Charity Collectors Rough Draft
To give or not to give.
When to give.
Have the collectors identified themselves?
What is the negative community feedback if you do not give?
Once you give are you now on a list?
Do they come into your business during business hours to collect?
People that own businesses are the most charitable people on the
planet and some of the most private. We are in business to sell goods and services
to our customers.
The effort and attention requires to insure a favorable
and viable sales atmosphere is oftentimes daunting. These Charity
Collectors that come into your place of business
during business hours to
collect for their (may not be yours) favorite charity are rude and insensitive
to the plight of the business owner. Did they ever hear of the mail?
We had such a collector come into our winery during business
hours at our "busy time" and had the nerve to occupy our precious
sales time and pitch there charity.
They never identified themselves
officially, we never saw them before and obviously were not at all concerned
that we were very busy with regular customers that pay
our bills and keep the
place open. They said that they were collecting for a golf outing to benefit
the blind. What would you think: they had NO flier, NO tee times,
NO F6
permit, NO tickets to purchase and NO identification! We immediate thought they just wanted
some free wine and treated them accordingly.
These two rude "Charity Collectors" didn't even have
the decency to visit our winery as a paying customer before they ascended on us
for money or wine donation.
We told them that it was rude and demeaning to
ask us for money during business hours in front of our customers. It was
almost a physiological sales ploy on their part
to purposefully go into a
business and ask for a donation in front of our customers.
We said that this was the wrong time and place for you to
conduct charity business. They then proceeded to employ psychology ploy number
two and purchase a bottle of wine.
We told them that that was not necessary for
them to purchase something. (try to make us feel bad). They
insisted. So we sold them some of our awesome Peach Chardonnay!
Incidentally it is illegal to donate wine unless they have an F6 permit.
It is obvious that these two Unprofessional Charity Collectors do not care one iota about the business community and only view us as a source for money to fuel their cause(s).
These two never knew we also own Farin Industries, Inc. and
contribute to a number of charities and goodwill causes inside and outside the
community. Why just today a
representative of the Ashtabula Little League come
into the factory for a donation. His team made it to the finals and was
asking for help to fray the costs for his team to
go to Columbus. The
proud little leaguer came in escorted by Mom wearing his patriotic baseball
outfit smiling from ear to ear. He gave us a little dissertation about his
team and how hard they practiced to achieve their status as champs. We saw,
we heard, we contributed. His team uniform was the proof and the excitement
in his eyes
and facial expressions was the seal. Sales by any other method
is fraud or deception.
These other "Charity Collectors" acted as though they
expected you to give to there cause or else. I called them to explain my
position concerning this letter they wrote.
After a brief explanation on why
we did not donate he called me an idiot and hung the phone up. I wonder if
we were to offer them money
if he would of hung up. We thought
that charitable people respected others regardless of their beliefs or positions
on matters.
Buy the way we sponsor "T" Ball and baseball teams and
give to the Ashtabula County Sheriff's Patrol Concert every year and request
that the tickets to be donated to
Happy Hearts a worthwhile organization.
Business Beware: These two will twist what you say and try to ruin your reputation if you do not support their causes.
Then the following insensitive extortion felt letter was sent to us in the mail.
THE LETTER
July 14, 2007
This letter was sent to us from Terry Mate
We had no idea who she was until her and her husband pranced into our winery
asking for a donation. Never really knew who they were even after they left the
winery. Presented no I.D.
Dear Sir,
It is now 3:43am and I cannot sleep because I am still angry
from the unkind statements I hear from you today. Get
your time of day straight.......... that was
yesterday remember.
My husband and I walked into your winery today, (never
had the decency to visit our winery as a customer) my purpose being to
inquire about a possible donation
to be used as a prize to a charity golf outing. (You presented no
identification, no golf outing flyer, just wanted us to give you a
donation) Instead of you nicely
telling me that you would not be
able to help out, I had to hear your speech on how you do not believe in
charities, do not support charities, and think that charities
are demeaning and
demoralizing to everyone. ( I said that this was not
the time and place for you to collect for a charity during business hours and
that it was demeaning
to us as business owners that you have the nerve to barge
in our place of business while we are trying to take care of our paying customers and ask for a wine or money.
Who do you thing
you are?)
Well, you said those words to the wrong person today. Some
of us in the world believe in causes and helping others. (so,
you believe that everyone must march to your drumbeat!)
I am the
president of The Arc of Ashtabula County who started Happy Hearts School and
later Ash/Craft Industries. ( Guess, what I am the
President of Farin Industries, Inc.
and Farinacci Winery , Ltd. that are in the
business of making a profit, whom, without business like ours, you would not
have money to fuel your charities.) Everyone on our
board works
hard for the special needs people of Ashtabula County. (
Oh, I see, and you are under the impression and have the attitude that us
corporations to not work
hard for our money.) I am also the chairman of 2
golf outings, one to support our local Special Olympics Athletes and the other
one that I mentioned to you yesterday.
( Lady many people
mention things to us during the week. Corporation and business like paper
trails and proof before we hand out monetary donations. We have to
account
for funds that are dispersed from our corporations. How do we know where
the funds are going! You need to be better prepared before you barge into
a
business without an appointment and ask for donations. You would have
gotten a better reception.) We have many volunteers who put their
hearts and souls into these
functions to help others less fortunate that
ourselves. ( Us businesses have loyal employees that are
willing to go the extra mile to insure their employers are competitive
so we are
able to make donations to your organizations...... you would cease exist without us and
them. You are not the only ones that sacrifice for others.) None
of us get
paid to do this work, we just enjoy knowing we are helping someone
else. ( That is all well and good, but we must turn
a profit to survive. My wife and I work over
12 hours a day tending to our
businesses and do not complain one bit. Our purpose is to help the U.S.
and the world be a better place to live. We believe it is our
duty as
Americans to excel within the scope of the business community to insure America
stays at the panicle of superiority with the rest of the world. Do not think
that
you are something special in our eyes when you belittle the effort it takes
to stay in business in America.)
Additionally, my husband is a member is a member of the
Masonic fraternity. (I am a 4th degree with the
Knights of Columbus.......and your point is?) The Masons
in the
United States donate over $2 Million a day to various charities. (and
where do you think the money comes from?.........corporations maybe! Or do
they have
a product line you sell?) Charities that send children
with juvenile diabetes to summer camp, that help give a needy person a cornea
transplant, that help burned children,
that donate money for research into
neuromuscular diseases, that pay for athletes so they can attend Ohio Special
Olympics Summer Games. The list goes on and on.
( That's nice and I ask again where does the money come from? Besides most
corporations use charitable donations as a tax write off.............don't think
that they
would give you a dime if it wasn't in the best interest of the
corporation!)
Neither my husband or I feel the work we do to
support these groups and charities is either demeaning or demoralizing and
neither do any of the persons associated
with these fine charities. (you noticed I underlined
the word feel. You see these people feel there
way through life. They feel that the charities are worth
while.
They feel that you should feel the same way about
there charities as they do. They feel that you should give
to their charity because they support it. I wonder if
they feel that coming into a business and asking to support their
charity while we are taking care of customers makes us feel
charitable.)
I have decided not to give away the bottle of wine I purchased
for a prize. (I explicitly told you it was not necessary
for you to purchase a bottle of wine. Besides
you purchased that bottle of wine just to try to make us feel
guilty about not supporting your unidentified charitable golf outing.
Sorry that doesn't work on us. We worked
hard for everything we have and have zero to feel guilty about and never will. I
do not even know if you can give wine away as a prize unless you have an F6
permit.)
Yours is the only winery out of all the wineries in Ashtabula County and
Lake County that would not support our cause. ( So
what!! They may know you and from
the tone of this letter were afraid to be slandered by the community if they
didn't give anything. Did you ever think that they just gave to your cause as a
way of
advertising their wines! By the way it is illegal to give wine away.
Again, where is your F6 Permit!) I will never visit your winery again and
will certainly tell my
friends not to support your business. ( Thank you Oh
Christian ones. Your friends probably didn't support us in the first
place. All my friends help with charity
work; I wouldn't want to subject them to your speech about charities. (
All my friends are normal and love life and help others in their own way.
They never ask
for anything in return and are not vindictive.)
I hope with your attitude that you never in your lifetime end up
needing any kind assistance from a charity. (You really
mean you hope I need your charity.
You two are a real piece of work.) When I meet someone that is all full
of themselves, ( so this isn't the first letter you have
written to people that didn't support your causes.)
which seem to apply to you, ( WOW!! Dr. Laura, you summarized
my entire self from 10 minutes.) I usually tell them that they
should go to work at a soup kitchen or go watch
Special Olympics Athlete at work. ( I do not have
the time to work at a soup kitchen, remember you need the money for your
charities, so us business have to work most
of the time to make it so we can give donate (tax right off) it to you so you
can buy food for your soup kitchen, and athletic equipment for the Special
Olympics whom we already support. )
Maybe you would change your attitude and actually help someone less
fortunate. ( So you know that we have never helped
anyone. You people are clueless. Help comes
in many different way. We prefer to help someone realize there inner
capabilities and strengths. You two are the
ones that are full of yourselves. Maybe it would change
your collecting approach if you actually new what it takes to stay in business
these days. YOU two are, indeed, self righteous!)
Terry Mate