Charitable Expectations

I've been in limbo over a donation I made to a local charity.  Even as I type this, I still don't know if I want to divulge the name of this charity because I think they do good despite the bone I have to pick with them.  When donating to a charity, is it wrong to expect something in return if that's how they solicit funds?

Back in April, I donated a significant sum of money to a local charity as part of an assignment I had in one of my classes.  It probably wasn't significant to them, but it was to my bank account.  My original intent was to give less than half of what I landed up giving . . . and then I saw their donation packages.  For different amounts given, the charity offered gift packages in return-- the greater the donation, the heftier the return gift would be.  For example, if I donated $10, I might receive a bumper sticker and a pencil, but if I gave $50, I might receive a CD, tote bag, and all the lesser gift items.  I had my eye on the tote bag, so I donated the appropriate amount, felt good for doing so, and felt even better knowing I'd have one of those snazzy bags in my possession soon enough.

It wasn't until the middle of June that I realized I had yet to receive my gifts from this charity.  My first thought was that I had maybe skipped a step or missed something.  I went back to the website and it appeared that I might have forgotten to click the button that said yes, send me my gift!  I swear that option hadn't been there in April, but I clicked it and waited, sure the bag would be in my clutches in no time.

It's now August and I have not received my gifts, and when I went back to the website, the gift packages are gone.  It's as if they'd never existed!  One can now purchase those items in their store, but there are no donation incentive packages like I swear there were in April.  What does a girl like me do, then?  Write an email!  Four days ago, I went to the charity's "Contact Us" page and contacted them.  It was, I believe, a polite missive.  I don't usually donate to charities in hopes of getting a prize or gift.  For this same assignment, I also donated to another local charity that offered nothing but a thank you email in return.  I was happy with it because it's all that I expected.  This charity has yet to respond to my email, and to be honest, I don't think I'll ever get one.

Let's be clear about this, though.  I'm upset because they said they'd give me something in return for my donation.  I held up my end of the bargain-- I donated.  They processed my payment and took my money.  They, however, did not send me the items they said they would.  I feel lied to.  Misled.  Then the charity did not respond to my email, and so now I feel ignored AND misled.  And that makes me feel bad, too.  I feel guilty because they put me in the position of holding my hand out when they should have just honored our deal in the first place.  I should not feel bad about giving to charity!

Maybe if I were a better person, I'd be able to let it go.  The less they have to give away, the more they have to promote healthy, sustainable living, right?  But now I can't feel good about them because they lied to me.  I now see them at work in the community and I think they got the funds to do that through manipulation and shady deals.  I question their integrity.  I feel so let down.  It's like finding out your heroes are only human, victims of the same frailties as everyone else.

The charity may yet contact me.  Who knows?  They may offer an apology, maybe even offer the gifts they offered in the first place.  Will I accept them?  Yes!  Will I feel bad about it?  Nope.  Am I wrong? But what if they ignore me completely?  What do you think?

A Family That Dragonball Zs Together, Powers Up Together

Dragonball Z and I go way back.  The first summer I came back to Hawaii from North Carolina, my siblings were obsessed with DBZ.  I laughed at them.  The show can be completely ridiculous (just look up where their names come from), and, depending on which version you're watching, episodes can be slow-moving and even uneventful.

And then I got hooked.

From then on, I watched every episode I could, except back then there wasn't a DVR or online episodes.  You either caught it when it was on or you missed it.  Living out in North Carolina, I also lacked access to DBZ manga, which probably wouldn't have been a problem in Hawaii.  I tried to buy the VHS tapes (yes, they were still in wide use then) or DVDs, but they were way out of my price range.  So I settled on t-shirts and cheap comic books.

These days, my kids are into DBZ, too.  They've watched every American episode of each saga, and it's super neat that they can talk to my siblings about DBZ with confidence.  The series spans generations with vigor.  The kids now know more about the Z warriors than I!

So, I a couple years ago, we went to see Battle of the Gods in the theatre, and it was amazing.  It's so much fun to watch such an iconic show with so many other fans.  Knowing how fun that experience was, I took them to see the new DBZ movie, Resurrection "F" last night.  It was a ton of fun.

Noah left cross country practice early so we could get there on time, knowing that it would be crowded.  But, oh!  My slipper broke between the car and the theatre, so we made a visit to the shoe store to pick up a cheap pair of slippers (never mind that I have a bazillion pairs at home).  We ate a fast dinner, then headed to the theatre.  Amazingly, we got there late enough that a line had already formed, but early enough to get great seats.  Last time, they shoe-horned us all into a tiny theatre, but this time they were kind enough to open up one of the big ones.

Prior to going, I'd read a review saying this movie was dumb and superfluous.  Well, duh.  That's DBZ, right?  Silly, weird, with lots of odd noises, powering up, and pauses between fights.  Resurrection "F" was all of those things minus the long, drawn out voice overs while thinking and growling while powering up, plus blue hair. I really liked the blue hair.

The cost of tickets and dinner was already high, and then I had to buy new footwear.  This movie outing turned out to be quite expensive.  But it's such a rare experience and we all had a bunch of fun.  Love that fricken Dragonball Z.