Wednesday, February 23, 2005
United No Way
When I was a baby, the year I was born my medical expenses were almost half of my father’s income. Which is pretty good compared to now, when it would be multiples of the equivalent income.
My mother has always been opposed to the United Way, dating back to that time, and in her job at the post office was a holdout in the drive to get everyone to donate to them. What Liberty’s boss did was wrong, yet understandable from a goal accomplishment at any cost, failure to embrace other people’s principles sort of perspective.
As I understand it, and for all I know her memory of the details is so clouded with time that it was entirely different. When they had me in the hospital in Boston, and/or when they were taking me into Boston a couple times a week subsequently, there were wealthy people at the hospital that United Way (it may have been one of their supported agencies or something) was helping, but they wouldn’t help us. She was disgusted by the whole thing.
I picked up a healthy skepticism of United Way from that, but also there are the other factors Liberty mentions. They might as well be considered nothing more than a paid fundraising service for other organizations.