BARROLD BONDS:
Years ago a family in the hall had a fire in their home. I heard about it weeks later by gossip and I visited them with some clothes in a bag. They were living in a trailer in their driveway. The husband was thankful and said something like "it's about time somebody showed up...".
I complained to one of the elders and asked why there was no announcement about this family's predicament - especially when they made stupid announcements from the podium about "so and so is not feeling well lately". The elder said something to the effect "it depends on how the information is given to us".
To me, this only meant that the Witnesses in the hall are only interested if it is a popular person or family. Everybody else is out of luck it would seem.