>>>>>>I know that Americans are very charitable people and give a lot. But I always wonder where these money goes. Obviously one wants their charity to go to the "cause" and not to the expense or fund raising. But I realize that one cannot work without the other. Many years ago I had a CPA who was doing my tax and once we got to talk about what else he does (beside tax returns) he said that he runs a charity. I never asked him what charity he runs although would be interesting. I fired him later though (for a different reason).
>>>>>
>>>>>FWIW, Marshal and I are the co-presidents of a non-profit here (www.hebrewfreeloanphila.org). Our group is entirely volunteer-operated and runs on about $3K a year (most of it for credit reports). While we're doing good work, we could actually help a lot more people if we had an employee. Our board handles day-to-day operations quite well, but with only volunteers, we don't manage to do the long-term things that would build the organization.
>>>>>
>>>>>Tamar
>>>>
>>>>I admire you for getting directly involved in a charity. I'm just curious why you chose to limit it to benefit only members of the Jewish community?
>>>
>>>We inherited this organization. Marshal's parents founded it nearly 25 years ago (after a push from our synagogue's rabbi). When they were ready to slow down, they put us on the board, and after a couple of years, with no one else willing to do so, we became the presidents.
>>>
>>>Marshal's dad was the president for about 20 years. One of the things we're working on is growing new leadership so that we don't have to do it that long.
>>>
>>>Tamar
>>
>>Knowing how altruistic you are (seriously, I have witnessed it firsthand), I am not surprised you were willing to step in to help others.
>
>Thanks for the kind words, Tracy. The timing was also good. This all happened just after Nathaniel went off to school and I hadn't yet decided what to put into the hole left by PTO, etc.
>
>For my best friend, the empty nest came a year later, just as Katrina hit and she's ended up massively involved with an organization that does disaster relief.
>
>Tamar


Mine will happen in June 2009.... Yes, I'm both looking forward to it and dreading it... :o)