Insane in the Membrane!

So, the whole summer, Fred's fire troupe has been working their ASSES off in trying to get up money and toy donations for the Portland Transitional School. They got quite a bit of money, as well as a beautifully illustrated book, about 12 stuffed animals, some other toys, art supplies, and a pledge for more money.


HOWEVER - due to rumors and suggestive ads on Tribe.net, and people calling the school about them, the school decided to shut the entire thing down... This, from the email Fred received yesterday:


As Sara explained to you a few months ago the school does not feel comfortable with you fundraising or collecting items for CTS as we have received several calls with concerns about this.

As for the money you raised you may send it to the school. All other items should be donated elsewhere. The school supplies we suggest your local school district and the toys could be donated to Toys for Tots or a local social service agency.

Please respect this request.

Cheryl Bickle
Principal


I find it interesting that they won't take the toys, but they'll take the money... Since this school supposedly gets so little in donations for their students, one would think that they would be willing to take ALL the donations - and publicity - that they could get. But no... Due to some people not wanting this to succeed at all, the kids will get pretty much nothing.


Fred is devastated, to say the least. He's angry, sure, but mostly he's just upset that all that hard work for these kids will amount to nothing. And now there's the fear that if the money is handed over, it won't go to the kids or to help support the school...


Personally, I'd LOVE to ream the school a new asshole. I can understand concern about where money or donations might come from, and I can understand having concerns about having a new group giving charity donations. But there's such a thing as giving people a chance to prove themselves. Honestly.


As far as the ads were concerned, they weren't anything that Fire and Steel were able to control - it was a 'bot, created by Google, to put in what it thought would be pertinant based on word searches within the text of posts. It saw the words "single" and "adult" and decided that it would be a great idea to post up an ad about swinging singles in Portland.


As far as the rumours about Fire and Steel not accepting checks, that was just bullshit - no one ever approached them to ask whether checks would be accepted or not. It was simply assumed that they wouldn't, and thus a rumour was born. Nice.


So, apparently, the lesson that everyone was supposed to learn here is: Don't do anything nice for a group of people. They won't appreciate it, and you'll just get kicked in the teeth.


~M