"A lot of people call themselves 'patriots'. Plenty od Americans pat themselves on the back for being so supportive of our troops...................

However, I wish you'd pay more attention to an even more difficult subject: the terrible plight facing our homeless veterans in this nation.

Currently, over 200,000 veterans are homeless and that number is growing every month. 90,000 of tose men and women have a terminal illness.

Our government has not established a national hospice network to comfort these heroes during their darkest hours. In fact, the Veterans Administration has shown that it cannot meet the bare minimum of service to our veterans. "....................

So please, the next time one of your reporters sees a homeless veteran sleeping on a sidewalk, have him ask the man a few questions. I'm sure he'd have plenty to say."

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The above is from a form letter the U.S Veterans Hospice Foundation asks those, who care enough to make a difference, to foward to their local newspapers. We believe that far too little publicity is given to draw attention to the shameful neglect of our veterans. I think it's bad enough to be homeless, but to be both homeless AND terminally ill and neglected is inexcusable.Please write your local paper and/or representative. Tax deductible donations can be sent to U.S Vetrans Hospice Foundation, P.O Box 96170, Washington, D.C, 20090.

Yeah, it is a shame and a problem. To a degree, the problem is well known, but it's just being ignored. We've had local homeless disabled Vets stories printed in the newspaper, but I don't know the outcome.

My mother has received letters requesting donations, but is unsure because of so many scams. Is there a web page, etc. to see if this is what she is receiving? I found this topic by searching for US Veterans Hospice Foundation. Now days people are leary of just sending off to a PO Box out of the blue. Thank you.

It is the government's duty, using tax dollars, to care for them. It is not a question of charity. It is their right. Your mother should not send charitable donations.

Have her contact her congressman instead. Tell them to stop filling the pork barrels of Bush cronies and use the tax dollars for the veterans he wrongly sent over there instead.

Although I was guilty of having posted this topic in the first place, I have still not been able to satisfy myself that it is not a scam. Unfortunately we are inundated daily with so many requests for donations that it is impossible to separate the scams from the legitimate charities. Just because Bush is a clueless joke doesn't necessarily mean that the statistics re homeless and/or terminally ill veterans isn't the case. I guess the best advice is, as always caveat emptor. Write your representative in congress but hang on to your money until you know where it's going.

I will tell her to talk with her representatives. My heart goes out to all our Military. If they were treated correctly, we may be able to defend ourselves when the time comes to defend our own land. However they treat our troops only as a number, not as human beings, and many are bailing out and many others do not even want to join. The pride is sinking quickly.

It's also a fact that these so-called "charities" are only required, by Law, to give 10% of the monies they take in to the people who they're collecting for. They can Legally pocket the other 90% of the money they collect. Pretty messed up, huh? But, that's the Law for you. So, beware.

Anyway, I agree 100%. It's not our job to support the disabled troops who come home homeless. It's the military's responsibility, and the Government's shame.

Do we really need all these charities?
I have a whole desk drawer full of return address labels. They come to me as a result of having contributed to one charity or other. I also get little packets of greeting cards, little note pads with my name imprinted , an occasional nickel, dime, or penny. Invariably they are accompanied with a request for donations to the charitable organizations they represent. Most, if not all, try to send something of token value in order to appeal to one's natural impulse to reciprocate appropriately upon receiving gifts. I'm sure I'm not the only person who suspects that most, if not all, of the money raised in this fashion is wasted on these unwanted, and certainly unsolicited, gifts, postal costs, and fund-raising expenses. I believe that unless a check for $10.00 minimum is sent, the cost of solicitation results in the charity receiving no benefit whatever. Especially considering the number of repeat mailings to unresponsive or occasional donors.

I suspect that, just as in the case of health care in this country, there are far too many people in the business of making a profit from other peoples' misfortune. I wonder whether a more universal coverage of the basic needs of the citizens, a floor or safety net to minimize poverty and neglected health concerns, wouldn't reduce the need for so much private philanthropy. I would like to hear from members with personal knowledge of other countries' health care systems, whether or not more universal coverage of health and welfare has a salutary effect on related social problems. Fred, Babs, nnn, dancegirl ??? Preventive health care, universally applied, ought to be reflected in a reduction of the number of private charities for the care of the poor, the chronically ill, the various diseases, etc. IMHO>

Couldn't agree more, even tho' as a Canajun we have the basic care. (By the way, dental and alternative treatments are either not covered, or covered only after you have paid for several yourself. I guess that's a built-in 'test' -- if you won't pay for a couple of trips to the chiropractor yourself, you probably don't need one.)

The Registered Charity industry is booming here too. I have enough cute little address labels to wallpaper my bathroom. (But I wouldn't dare do that. Might be interpreted as solicitation. )

It's kind of disgusting. There was a scandal a few years ago in which it was revealed that the S.P.C.A. director in Vancouver was making $90,000 a year even as the society was mailing out begging letters, asking for the widow's mite to support the care of orphaned kittens, depicted looking at the photographer with big scared eyes.

Pretty soon it was the director himself who was looking at news photographers with big scared eyes.

I particularly will not support medical research.

But anybody can start a new society and start raising money for any of the ever-decreasing number of diseases and disorders not already the territory of some existing charity, and can automatically get a 'number' that allows donations to be tax exempt.

I know this is not the 'slant' of your post, Frank. But people with different agendas can have common goals.

I'm annoyed by the amount of shiny, brightly colored paper and plastic that goes into landfill every time one of these 'good causes' sends out a mass mailing.

I'm annoyed that not content with my donation these agencies then sell my name to someone in the market for a 'sucker' list. Then I get a blizzard of solicitations from similar organizations.

I have decided to donate only to the local public learning television station, KNOW. I like their programs -- a little something for the mind, for a change. And they don't send me little stickers in the mail. They'll get a bigger lump than usual from me, and if they sell my name they won't get any more.

I'll buy myself a better brand of beer instead.

How many chuggers do you get in America? [Chugger is from CHarity and mUGGER]

These innocent, fresh-faced individuals hold a clipboard and a concerned but smiling expression and accost pedestrians in our shopping streets. They'll have them sign up to make standing order donations to a charity. The charity is fine, usually a famous one. What the sellers don't say is that the payment of , say, £5 or £10 a month is consumed in charges by the organisers over the first months. After that the charity is in profit. This seems a very inefficient way of getting money to charity but the charities themselves argue that they get secured donations from people who would not respond to ads or otherwise think of that charity.Londoners just think that chuggers are a nuisance!