Ask Ezra (AA)

I have a family friend who worked at our local Salvation Army headquarters as a a secretary. This particular office took all the Christmas donations for children in need, put them in a warehouse, and on a designated day the staff and their friends picked through them all, taking whatever they wanted. She saw people hauling away bikes donated for specific families. Some local children had hundreds of dollars of gifts donated in their name, and on Christmas they received three cheap things, items likely not even from the person who sponsored them.

My friend quit, and I’ve not given them a dime of my money since then.

I’m a wildfire and disaster logistics specialist.

I deal with a lot of agencies who provide disaster relief.

I used to say the Salvation Army’s disaster services were the one (literally the ONE) good thing they did.

They would come in, set up a canteen trailer, make and pass out hot coffee and donated food in a disaster, usually being one of the first agencies to get there and the last to leave.

Then I found out.

Every time they did this, regardless of if they were actually invited or deployed by the agency in charge (usually FEMA, sometimes others) they would SELF-DEPLOY. Meanjng they would just show up. Ok. That’s not TOO bad, sometimes agencies have to take initiative and get there before the red tape is sorted out. BUT. They, after they left at the end of the incident, they would send FEMA or the host agency a BILL. They used one or two paid employees (usually the driver of the truck and a supervisor); and many VOLUNTEERS, but they would bill for EVERYONE’s Labor at standard federal rates. They would bill for the food they distributed even though it was all donated by another agency or private parties. They would bill for the coffee they made and the supplies. Except they would use electricity from the shelter location, water from donations or from the shelter, and in many cases, they would get the coffee and industrial filters DONATED, but bill for them at retail prices.

Cooking shows

House hunting shows

Home improvement shows

Procedural cop shows

True crime shows

Nature shows

History documentaries

Science documentaries

Cartoons

Talk shows

Reality shows

Outdoor shows

Car auctions

Home shopping shows

Vet shows

Paranormal shows

Crafting shows

Medical shows

Medical dramas

go back to professional voice actors! go back to original films! try out 2-d animation again!!

like, I’m not just trying to yell “bring back my childhood,” but at least attempt to make the next generations childhood magical and filled with wonder for animation and story creation

I will still never get over seeing these for the first time:

every kid deserves to have that feeling of raw aw and inspiration

bonus Ghibli:

steven: so you didn’t hate my mom? you just dislike MY actions?

antagonist: I barely knew her.

like. i find it really fascinating that this is the character the fandom as a whole has latched on to. because unlike early peridot, jasper, or even the diamonds, she doesn’t really have this internal layer of selflessness. the aforementioned characters all thought they were doing the right thing, whereas spinel does things entirely because she thinks it’ll make herself feel better.