I read this on another post, but there are SO many things wrong with this article.
BEAUMONT - Each weekend since October, Danny Farrow has driven about 90 miles to the Golden Triangle, where he lives in a trailer and feeds thousands of homemade meals to volunteers.
He could be golfing. He could be fishing. (Uh, no...he'd be out in service, mowing the lawn at the hall, studying for his next meeting.)
Instead, he's feeding hundreds of Jehovah's Witnesses who come to the area to rebuild hurricane-damaged homes. (A welcome break from the above mentioned activities.)
They arrive at the area Kingdom Halls from all over the state - and some from beyond its borders - to repair more than 850 homes that belong to their "brothers and sisters," other Jehovah's Witnesses. (They need to define 'brothers and sisters' - no one being shunned or inactive)
They will stay until the work here is done, about three to four months, J.C. Avila Beaumont hub coordinator at the North Major Drive site, said. And after that, some volunteers likely will help out in Louisiana, he said.
"This is probably the one organization you will see that will see this project to the end," Farrow said.
I agree - definitely arrogant. Hmmm....sounds like some Pharisees praying on the street corner to me....
Jehovah's Witnesses who can't drive to Southeast Texas donate money to help the cause, Avila said, which is used to buy supplies and food. Also, several nonprofit groups, like the Red Cross, have donated frozen and canned foods. Uh, please clarify. My understanding is that they are NOT allowed to donate money to a specific cause, rather they donate it for the worldwide PREACHING work, it goes to Brooklyn, and then is distributed. So this paragraph should read "They donate it to a few people in NY who, if they can spare a few bucks, send it this way." And WHY on earth would the Red Cross be willing to give them a dime?? And WHAT HYPOCRISY for them to accept it after years of villifying the Red Cross.
Since early October, the volunteers have completed more than 400 homes. About 260 homes remain in Beaumont and Orange, with another 150 in the northern counties, Avila said.
No one is paid. No one is forced to work. (Of course not. They can count time. I'd rather rebuild a few hundred homes any day and count time then knock on some doors. Although, I'd rather amputate any given body part with one of those little 'spork' things than go in service)
They volunteer their weekends because the Bible tells them to, Avila said. (No, the volunteer their weekend because they are told to preach every weekend by their 'handlers', but since they can do this instead, they do. Someone, ANYONE, show me in the Bible where it says "volunteer your weekends for the FDS").
The Bible instructs people to love each other, Avila said before quoting John 13:34-35:
"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (Wow....a Witness knows this scripture....guess this means you can know something and not have any practical use for it.)
Helping someone rebuild a home is the best way these men and women know how to show their love right now, they said. (And to get out of going in service.)
Jehovah's Witnesses also rebuilt homes damaged during Hurricane Allison in 2001 and Florida homes damaged in recent hurricanes. (Yes, I even helped in this a couple of weekends. My parents helped EVERY weekend for months.)
"I can't fix everything in the world," said Michael Perham, 47, of Rosenberg. "My little contribution is the best I can do."
Perham said he would like to help more people who are not Jehovah's Witnesses but added, "You gotta look after your family. You can't take care of everyone in the world." (LIE LIE LIE LIE LIE LIE. They have NO interest at ALL in helping ANYONE who is not a JW, or studying. This just makes my blood boil. Just say "The Bible says do good especially to those in the faith, and you are not in our faith and we must stay seperate from the world. You may stumble me if I work along side someone other than another JW-bot.) Oh, he should also say that we will do this for our 'family', but if our blood relatives who were df'd needed help, we'd tell them - oh wait - we couldn't tell them anything because we can't talk to them.
Taking care of other Jehovah's Witnesses is a large enough task.
On Christmas weekend, close to 1,000 people volunteered, Avila said. On New Year's weekend, about 800 assisted. Jehovah's Witnesses do not celebrate holidays. (Because the Society wants to make sure that EVERY extra dime goes to NY - not to buying some harmless presents for friends and family.)
So many volunteers and so many homes could become a logistical disaster. (But being part of a high-control group has it's advantages; knowing how to control a large group of people is one advantage.)
The volunteers obviously are experienced. They have set up stations - assessments, food service, administration, first aid, and trucking - to keep everything running smoothly.
Chris Alberga (I know this guy), 28, of Van Vleck in Matagorda County, began volunteering last month in the administration office. He makes sure the programs that chart people's names, phone numbers, addresses and problems are working. (Ahhhh...we've just received a glimpse inside the technology of Big Brother working inside the WBTS. How many OTHER names, addresses, phone numbers and PROBLEMS are on this database?)
At the first-aid station, volunteer nurses, paramedics and doctors take care of cuts, burns and other medical problems. (Why? Lost an arm - don't worry, the New Order is right around the corner. Shake it off and go put a few more shingles on that roof with your good arm.)
When workers were chopping trees off homes a couple of months ago, a few people hurt themselves with chain saws, said Perham, a paramedic. Those people were taken to the hospital for stitches, he said.
Now, most injuries are related to food service, he said. (Yeah - the 'loving' brothers jockeying for position in line. Remember the assemblies when they served food? Don't be in the hallway between the seats and the food section at 12:01)
Volunteer cooks wake at 3 a.m. to start breakfast. Meals must be packaged and taken to other volunteers in Orange, Silsbee and Port Arthur by 5:45 a.m., Farrow said.
On a recent Saturday, volunteers ate Italian sausage for lunch and gumbo for dinner. That was 160 gallons of gumbo - one batch with shrimp and crawfish, another without.
Cooksy work in two trailers equipped with two long grills, 12 low-boy burners, five convection ovens and one char grill.
Farrow won't let the men (the women don't cook) (WHAT????? I thought even in the JW world women were qualified to at least cook - what will they not be able to do next? Talk at the hall, have meeting parts??? ) talk while cooking because saliva could end up in the 20- or 25-gallon pots, making diners sick. (He probably ordered them silent because one of them said "Hey, I heard some rumor about the UN and the Society - anyone heard that?") Plus, all the crap they fed me for 30 years made me sicker than a little spit in some soup.....
Dennis Cantrell, 49, of Houston travels every weekend to rebuild homes.
Usually, dozens of people (as many as 50) work on one home, he said. It makes for a tight work space but gets a house done quickly, he said. (How many JW's does it take to change a light bulb? However many can count time doing it...)
People often have tears of thanks in their eyes, Cantrell said. But that's not why he does the work. He volunteers because it's what the Bible instructs him to do. (No, it's what the SLAVE instructs him to do.)
"We live our lives around our religion," Cantrell said. "Not our religion around our lives." (You know, there are so many things I could say here, but it's so easy, what would be the fun in it?)
Many volunteers want the work here to finish quickly so they can get back to door-to-door witnessing. (WHATEVER. <super eye roll>)
Evangelizing has fallen off since the storm because so many people are busy repairing homes, volunteers said. (This paragraph should read "Evangelizing has fallen off since the advent of the Internet, JWD, freeminds.org, silentlambs.)
I agree with Blindersoff and some others....we need to blitz the Red Cross en masse, and respond to the writer of this article with the 'truth' about the 'love' and how conditional it is and about how much of a crock this article is.....