So I've known this person online for years. We don't associate much, but the entire time that I've known her, she's been ill, and the doctors can't fully figured out why. They think it's a somewhat complex mix of issues that's masquerading as one.
Long story short, she's never asked for help with medical bills before until now. After talking to her for a bit, it sounds like what she's proposing sounds could actually get her close to a full recovery.
Unfortunately, she needs around $4k for the treatment, and given the fact that her entire family is basically poor, well, she told me that it's probably a pipe dream.
Well I donated $3k to make sure it she really could get the treatment she needs. She was really happy and thanked me profusely. It was a nice warm fuzzy feeling. This marks the largest charity donation I've ever made to anyone or anything.
But that's also a lot of money to me. It's a big dent in my wallet, and it will be many long months before I can recover that amount.
The upside is that it is only the cash I am holding right now. I don't normally hold that much cash, but luckily for the both of us, I did. The rest of my finances are insulated and just fine. I just need to rebuild my cash reserves.
In case anyone is wondering who it is or if I am making this up,
Edit: Again, I get nothing for doing this. I mean brownie points maybe, but we don't associate much to begin with.
Also, I questioned her on the efficacy of "holistic medicine" in general, and she said that she doesn't actually believe in that field either, but this current regiment of treatments are actually working. It's just that it's very expensive to keep it going, and insurance won't cover it.
This is probably the last time I will be able to donate to her about this. I hope that it really works towards a full recovery, but if she doesn't, then I will know this stuff won't work for her.
Besides, there's something awkward about mixing money with friendship, especially when they realize that you have the kind of money that they don't and are willing to part with it for some reason. I've done another charity in the past for someone else with ailments going to an ALS camp I think? Although they were very polite, they started to kind of track me down asking for more help and I didn't like that.
September 8th, 2016 at 02:01 pm 1473343285
September 8th, 2016 at 02:02 pm 1473343370
Good luck rebuilding your cash reserves!
September 8th, 2016 at 02:24 pm 1473344690
CJ, you make an interesting point. Most of the time, I would prefer small, incremental donations as well, so that it wouldn't hurt my finances in any way.
Another way that I forgot to mention is that I tend to look at donations like an investment as well. And like any other investments, it has to be in a way that make sense to me. Stuff like this makes sense to me.
I've tried making donations to large organizations before as well. I won't mention any names, but this particular one, I didn't know exactly what the money is going towards, and anyway, they blew me off when I started asking questions. With this friend, I got to ask all the questions I wanted, and I did get satisfactory answers in return.
September 8th, 2016 at 06:51 pm 1473360682
September 9th, 2016 at 01:56 am 1473386186
I sure hope it works.
September 9th, 2016 at 02:01 am 1473386507
September 9th, 2016 at 03:13 pm 1473433997
September 10th, 2016 at 04:15 am 1473480926
September 11th, 2016 at 07:16 pm 1473621407