Well, there’s that cohousing project we’re working on, for starters. $250,000 would get us off the ground and enable us to buy property and probably get a nice start on renovations.
And while we’re talking about money, there’s always the issue of paying off the house. I think we owe around $63,000 on it still. Norah could certainly use a college fund… hmm, what else? Maybe a vacation, a trip to the shop for my wobbly car, and a nice sum for investment.
Point being, there’s a lot you can do with $250,000.
Now what if you were, say, an agency with access to an extra $250,000? Let’s say you’re a social service agency and that among the things of utmost important to your founders were things like, for example:
- Remembering the widows and the fatherless
- Protecting the weak
- Feeding, clothing, and housing the poor
- Showing hospitality to strangers and the homeless
- Healing the sick
- Visiting those in prison
- Freeing the oppressed
- Loving people on the fringes of society
- Working for social justice
… then what could you do with $250,000?
Quite a lot, I’d imagine.
Why, just off the top of my head I can think of:
- Providing meals for the hungry
- Providing shelter for the homeless
- Giving pregnant, scared, young women the resources and support to have their babies and raise them or find good adoptive parents (which, in my opinion, seems like a more effective option than telling them they’re going to hell for abortion)
- Giving clothing to the poor
- Helping poor families keep their utilities on and their rent paid
- Helping poor families work toward educational and career-oriented goals
- Working to help people on the fringes of society – such as people with stigmatized diseases, mental health issues, etc.
- Providing transportation and/or child care for disadvantaged parents to participate in classes/programs that will help them get out of poverty.
- Forming a group to lobby for social justice issues
- Sending people to visit those in prison
And so on, and so on, and so on. This is just the list right off the top of my head. Imagine if your whole agency thought about it for a week or so! There’s a lot you could do with $250,000 if you were charity minded.
Or, you could build a giant statue of the figurehead of your religion by the side of the road with his arms raised like someone just scored a touchdown. Like so:
Cause, you know, that’s probably more in line with your mission than all those things ‘lil ‘ole H just typed up there.
Needless to say, I have an issue with the priorities of this church.
Interestingly enough (and that's all I'll say on the matter), the statue was struck by lightening and burned to the ground last night. You can read the story here.
