The Spirit of the Holidays

All year long, I get tons of mail from various charities soliciting for donations. Now and then I send something, which accomplishes only one thing – gets them to send me more mail. I’ve often thought charities simply fish for donations so they can pay the postage for all that mail they send out.

However, in the spirit of the holiday I thought I might take a moment to talk about a charity I think deserves a little more than a cursory glance.

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital caught my attention not only because they are dedicated to helping children afflicted with life threatening and incurable illnesses, but because they don’t ask for payment above what’s covered by insurance and will treat patients without insurance regardless of their ability to pay.

In an era when greedy insurance companies and poorly run medical facilities are bleeding us dry and hardworking, tax paying Americans increasingly can’t afford health care, the prospect of having a child with a life threatening illness is more frightening than terrorism. [In fact, the insurance industry IS a form of terrorism, as far as I’m concerned, but I must remind myself this isn’t a political blog.] An organization that will provide exorbitantly expensive medical care and not have their eye on the bottom line profit, definitely deserves my support.

This isn’t a plea for donations. Like all charitable organizations, St. Jude’s does enough of that for themselves. This is merely a PSA to say if you’re looking for a place make a donation in the spirit of the holiday or any time of year, the philosophy of the Children’s Research Hospital, in my humble opinion, makes them a good place to start.