Giving to others

Are you a giving person? Do you have a soft spot for some people and/or causes? My wife and I do.

In many ways, I can be very hard hearted. I don't have a lot of patience for selfish, self-centered people. I have none for bad people and predators! But for some things/people/causes, we can be generous (when we are financially able), and that also means in labor when needed. My wife and I give to dog-related and Veterans causes mostly. We just feel compelled to help in those areas.

Recently, after local flooding, a young man who was recently discharged from the Marines, lost everything in the flood. His wife was in the hospital, being treated for large gash on her leg from flood debris. And, he lost his recently trained "service dog". The dog also had a backpack on, with this young Marine's wallet, keys, and cellphone in it. The dog had been swept away from him in the flood waters, and he needed help trying to find the dog, named "Stash". ("Stash" was named because of the dark band of hair above it lip.) He had gone to the local Red Cross for some temporary help, when another Vet friend of mine called me and asked if I was available to help.

So I drove up to Austin and met with the young Marine, named Kelly. After some exchanges, I drove him to the animal shelter in hopes the dog had been turned in. He hadn't been, yet. The dog was "chipped", but the info on the chip would direct any calls to Kelly's cellphone, which was with the dog, and likely ruined by flood waters. Kelly couldn't even get back to his house, as the flood water was keeping people out, and the Police were keeping everyone away from the hardest hit homes. To make matters worse, Kelly and his wife, had spend their last $6,700 of their savings, to have the house remodeled before they moved in. Kelly wouldn't get his last government check for another week or so. No money, no phone, no family nearby, and little solace from the limited help of the Red Cross.

This young man was in real need, so I then took him to buy a pre-paid cellphone, so he could at least make calls and receive calls about the dog, if it was found. I then took him to the hospital to check on his wife. Kelly told me that the hospital had already told him he could sleep there on a sofa until his wife's released.
By then, I had already talked to my wife, and we decided to make this case our donation for the month, so I  handed Kelly some cash, telling him it was a "gift" to help him  and his wife out a little, until the Red Cross and his homeowners insurance could pick thing up for him. Kelly thanked me profusely, and went into the hospital to check on his wife. As I was leaving, I told him that I hoped his wife was okay, and to call me if he found his dog.

There's more to this whole story, but here's the thing. Kelly, as I learned a few days later from another source, was a complete fraud. He was NO Marine, had NO flooded home, had NO wife in the hospital, and had NO dog either. It was all an elaborate ruse to fraud the Red Cross, while 100's of people were flooded out and really needed help. It just happened that one of my Veteran buddies was there to help the Red Cross, and after talking to "Kelly", this guy developed more of his ruse to fit out veterans association's motto, Vets Helping Vets.

We were taken in by this fraud. Ex-cop and all, I was taken in by the elaborate story, and the belief that he was a recently discharged Marine. No ID to verify anything, and no family in the area to help. It just didn't seem right to turn another "Veteran" away in a time of need, and there was no way under the circumstances to verify anything.

So this month, our usual "donation" to a worthy cause, was sidelined by that con-artist. As my wife and discussed the whole thing, we had "given from the heart", with no expectation of anything in return. The way we saw it, its on that kid and God to work out what ever happens to him next. We gave, more as being the "right thing to do", and not for anything else, so we just can't look back with regret. Regret, that could cause us to not "give" again. On this time, we got burned. But we will not be thwarted from doing what we feel is right the next time.

To us, "giving" is just the right thing for us to do for those in need, or to those entities who care for "service dogs" and/or Veterans. As for people like Kelly? We will do what we can to better screen for such fraudulent people. We'll let God work things out with "Kelly". Who knows, as wrong as it was for him to con the Red Cross and us, he may just have bigger problems than we know.