Hello, A Jw on AOL posted this to support their view that Jws are charitable. Should I believe this? Dear Gary, My reason for writing is to address the your newsletter regarding disaster relief. You asked, "What should we do? How can we help these people?" And then you said, "The truth is, I don't know." I would like to make a recommendation. First I want to say that I appreciate you for what you're doing now and for all of the efforts you have made in the past to put together disaster relief funds. On a personal level, I subscribed to your newsletter because of your marketing genius. But the main reason I stay subscribed is because I know that you are a big-hearted, genuinely compassionate, very cool and funny guy. I want you to know upfront that this email is long for the sake of these desperate and needy people and because I want to give your noble & loving intentions the time and attention it deserves. And by the way...I'm a chic. So if any of this sounds a little touch-feely, you'll know why. Ok, down to business. As for my recommendation. Regardless of whether you agree with their religious beliefs or not, it is my belief (through the extensive research I have done regarding disaster relief) that the organization of Jehovah's Witnesses is going to be your best choice when the primary concern is maximizing the use of funds in the most beneficial way for victims. Here's why. Another big reason this is the best organization to donate money to is because they are so organized it's uncanny. I was reading an impressive article in a magazine about Jehovah's Witnesses and disaster relief for Hurricane Andrew. Check this out. When Hurricane Andrew hit, the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Brooklyn, New York, reacted at once and appointed a relief committee to function out of the Fort Lauderdale Assembly Hall. They also assigned a considerable sum of money for the purchase of materials, food, and emergency items. As a consequence, Jehovah's Witnesses were among the first to react to the situation and began calling for volunteers. In fact, many came without even being called. Witness workers turned up from California, North Carolina, Oregon, Washington State, Pennsylvania, Missouri, and many other places. A Virginia Regional Building Committee that usually builds Kingdom Halls (the places where they meet for worship) sent a group of 18 Witnesses to repair roofs. It took them 18 hours to drive down. Relief workers took vacation time or leaves of absence from their jobs and drove across the country, hundreds and even thousands of miles, to reach their fellow Witnesses in distress. There was a group that came from the Charleston area in South Carolina. They had experience with Hurricane Hugo back in 1989. They knew what to expect and soon organized relief supplies, including electric generators and building materials. Within two weeks volunteer crews had dried out some 800 homes and had repaired many roofs. Even the media noted how well the Witnesses were organized. The Savannah Evening Press carried the headline “Jehovah’s Witnesses Find They Are Welcome in South Florida,” and The Miami Herald declared: “Witnesses Care for Their Own—and Others.” It stated: “No one in Homestead is slamming doors on the Jehovah’s Witnesses this week—even if they still have doors to slam. About 3,000 Witness volunteers from across the country have converged on the disaster area, first to help their own, then to help others. . . . Any military organization might envy the Witnesses’ precision, discipline and efficiency.” In contrast, an Air Force officer was quoted as saying about the relief effort in another area: “All the chiefs just want to be chiefs, but nobody wants to get down and actually do the dirty work.” Jehovah's Witnesses have organized hundreds of Regional Building Committees all over the world to construct Kingdom Halls and large Assembly Halls. Thus, they have trained manpower ready to respond on a few hours’ notice. During Hurricane Andrew, the Anheuser Busch company donated a truckload of drinking water. On arriving, the driver asked officials where he should deliver the water. He was told that the only ones who had something organized were Jehovah's Witnesses. In fact, within a week after Andrew struck, some 70 tractor-trailer loads of supplies had arrived at the Fort Lauderdale Assembly Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses. A volunteer there reported (I'm quoting from the magazine here): “So we received a whole truckload of drinking water. We immediately included this among the other foodstuffs that we were sending to the distribution centers at the Kingdom Halls. It was shared with the brothers and with the neighbors in that area who were in need.” In the beginning, city authorities were sending non-Witness volunteers to the Kingdom Halls, saying, ‘They are the only ones who are properly organized.’ Eventually the military moved in and began to set up food and water relief centers and tent cities. The original Witness staging area was set up by the relief committee at the Fort Lauderdale Assembly Hall, which is some 40 miles north of the main disaster zone around Homestead. To relieve some of the pressure, a primary staging area was established at the Plant City Assembly Hall near Orlando, about 250 miles northwest of the disaster zone. Most relief materials were channeled there for sorting and packing. The committee ordered its needs from Plant City on a daily basis, and huge tractor-trailers were used to cover the five-hour drive down to Fort Lauderdale. In turn this staging station supplied food, materials, water, generators, and other needs to three Kingdom Halls that had been repaired in the center of the disaster area. There, capable Witnesses organized building and clean-up crews to visit the hundreds of homes that needed attention. Kitchens and feeding lines were also opened on the Kingdom Hall grounds, and anybody was welcome to come for aid. Even some of the soldiers enjoyed a meal and were later observed dropping donations into the contribution boxes. For many of the homeless, alternative accommodations were found in the homes of Witnesses untouched by Andrew. Others stayed in trailers lent or donated for that purpose. After Hurricane Andrew, the superbly-organized relief program of the Witnesses was so well-known that some business establishments and individuals who were not Witnesses and who wanted to make significant donations of relief supplies turned these over to the Witnesses. According to the article, these folks knew that their gift would not be simply left in a stockpile, nor would it be used for profit, but it would truly benefit the hurricane victims, both Witnesses and non-Witnesses. In the research I have done, the disaster relief efforts organized by Jehovah's Witnesses are too many to mention. Again, their honesty, use of donated funds and organizational abilities are unsurpassed. They have two official web sites..... http://www.jw-media.org (This is the site where you can get their phone number which is (718) 560-5000) http://www.watchtower.org Look into this organization for yourself and see how they measure up to others for disaster relief. Like you, I also care deeply for all the people who are suffering from this hurricane and I have already donated funds to be dispensed by Jehovah's Witnesses. Perhaps when you call them you might want to ask how Jehovah's Witnesses are already administering relief aid to Hurricane Katrina victims. This could ultimately help you in your decision-making process. And even if you don't end up using this organization to distribute your relief funds, I hope that you have at least found this information helpful and can see that I truly care and appreciate what you are doing. I want you to know that my prayers are with you and your efforts to raise money. I wish you the most successful money-raising campaign EVER and I absolutely KNOW you will pull it off. You are an *amazing* individual....I know because I read your Boron Letters. Need I say more? Respectfully, Jina Henry God Bless Us All, Gary C. Halbert P.S. For those of you who want to make a donation without going to the website Jina listed, here's the details: You can send your check or money order made payable to "Watch Tower" and in the "memo" section of your payment, write "Hurricane Katrina". Send it to: Watch Tower Attn: Treasurer 25 Columbia Heights Brooklyn, New York 11201 As always... Peace. Click Here To View Our Newsletter Archive Click Here If You Want To Be On My Newsletter Announcement List Copyright © 2005 Gary C. Halbert. All Rights Reserved.
Is this for real?
by gspradling 11 Replies latest jw friends
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Gregor
Let's think about it. Donated skilled labor, donated materials, to repair real property, in some cases Kingdom Halls that the WTS holds the mortgage on. Big relief checks from the gov't. and private insurance payments.
No argument that individual JWs can be generous people but the WTS itself is as tight as the bark on a tree and donates relatively nothing to help it's members.
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needproof
Since when did you see Jehovah's Witnesses offering to clean up a Church or a Mosque after say, and Earthquake?
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theMadChristian
Bwahahahahahahaha! Now why in the WORLD would we want to repair a Church- where they lie about God?
Anyhow- that general message IS true ( I was there as we rebuilt Kingdom Halls and homes ), and regardless of all the cheap shots- thousands of us took time off work (even losing jobs) to go down and help!
Buuuuuuuuuut, who here wants to think about the GOOD things concerning my Brotherhood?
the Mad JW -
Who are you?
Bwahahahahahahaha! Now why in the WORLD would we want to repair a Church- where they lie about God?
Anyhow- that general message IS true ( I was there as we rebuilt Kingdom Halls and homes ), and regardless of all the cheap shots- thousands of us took time off work (even losing jobs) to go down and help!
Buuuuuuuuuut, who here wants to think about the GOOD things concerning my Brotherhood?
the Mad JW
My niece has spent the last year as the primary cook in a soup kitchen in the vicinity of the 9th ward in New Orleans. She works 12-16 hours a day 7 days a week. She doesn't do it for the recognition, she doesn't do it to push an agenda, she doesn't do it for any other reason than to quietly help people in need 24/7 365 days a year.
I have to laugh when people and religions draw attention to themselves for their occasional good works when the silent minority of unsung heros and heroinnes do it daily.
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needproof
Jehovah's Witnesses don't lie about God?
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Anti-Christ
Any military organization might envy the Witnesses’ precision, discipline and efficiency.”
I think that explains a lot.
No argument that individual JWs can be generous people but the WTS itself is as tight as the bark on a tree and donates relatively nothing to help it's members.
Anyhow- that general message IS true ( I was there as we rebuilt Kingdom Halls and homes ), and regardless of all the cheap shots- thousands of us took time off work (even losing jobs) to go down and help!
So did they receive compensation for losing there jobs? How much money did the WT donate? Don't get me wrong, I think it's great that you help so many people but it sound like the individuals did all the work and donations. I think It would have been more commendable that they would have rebuilt as much homes as possible before rebuilding the KH. I think it shows their priorities.
Let's think about it. Donated skilled labor, donated materials, to repair real property, in some cases Kingdom Halls that the WTS holds the mortgage on. Big relief checks from the gov't. and private insurance payments
That's a good point.
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OUTLAW
Another WBT$ Scam..JW`s donate time,money and materials..The JW affected by the disaster gets a check from the government to pay for repairs....Time money and materials have already been donated..An honest person would return the money..WBT$ would like Jehovah`s Witness`s to donate that money to them..And..They do.....People like Mad would like everyones admiration for helping the WBT$ steal from Disaster Relief Charity.....Well done Mad! Your an accomplice in theft!...OUTLAW
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juni
AMEN Who are you?.
Your niece gives from the heart not because she is told or is looking for adoration. That is the GOOD GIVING. From the heart.
Juni
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OnTheWayOut
I was involved in Hurricane Andrew relief. On the face value of the email, the post is essentially true.
The JW's in the area were essentially the first to be ready with relief. What year was that, 1991?
The reason was that local and regional brothers decided to "just do the right thing." They set up
distribution, individuals started giving food and supplies and labor.Would a Catholic be able to benefit from the Anheuser Bush truckload of water? Yes, but not as
much as the JW volunteers. The water was in aluminum cans. The local water was possibly tainted,
so we made ice out of the tainted water and stuck the cans into it. That was great for throwing cold
cans to volunteers on roofs. I didn't see too many non-JW's get into a line for food or water, but they
would have been welcome.Nowadays, it ain't like that. The Mother Organization has stepped in HEAVILY to Katrina relief and
other disasters. They practically threaten "marking" if you go to volunteer your labor without being
approved by a regional committee. The committees organize everything and create useless bureaucracy.
(Even at Hurricane Andrew relief, the locals created a work order sheet to see whose roofs would get
fixed, then decided whether to approve the jobs, but so many volunteers just showed up, that they
took most jobs.) What's bizarre is that most of it is still "out of pocket" for the JW's. The organization
insists that JW's work with a committee, but usually the volunteers pay for their own stuff, and locals
feed them "out of pocket."Many materials are donated, but Mother has to stick her nose in that. WTS told people to stop
donating food and clothing, but to just put money in the WORLD WIDE WORK box at the local hall, then
Mother would decide how best to help the Katrina victims. So Mother collects money for the disaster,
but the money is not earmarked for it specifically. Then locals and volunteers donate on their own for
food and some materials. Mother only buys what they don't donate. A huge bureaucracy is born for
funneling more money into Brooklyn to pay for lawsuits and the likes.
the Mad JW