if they apply for help. Last Saturday my wife and I delivered $500 (TTYF money) worth of presents and gift cards to a family of 6 that had to spend all their Christmas money on the upkeep of their house. The father didn't want anything but he got presents anyway.

I do what I can and all I ask is that you do the same.

The link is below.