The Grinch who steals Christmas and The Salvation Army
by Rense Johnson, Chairman, Citizens for Term Limits
Why write about a Grinch and Christmas in early autumn?
Many folks do not realize that General William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army (Heart to God, Hand to Man), was a 19th Century London contemporary of Karl Marx, founder of Godless Communism. Who knows—they might have been neighbors. Founded in 1865, Booth’s Army and its Christian warriors have outlived Marx and his atheistic teachings.
The Salvation Army registers the least overhead cost (17%) and
therefore the most bang for the buck of any charity in the United
States. Servants of the poor, the downtrodden and those who have fallen through the cracks, the Salvation Army can be found early at every disaster site with food and survival necessities for victims, with willing Army workers passing them out.
Every Christmas season finds Salvation Army volunteers with their kettles and bells, working to raise funds so the less fortunate, individuals and families, may have a measure of benefit, not only at Christmas time, but throughout the year, whenever and wherever needs arise.
So it is troubling to learn that Target, the nationwide retail chain,
has forbidden the Salvation Army from raising money on the premises of any of their Target locations.
Sadly, Salvation Army volunteers with their cheery Christmas kettles and bells, rain or shine, are no longer welcome at Target.
Why?—Nothing more nor less than Grinch-mindedness. Had Target continued to allow the Army to make its Christmas appeals outside their stores it would have cost Target nothing. Yet every dime that Target’s Scrooge mentality cost the Army came off the Army’s bottom line, because its overhead is calculated independently of its Target operations, or the thwarting thereof.
Sadly, commencing with the Christmas season of 2004, the beneficence of the Salvation Army has been stepped on by Target to the tune of more than nine million dollars annually. Meaning not just 2004, but also 2005, 2006, 2007, as far as the eye can see.
If Hurricane Katrina has taught us anything, it is that immediate
response is invaluable when disaster strikes. Even hours can make a difference.
That is why Salvation Army’s early disaster responders are so
important—their timeliness means that their efforts are reenforced by perhaps a factor of two or three. Thus the early responses by the Army may have had the effectiveness of two or three times what later response might have had. We’ve all seen this in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, and the lessons learned in each state.
And that the lost nine million dollars likely might have done the
work of eighteen million or even twenty-seven million.
And with Hurricane Rita in the mix, even those numbers could be
increased as we include a second storm beating from Rita aimed first at Louisiana and then the State of Texas.
We all know that the two hurricanes back-to-back have caused great suffering and loss of life—more than all the government, public and private relief efforts combined with finite resources have been able adequately to deal with.
In how many more ways could the Salvation Army been able to make a positive difference—with only those previously anticipated resources now cut off by Target’s downbeat attitude? How many lives affected? How many lives perhaps even saved?
Target’s mean spiritedness is indeed multiplied many times.
Who are these cold-hearted Grinches, anyway?
They are the Christmas-stealers who keep on stealing.
Just as the Salvation Army outlived Karl Marx and atheistic
communism, the Army will doubtless still be around long after Target has ceased to exist.
