Comments on: Can you spend $1,000 – $5,000 – $10,000 helping someone else?

By: Jeff

Jeff — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 01:44:31 +0000

If people have money to give and want to give to the ones in need you should from your heart the best place to start is with the future the future is children and they need it more then anyone in this world as an adult. If you are old enough you can help yourself but children are the true victims of helplessness they need us to help them through the times when no one will they are the true unfortunate ones in the world they cannot get a job to feed or cloth them they cannot rent a place to live. I would help the ones that need it the most the children, they are our future and an impression like that last a life time in that child.

By: Guy

Guy — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 07:28:49 +0000

I believe that I am a member of a misunderstood minority. I am a single father. How I got to be one is a long and sometimes unpleasant story, some of which I am unable to speak about here. What I can say is that at times, most of the time, frankly, I have felt rather alone in this. However, I know that I am not. What I also know is that, without certain events and, in particular, certain people’s help, I would not be where I am and my daughter would be in a much more unpleasant place. I was lucky to have the support of my family and of a couple of friends in particular. One of those friends was a strong advocate for me, helping me and supporting me along the way. Without this person I know that my daughter and I would not be where we are today. If I were able to, I would be that advocate for other men in similar situations.

There is a climate in the divorce and child custody arena which is inherently biased against men. I know this sounds like I am simply bitter over the adversarial environment that divorce and custody battles engender, but with a little research, one can easily see the disproportionate number of single fathers versus single mothers. From my own experiences and from talking to other men who have been through what I have, I know that the issue is not simply one of absent fathers or fathers who were less suitable than the mothers to be custodial parents. There is a clear bias against fathers at work here. Certainly there are laws in place to prevent this bias, but the people administering and arguing these laws are just that – people, with their own biases and beliefs, regardless of the checks and balances in place. A sea change is in order. Barring that, an advocacy group where fathers can get advice and help.

The romanticism behind the image of the single mother, combined with the ingrained beliefs that mothers are inherently better suited to raising children are causing many children to be raised without fathers, even part-time fathers. The common belief is that men simply would rather be free of that burden, that they “abandon” the children to the mother, but often times the continued adversarial nature of the post-divorce relationship (when the mother becomes sole custodial parent) causes such stress to the children involved that many men simply remove themselves from the picture to spare the children that stress.

There are advocacy groups out there for men, but for the most part they are small and unfunded grass-roots groups with no real power or influence. I would like to be able to pull together a larger, more powerful organization, one that can offer support and more importantly, aid to those fathers who have no real place to turn for help. To be able to call upon attorneys willing to offer free advice or even pro bono assistance. To wield a lobbying force to continue to push the legal field towards a more equitable position. To help fathers overcome the stereotypes and give them the support so they can be more involved in their children’s lives, whether they have custody or not. This is not about taking children from their mothers. It is about leveling the field so that fathers have an equal chance as well as an equal influence in their children’s lives.

Okay, I’m done pontificating. You can see I am a little passionate about this.

By: Lauri Myers

Lauri Myers — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 22:57:29 +0000

If I was handed $10,000 and a video camera, here’s what I am planning to do. Take this money and purchase 10 Wal-Mart cards placing $1,000 on each card. These cards being used for gas, food and clothing or school supplies. I would seek out 10 families that not only appear in need of these items for daily consumption they would actually need these items. I live in Arkansas, and I can’t speak for any other location other than from where I used to live, Iowa. Here I see more people struggling to find jobs, pay for clothes that are needed for their kids, and most of all food. My husband I don’t buy prepared foods like pizza, we buy the ingredients that we need and make it ourselves. I don’t buy hambuger helper, I make my own meals that might look like that box. Groceries are a hot topic in any location. This is more of a neccesity than a luxury item. In my local area, I could name more than 10 families that are in need. I could also put forth this same amount of money in a local charity program for kids, it’s called the backpack program. Non parishables and no peanut butter (for kids allergic to that) put in a bin that is taken to our Clearinghouse which gives it to the area schools for kids to put the food into backpacks to take home. This is what I would do.

By: mary

mary — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 19:45:11 +0000

I’ve skimmed through some of these replies and what I found was that most of them do not attempt CURE poverty. I remember reading an article about a man who borrowed millionaire’s money to cure poverty in 3rd world countries. What he came up with were called micro-loans, he would loan a couple hundred to a person in need and what they would do with the money is use it to start a little business and once they had enough money they would pay him back. One thing he said that I remember most was “charity does not cure poverty it only feeds it” something along those lines. So if I were given the chance to have 10,000 I would do the same along those lines. I would take a homeless people in, get them cleaned up, help them get their papers, help them get a job and become a contributor to society. So I’m not just giving them money and sending them off hoping they’ll be ok. I hope if I do a kind act like that to a homeless person that they will have a heart and continue my act towards other who are unfortunate.

By: marissa

marissa — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 17:36:48 +0000

i like that challenge.since i was alittle girl i have always said i want to have lots of money to help those in need.i would have my children go with me to meet families in the missions and homeless shelters we would film their lifes situations for now(i always believe that the rain dosen’t last forever)we would go shopping for some because i couldn’t do everyone unfortuantely,get them dressed and take them out for a beautiful dinner and movie for the kids.i would try to get a non-profit organizatin together were i could keep adding onto the money and eventually have a charity to help all those in need.

By: Betty

Betty — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 14:17:14 +0000

Well, my idea is simple. film day to day people with day to day struggles, use the money to send copies to organizations and businesses, directing them to either your organization to partner, or to directly help also.

By: Rhonda

Rhonda — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:50:39 +0000

I would take whatever money I was given and give half of it to my mother. She is trying to survive only on Social Security. My father passed away and has left my mother with more debt than could have been expected. We have tried to help her but we can only do so much. My sister sold her house and moved in with my mother to help her out with bills and such but she is still having difficulties with property taxes and other bills. I have had extensive medical bills due to complications during pregnancy and so I would take half of the money to pay down my medical bills and give the other half to my mother to get her property taxes and such paid.

By: Rollin Woodard

Rollin Woodard — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 14:06:48 +0000

I would use it to help the children of our community. These young ones really need somewhere to go and something to do besides hiding say at the Falls,or sand pit,lyon mtn mine shafts,etc drinking and partying. A nice place to hang out with real activities.
Drugs and alcohol are consuming our youth. But the local goverment has no options for our youth.

By: dannyginger

dannyginger — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 05:23:19 +0000

Edit to my above post. I’ve already stated what I would do with the money but to put it on film would feel wrong. I would film the person signing the deed to the trailer over but I feel it would be embarrasing not only to me but to my in-laws to have us gifting them with a home video taped.

By: dannyginger

dannyginger — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 04:55:17 +0000

Well, I would pay off the trailer my mother and father-in-law are putting on the acre of land my husband just bought them. We are by no means rich (1600.00 a month income) but my in-laws water well went dry and they were having to haul water, it was either pay 15,000.00 to drill a new well or $750.00 for an acre of land. My husband bought the land and his boss let him put an old trailer there which he will be paying off in monthly payments. Yes we are poor but if we could have bought them a new trailer we would have.