January 13, 2008

•                            "More on Non-Profits"

  Hm.  Heard one of the non-profits speak recently at a church.  Their cause is good.  I do admire LiNK's cause.  And what they say about the plight in North Korea is true.  But beyond that?  I can't really say.

  Alice, the head of the Eugene Bell Foundation was also there at the church.  Remember her?  She was the weird girl who wanted to cuddle up on a bench in DC and who was once very critical about LiNK until recently.  I wrote about her here.  And absolutely everything I wrote about her then was true. 

  What do I think about LiNK now?  Like I said, I think their cause is very good - no one would say otherwise; the plight of the North Koreans is heartwrenching, truly.  And the head guy who did the presentation seems especially sincere.  But I do wonder about the organization's activities.  And I do wonder about its employees and if they'll be like all the people who I know who USED to work for non-profits for years.....and who ended up getting jaded and then leaving the non-profit without any skills and ended up living off their husband's (because these employees are mostly girls) income in their 30s because they didn't learn anything in terms of professional skills.  Seen it one too many times with women around MY age (the Gen X crowd), and I don't see it being any different for the Gen Y (and Z) crowd either.  And when I saw the young female employees who work there full-time (sometimes at no pay), I could already see it happening to them.  But then again, if LiNK doesn't help the North Korean refugees....who will????  The plight of the North Koreans is TERRIBLE!

  I just don't know what to make of the organization.  And how does one help the poor people without sacrificing one's own career?  What I say sounds cold, but who out there is willing to give up your career to work for an organization that likely won't pay you ANY money but that supposedly supports a good cause?  I can't afford to do that.  Can you?  The only ones who can, apparently, are either the truly selfless people barely getting by financially....or the recent college grads living off mommy and daddy's money trying to "find themselves" until they either get a "real" job or go into graduate school.

  One thing I DO know:  The entry here where I last wrote about LiNK in Sept. 2007 got a LOT of hits from people in Washington, DC.....a LOT of hits, even as recently as December.  (Hint to those folks: xanga has a tracer system that shows who is reading a post and where they are located...even if it's Georgetown University or whatever.)  I think a good many of you are working hard for a worthy cause but I do also anticipate the day that you get jaded and decide that making money will become more a priority in your own lives....because I saw it with the women in MY generation; they were once so on fire for their cause but then eventually cooled off when they realized that they wouldn't have money for themselves or their children....and they had no skills on which to fall back on and had to rely entirely on the hubby.  Now?  They wish they could be as on fire as they were in their 20s.....but without being naive enough to think they could live life without developing a skillset. 

  But God bless you for your efforts.  Seriously.

  (I'd better stop here because one of them gave me a dirty look today apparently because my previous entry about them DID get read.)

   

  And now that I've said all that, let me add this:  Who CARES if I think the employees at this non-profit organization are throwing their professional careers away.  The important point is that they are part of a great cause and are doing something while people like me are working and living safely in America.  So the least I (and all of us) can do is make a small donation be it through a check or through buying a couple of LiNK t-shirts or whatever.  So come on folks, the cause is good.  Let's make our contributions!

  • 11:54 pm
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