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You might be a little mystified by the “This Holiday Season, Skip the Turkey” theme of our winter fund drive. Here’s the deal. Union Gospel is a great organization. From what I’ve seen, UGM’s brand of emergency services, esteem building, and Jesus seems to work for those it attracts.
But their holiday fundraising, and that of others like them, reinforces everything that’s wrong with the way we see homelessness. “This Thanksgiving, help us ensure that everyone gets a delicious turkey dinner.” The pitch always comes with a photo of some bearded white guy who looks like someone’s charmingly alcoholic granddad.
It’s cloyingly sentimental. It’s misleading. It’s manipulative. And, it has nothing to do with solving homelessness or addressing the deepening poverty and widening inequality that lies behind the issue.
It’s about tapping into guilt and offering easy relief.
And it works. Maybe I hate it so much because I’m just jealous. I see the big institutions with their huge direct mail campaigns and the bus and newspaper ads and I think, “The big charities are totally milking this thing. What if all that money, for once, supported organizing instead?”
Which brings me to our fund drive. We’re off to a slow start toward our $90,000 goal. A… very… slow… start. Real Change builds from the relationships between our vendors and readers to inform and engage people across class in the work of changing the world. What we do matter a lot, and we need your help.
Believe me. The turkey dinners this holiday season are taken care of. This year, support something substantial. Please request info about our "giving coupon" by emailing us at: samh@realchangenews.org |
