Recently, we have been bombarded on the media about how 'this charity' splurged money on its CEO and how a church 'accidently' paid more to the bishop etc.
More and more charities are getting under the lens now and there is a great clamour amongst the bean-counters to account for each and every cent of the public money - not only account for it - but also to check whether it is being spent prudently.
So, if you are a CEO and ensure that your charity runs well and gets in lots of donations, you still have to work for next-to-nothing or generously enough, you might be given vouchers for redeeming $2 chicken rice from some of the not-so-great Singapore hawker centres!
Well, the reason for this short (not so short, actually) blog is not to gripe about the charities and how they are run.
Paraphrasing Richard Nixon's comment on India being managed - "Thou shall not worry about managing the charities; you should be happy that they are being managed at all!"
Recently junior had to do his community service.
No, he did not litter;
neither did he spray paint on those new cars in the basement and
he does not know how to chew gum...
- you would think that to chew gum is the most natural thing to do...but then if you grow in Singapore, that is one thing that is not natural! As usual, I am digressing.
He was just doing the normal, mother-hood and apple-pie community service as mandated by his school. A very admirable mandate, I would say.
He had to go and stand in front of the MRT (tube, underground, subway, flying rail, public train - depending on which city you are residing now) and sell flags to the commuters for a few hours.
The flags are NOT your standard ones - these are small white circular stickers with the emblem of some organization or other printed on it. It could be Heart Foundation for the heartless or Involuntary Volunteer Centre or Kidney Association for alcoholics, or Green Cross for the long-suffering husbands or any one of those other legitimate associations/organizations. If you drop something inside the box, you get a sticker to wear on your shirt, so that the other ‘collectors’ know that you have been charitable already for the day :-)
Armed with
(a) shiny tin box sealed everywhere except for a small slot on the top for the coins and
(b) sheets of the 'flags'
the boys had to accost the commuters and ask for donations. As with any event they are encouraged to be competitive and whoever collects the most is obviously rewarded with large french fries at the end of the ordeal. You get the drift, I suppose.
On the day of reckoning junior was collecting donations for a Heart foundation which wanted to make cardiac surgery affordable for the needy. Very noble cause and much closer to the heart (no pun intended) of junior. You see, he was fresh from his sojourn to India where he saw his granddad go through a triple bye-pass.
Next time you are waiting for your girl-friend (or boy friend, to be politically correct) outside the MRT, do some people-watching. When they see our boys-with-the-boxes, their reactions are varied and interesting…
There are the mobile ones, who keep their ears glued to the latest Motorola Razr V3(there is the placement for this blog!) and their eyes glued to the distant horizon (can’t be further than the bald head of the person in front), but studiously avoiding the b-with-the-b.
There are the proud ones, who faithfully drop a coin at the first point of skirmish; take a sticker, one for each of the accompanying family member and stick it very close to the chest and walk with their head held high – ‘I have done my bit of charity for the day’…
The list does not end.
Junior apparently faced all these and a few others during his first half hour outside Queenstown MRT station. He was hitting them with hard facts such as
‘Sir, heart attacks are the second most common reason for deaths in Singapore. So please help the heart foundation.’ (or) ‘Madam, do you know that a heart bye-pass surgery costs more than $25,000 in Singapore? Please help the needy.’
Apparently, he was doing well and was very gung-ho about the
exercise and was looking forward to his French fries at the end of the day.
Then there was this lady threading through the crowds.
When she reached junior, he started his usual sales pitch: ‘Madam, heart surgeries cost more than $25000 in…’ She raised her hand indicating him to stop. Our man was resigning to yet another rejection and was about to catch another fish, when he noticed her opening her shoulder bag which had LV written all over it; and not only that, he also saw many ‘heart foundation’ stickers in the inside!!! It was as if she was collecting those stickers :-o) Obviously, she has been stopping at each box and donating something or other.
With a big smile on her face, she took out a $10 note and dropped it into the box. Now his jaw dropped! It was no secret that he got his French fries that evening.
Later that night, he drew some very interesting conclusions about the whole thing:
- it pays to throw some valid facts at people to get favourable responses
- it pays to be prepared
- it pays to be enthusiastic
- never say ‘it is over’ until the purse closes
- in spite of NKF and other noises, Singaporeans are still willing to part with their money
- French fries are the best incentives for an early teen!
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