as to this topic...It doesnt matter if the local dubs helped this woman or not. Someone helped her. To be certain..it was not for purely altruistic reasons that the producers do this.... It makes good TV....good TV draws eyeballs.....eyeballs means people who will watch advertising (including all of the product placements in the homes they build)....advertising pays for TV..... that otherwise you and I would have to pay for. The cost of the advertising is eventually included in the cost of the products we buy. (If we dont buy that product, we watch the program for free, if we do buy the product, then we paid for the program).
The JW (or whomever) gets a new house (in the old days, EHM just renovated...but there were legal/logistical problems with doing it that way..so now they just demolish and rebuild)... everyone wins.
What bothers me about EHM is that they build these outlandishly fancy houses that the homeowner could never afford normally. I have often wondered about the taxation issue.... the builder and/or community usually pays off the mortgage and even provides a maintenance fund...but who pays the increased value of the new home?
Do they really need all the latest gadgets.....no..but its donated by the manufacturers.... Some things I understand (ie, the latest in air filtration for those with environmental allergy issues), or the huge house for the family that adopts a dozen kids (otherwise the government would be housing them)..... but do these kids really need these outlandish rooms that they will outgrow (mature out of) in a few years anyway? No..but it makes great TV.
But the sister that is helped by EXM...who cares if the dubs didnt help her out.... she got help, thats all that matters.
Now...as a side (but related) issue... about dubs helping their own...
As a former elder, I can tell you that there is no organized system to help JWs in need. Yes there is the Disaster Relief Fund (now rolled into the Worldwide Work fund) that has helped some (ie, Katrina) but I was disturbed by the request of the RBCs to be reimbursed by the JW that is assisted (out of the insurance/government money) for materials and labor. The labor was donated..why should the Regional be reimbursed with all of the insurance money? The JW that is helped with home repairs in that situation will certainly need some of the insurance money to buy new furniture, etc. I can understand being reimbursed for materials, that makes sense of course. But to donate it all (or be pressured or "guilted" into it, as I know some were) is unreasonable.
Let me give you an example I know of first hand in my old congo where elders dont help there own but churches did:
When there was a huge power outage in my area in the summer of 2006, do you think the elders in my old congo helped anyone but themselves and their families? NOooooo. I know of one elderly sister (who doesnt have a dime to donate when she dies) who lived in a senior high rise. Everyone in the high rise was evacuated to a neighborhood church basement where they got 3 square meals a day and a cot and their basic needs met. That was the evacuation plan for the building..understood. But 3 days???? Where were the elders? They never checked on her or the other sister in the senior building. (but those widowed sisters that had money that was being willed to the KH, you can be certain they were checked in on by the elders personally)
You can be certain that the "worldly" relatives of the elderly sisters were not impressed by the lack of love shown by the elders. (I may have been off the hook because I was out of town at the time, but I was still ashamed of what "we" as a collective body failed to do....I was approached about it when I returned by both sisters and their relatives).
When I asked the BOE and the CO about it, they said they "knew" the sisters were being cared for.... no...they didnt know anything until they were told days later. One of the sisters started making phone calls around on her own..once the PO got wind of that..then he took it upon himself to continue it.... No love at all.
Another reason I have no use for the WTBTS...they should lose their tax-exempt status unless they provide meaningful social programs... (not the useless "Education work")
Snakes ()
...OUTLAW
...OUTLAW