charity

My PBS station has no clue

I watch a lot of PBS. We have two channels here in Miami and I watch them both, but one, I watch more than the other.

I mentioned to a cousin one time that I watch a lot of PBS and she asked, “You like to watch nature shows?”

No. I like to watch all the British tv – Britcoms, dramas, things like that. And I watch a lot of cooking shows. I can barely boil water, but I find them relaxing. When I ran into Lidia Bastianich at Whole Foods in NYC not long ago, I was excited.

I didn’t approach her, but we did rub elbows – literally – it was very crowded in the store that day.

Anyway, I’m writing about PBS’s lack of marketing knowledge, or at least one of my PBS station’s lack of being able to hold donations.

Two times they had money or access to donations from me and they blew it and didn’t make an effort to keep the donations going.

This bothers me no end because they take all their programs off the air for weeks on end and have these nonsense telethons, asking for money to support their stations. They literally antagonize their viewers by taking their favorites shows off and then asking us to donate to keep the shows on. A form of extortion.

Anyway, I was donating $25.00 a month to one of the local PBS stations but all at once, they took my two favorite shows off the air. Not just my favorite shows on PBS, but of all of tv – Doc Martin and Escape to the Chateau. I could watch those reruns of both shows forever.

It bothered me so much that I emailed the station and told them I no longer wished to donate due to the fact that they removed my shows.

I expected them to call me and try to keep me donating and I would then make a deal to split the cost and use half the money for a streaming service or something and let them keep the rest. But you know what they did? They emailed me back and said, “Done, starting next month you will no longer be charged.”

They didn’t even try to keep what they had – the first rule of business – keeping your current customers! And they didn’t call to see if it was really me wanting to cancel my affiliation with them.

And some months before, I was donating one of my cars. But they never came to pick up the car – a Mercedes! I waited a couple of weeks, but they never showed up.

I finally called them and told them they had to come by the end of the week and get the car because I was leaving town for a few weeks . They said they could not come and get it, so they lost the car. They didn’t even try to talk me into not canceling the donation.

So twice, they had donations that they are on tv begging for non-stop and when they had these donations in hand, the cavalierly just gave them up.

I don’t ever like to use this word, but they were STUPID. Totally Stupid.

That’s how you don’t run an organization that relies on charity to stay in business.

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Save the whales; and track them, too

I bought some of these Whale Tracking Bracelets as Christmas gifts this year from Club Ocean. People loved them.

I got a variety of colors, dark blue, light blue and pink.

Originally I thought there was a chip or something in the bracelet that let you track the whale, but there is a card with each bracelet that has the whale’s name along with a QR code which takes you to the GPS where the whale is. If you save that info on your phone, you can easily pull it up whenever you want to check him/her out.

My humpback whale, Merlin, a female, is off the coast of Australia. She is about 45 feet long.

Club Ocean also has other animals you can follow and donate to. There are turtles, sharks, polar bears and dolphins along with the whales. And there are coral bracelets, plushies, caps and other accessories you can purchase.

The bracelets took almost a month to arrive, even though I paid for rush shipping, as I wanted to have them in time for Christmas and maybe the Christmas rush is what delayed the delivery, but they did arrive the day before Christmas, so that worked out well.

Check them out here. and support sea animals and get a cool item in the process.

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Reaching out on my birthday

This week was my birthday. And as usual, I got tons of texts, Facebook messages and a few phone calls, which is all great. People I hadn’t heard from all year, including past neighbors, reach out, who I enjoyed hearing from.

Our condo building text blew up. Our building prez doesn’t like frivolous texts, he feels the text string is for important things, like if the elevator is stuck or something. But they are texts, they aren’t important messages for posterity so who cares if someone sends a frivolous text, aside from the non-stop beeping when all the texts come in.

I don’t think many people save texts, they get rid of them eventually to make room on their phones, but to tell you the truth, I think I have ever text I ever received over the years. I’m a packrat when it comes to that.

But in those birthday texts, on my birthday itself, were requests from charities, car dealerships, restaurants, and other pests. Is this a new thing – on your birthday, all these requests for money and sales come out of the woodwork? I like the Starbucks free drink reminder, I did forget to use it, but at my local Starbucks they know me, so when I show up a week or so later and say I never received my free Starbucks drink, they just give it to me.

But the other texts I don’t remember happening in the past before. I guess when I give to a charity or something, they take my birthday down, so they can hit me up for more money on MY DAY! I blocked those numbers.

I gave a donation recently to a political organization and they kept texting and emailing me, but not on my birthday strangely enough. I guess it’s because I blocked the emails and texts after receiving the requests for more money so many times after my first donation. They didn’t even wait, they started asking for more right away.

Anyway, I just thought it was curious that all those requests for money and notices of sales, etc were coming in via text, which I found intrusive, especially on MY DAY!

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He wanted to read the NY Times

Yesterday I was walking into Publix and there was this guy sitting on the ground. He asked me for $5.00 to buy The New York Times of all things. He waved a couple of dollars, but he said he needed more. This was a new one – the NY Times – which intrigued me. I had a $10 and $20 bill, so I gave him the $10 bill.

I asked him how much the New York Times is, out of curiosity. I hadn’t bought it for years, and I’ve only purchased it in New York, never out of town. He said it was $6.00 for the daily. We started discussing the price of newspapers, and which ones we read. I found it interesting. He said he used to buy the Times for 50 cents and has read it since he’s been a boy.

I heard a priest one time say, “If you are going to give someone money with conditions attached, then don’t.” And I always remembered that. So I didn’t care what he used the money for, but I know it was the Times because when I left Publix a bit later, he was reading the paper.

When I mentioned this to friends, they had all sorts of shit to say, like, “He saw you coming,” or “You can get the paper free in the library,” which I had to remind him does not help the media company if we don’t support them.

I saw an image or story last week where a guy living on the street was seen reading the same book over and over. A passerby saw this and gave him his Kindle filled with books. One time in New York, I kept passing this girl sitting on the floor in Grand Central reading a book. Day after day, there she was reading a book, after awhile, she had another book. I felt sorry for her, but she seemed to give dirty/angry looks at people who looked at her, so I was hesitant to approach her.

The Powerball is up past $1 billion, it would be ironic if the Publix guy bought a ticket or two with the remaining money I gave him, and won!

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Creative panhandlers

I’m not surprised that yesterday’s cartoon hit home with a lot of people, they or someone they know has had a similar experience in some way.

I got the idea for the cartoon through a circuitous route. I may have told you this before, but I was at a Taco Bell drive-thru recently and this guy comes up to the car and asks for money. I told him I didn’t have change, I only had a $10.00 bill and I showed him the bill in my hand.

He then says, “I’ll wait for the change.”

Now this intrigued me and I liked his ingenuity, so I didn’t mind that. But he was annoying as he followed me and the car as I drove around the drive, waiting for my turn to order. I ordered and drove to the window, and he was still there and when they handed me the change, he took it. He didn’t even wait for me to decide how much to give him – I think it was about $3.00 and he took it. He waited between the car and the drive-thru window, so as not to miss his opportunity in the off chance that I hit the peddle and sped off, which was not my intention, by the way.

So of course, I got to mulling this over and I ended up with the cartoon you see here.

It’s dog eat dog out there, these panhandlers have to be creative.

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He came in like a wrecking ball

Today is “No Pants Day.” This is my contribution.

You’ll probably see a bunch of comic strips today where the characters are pantsless.

No Pants Day is held the first Friday in May. May 5 was Cartoonists Day and May 4, was of course Starwars Day – May the Fourth Be With You.

May is a busy month for the comics world – heck, my own birthday is this month and so many friends have birthdays this month.

Years ago, we used to have a “Gemini Party” where so many of us would get together and celebrate. One time we lined up for a photo – about 12 of us or so – in the order our birthdays fell on the calendar.

Anyway, “No Pants Day” was started by some college students in Texas in 2000. You might have seen the no pants subway rides – that is connected this some way.

Hanging coffees

I give money to people who ask for it when I’m walking around New York and I have also bought meals for people who look like they need it, and this Hanging Coffee idea from Suspended Coffees on Facebook is a great idea, especially with winter coming on.

There is a little coffee shop, where two people arrive and approached the counter.
“Five coffees ☕️ please. Two for us and three hanging.”
They paid, they took their two coffees and left.
I asked the waiter. “What’s this about hanging coffees?”
“Wait and you’ll see.”
Some more people came in.
Two girls asked for a coffee each, they paid & left.
The following order was for seven coffees and it was made by three women – ‘three for them and four hanging coffees.’
I was left wondering…what is the meaning of the hanging coffees, they leave.
Then, a man dressed in worn clothes, who looks like he might be homeless, arrives at the counter and asks sincerely…
“Do you have a coffee hanging?”
“Yes we do, sir.”
They serve him a coffee…. I got my answer.
People pay in advance for a coffee that will be served to whoever can’t afford a hot drink.
This tradition started in Naples.
Amazingly, it has spread throughout the world’s cities and towns.
It’s also possible to order not only “hanging coffees” but also a sandwich or a full low cost meal.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could all start doing this in the cities and towns where we live?

Small kindnesses like this can impact so many lives, in ways we could never imagine.

Maybe we should all try it. 😊

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It’s all about tofu

I saw a great episode of tasteMAKERS this weekend – about tofu, which I never liked, but after seeing this episode it looks pretty good.

There was a time when my mother tried sneaking tofu into things. She is a gourmet cook and has recipes that she’s used all our lives – mostly Italian stuff, like meatballs, lasagna, etc. So when we started seeing strange things in the meatballs, we threw a fit. “What is this?” I asked, “You’ve been making these all your life and you’re known for your meatballs and now you’re changing the recipe?”

She said she was trying to hide the tofu in the meatballs, it was a funny scene.

Anyway, this lady, Jenny Yang bought a tofu store/factory in Chicago after the owners closed it down. Jenny depended on their products and the only way to keep getting them was to buy the business. While doing that, she ended up supporting so many other local businesses.

It’s a great story and as I said, the tofu looks pretty good, too, in it’s many incarnations.

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Snoopy license plates!

The states of California is offering Snoopy license plates. The extra money raised goes to California museums.

“This street-legal, DMV- and PEANUTS-approved license plate features Snoopy doing his signature happy dance. Plates for cars, trucks, vans, commercial vehicles, and motorcycles start at just $50 ($103 for personalized plates).”

There are over 1400 museums in California.

I want one. Only I don’t live in California. 😦

Dear Mr. Cuomo

I was mentioning that people’s true selves, their true spirits come out in times like these.

Here is the letter New York’s Gov. Andrew Cuomo received from a selfless retired Kansas farmer named Dennis Ruhnke, Gov. Cuomo read it at one of his press conferences and then posted it online, humanity at its best:

cuomo-letter

Dear Mr. Cuomo,

I seriously doubt that you will ever read this letter as I know you are busy beyond belief with a disaster that has befallen our country. We are a nation in crisis, of that there is no doubt. I’m a retired farmer hunkered down in northeast Kansas with my wife who has but one lung and occasional problems with her remaining lung. She also has diabetes. We are in our seventies now and frankly I am afraid for her. Enclosed, find a solitary N95 masks, left over from my farming days. It has never been used. If you could would you please give this mask to a nurse or doctor in your state. I have kept four masks for my immediate family. Please keep on doing what you do so well. Which is to lead.

Sincerely,
Dennis and Sharon

Dennis thought the governor would never read the letter. By now I think the whole world has read it.