Saturday, April 28, 2007
 | SMART ass. It's Saturday afternoon. It's quiet. I just ate a Pria bar. I feel the urge to blog. So. All month, Northwest Natural Gas has included SMART info and a remittance envelope with every utility bill sent out to every client. That's a lot of visibility to a lot of potential donors; needless to say, we have had high hopes for this appeal. So far the response has been okay. Not overwhelming, but steady. The most common dollar number I have been seeing on checks is $30.00 -- the amount, our literature explains, that is required to buy books for one SMART child for a year. People seem to like that. Thirty dollars is do-able for practically any income – even mine - and the donor feels satisfaction as he/she imagines Dr. Seuss and Clifford and (gag) Pal the Pony books lining the bookshelves in some second grader's bedroom. I come across two to three people each day who have gotten confused and, instead of sending a donation, they have sent us their NW Natural bill payment. I don't know how in the process of writing the check, stamping and sealing the envelope, and handwriting a return address, one doesn't notice that the remit envelope is clearly marked and addressed to SMART, but I don't want to judge. Much. So I stuff the bill payments in a large envelope and send them off to NW Natural and smirk just slightly. The other day we received someone's phone bill payment in the mail. That just doesn't make sense. These people are harmless, though. Confused but harmless. But then about a week ago I opened a remit envelope with no money inside of it. Instead, a message on the inside read "Zero Dollars. Go to the library." Blink. Blink. Blink. That asshole actually went to the trouble of putting a 39-cent stamp on the envelope, sealing it, and putting it in the mailbox just to be, well, an asshole? If only he had written his return address on the envelope... I really would have been tempted to risk losing my job by contacting and informing him just how big of an asshole he is. (I sure do love to call out the assholes when I see them. Like for example the old ho at Andrea's Cha Cha Club who berated me for moving her coat one stool over so I could sit down with Rodrigo. What a ho. But that's another story.) I like working for a cause. I have noticed that in the last year I have consistently used the word "purpose" in describing what I want in my life. While the search for my own personal purpose is not going to be instantly gratified, I think working for an organization with a strong purpose is a great start. Every Monday I start my week at Chief Joseph Elementary in North Portland sipping my coffee and reading with two little girls for a half hour each. Tana is reserved, quiet, cold; Daylene comes bounding out the door before I even reach her classroom. Tana is very behind the average second grade reading level but chugs along and reads every book to me all by herself, even if she does so at a snail's pace. Daylene is a little more advanced, but gets lazy; she always wants me to read to her instead. Then she'll interrupt me to ask hypothetical questions about the characters in the story. Or to tell me what she ate for breakfast. They both are fantastic personalities for me to grow with. I wish the asshole could meet Daylene and Tana and feel sheepish about his snotty comment about our worthwhile cause. Maybe he would shut his mouth and open his wallet. Last week I joined the campaign at SMART called "Help Me Help 2". It's for employees, volunteers, and supporters of SMART to raise enough money to support two students for an entire year in the program. I initially did it to support the organization that has taken a chance on me, but then I got to thinking how my campaign could affect Tana and Daylene, my two little readers who give me such a great start to my week. I need to raise six hundred dollars. Blogging is usually done for vanity's sake and so this time I'd like to use it as an appeal to my friends for my little campaign. My birthday is coming up; I don't really need anything (except for an i-Pod and digital camera) so I thought I'd ask my friends to make contributions. http://hmh2.getsmartoregon.org/volunteer/search Just enter my name and it'll take you to my "campaign page." Any amount given will be generous and significant. Really. I think I'm going to have some cranberry lemonade now |
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