Our mission at the Coronado Clarion is to identify reputable and bona-fide organizations who assist those in real need and who make zero profit, which means every single penny taken in goes directly to the cause and not to highly paid directors with handsome salaries and fat expense accounts.

One of the lowest form, charity pimps, the “veteran charity pimp”.   He/she is the one who may or may not have served our great nation but who ingratiate themselves with real veterans for one purpose and that is to raise money for near fictional causes such as, “My dog got hit by a car, and I need $10.000 for surgery bills.” Many of our readers have fallen victim to these bottom feeders, and out of sheer kindness and compassion they give willingly.  Unfortunately, the money goes directly to Jack Daniels, Jim Beam, Johnnie Walker, and those three despicable formaldehyde ghosts guzzle it down as they sit with the charity pimp planning their next incursion.

Whenever I see a sign that announces  “Homeless, Hungry, Need Help”,  I am tempted to place signs around town saying “Do Not Feed the Charity Pimps”. 

 STARK CONTRAST

By stark contrast, there are many honest organizations who do marvelous work every day.

Luke works at the Clarion as a webmaster and he is also truly “severely disabled”.    At the age of 18, he was the top player on the Coronado High School water polo team until he was diagnosed with a rare wasting disease which left him in a wheelchair and with a very short life expectancy.  He was to be placed in a nursing care facility, but he refused and instead set out to defy death.  He is now 36 years old.  He swims and exercises every day, and although he has a tough time getting in and out of his wheelchair, he is as vital as any man I know.  He could crush your larynx with his upper body strength, and he is just as good and in some cases better than most tekkies I know.

VETERANS VILLAGE OF SAN DIEGO

If I find a homeless veteran in need, I drive he/she to a wonderful place called Veterans Village Of San Diego.. There they will meet a man I admire greatly by the name of Captain Phil Landis, President and Chief Executive Officer.  Mr. Landis enlisted in the United States Army in 1965.  After attending various military schools, he served in Vietnam from 1967-1968 as a platoon leader and headquarters company commander with the First Battalion Thirty-Fifth Infantry.  He was honorably discharged from active duty in 1969 with the rank of captain.  He is a native Californian and was formerly employed as a real estate agent.  Mr. Landis became a board member of Veterans Village of San Diego in 1996, vice-chairman in 1997, chairman in 2001, and chief executive officer in 2007.  He currently serves on the national, 12-member Department of Veterans Affairs Advisory Committee on Homeless Veterans. 

VVSD assists homeless veterans who have substance abuse and/or mental health issues including men and women who have recently returned from Iraq and Afghanistan.  At the heart of VVSD’s treatment plan are five pillars of success:  prevention, intervention, treatment, aftercare, and employment services.

Those who chose to go through the program at VVSD come out the other side washed, clean, and sober, and I mean “clean and sober”.

The process is awesome and utterly effective because it is run by professional people who know all the tricks that toxic people play, and they leave no room for cheaters. Everyone is monitored as a rigorous regimen of hard work and intensive counseling takes place.  The result is a solid foundation of sobriety and renewed self-confidence and most of all the return of that most precious survival component “the work ethic”.

LOCKS OF LOVE (LOT’S OF LIES)

Right up there with all of the other predators is “Locks of Love and Charity” is run out of a small storefront in a strip mall in Florida and  you will read below in the (nothing but bullshit) “non profit” outreach. The first glaring tell/red flag is “we provide” which means “we sell” and at a revoltingly high profit in this editor’s opinion.  

“Locks of Love is a public non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children in the United States and Canada under age 21 suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis.  We meet a unique need for children by using donated hair to create the highest quality hair prosthetics.  Most of the children helped by Locks of Love have lost their hair due to a medical condition called alopecia areata, which has no known cause or cure.  The prostheses we provide help to restore their self-esteem and their confidence, enabling them to face the world and their peers”

Mission  Statement Bullshit

Our mission is to return a sense of self, confidence and normalcy to children suffering from hair loss by utilizing donated ponytails to provide the highest quality hair prosthetics to financially disadvantaged children.  The children receive hair prostheses free of charge or on a sliding scale, based on financial need.

An oily mission statement, but its outreach is deceiving because they fail to inform the doner that the hair (which is worth thousands of dollars) is sold at a huge profit. Further, the company that makes the wigs is “top secret”, and they refuse to divulge any information whatsoever.  This means to me, that they are hiring some offshore, third world nation (usually children) to do the work.

I contacted them after one of our readers was suspicious because of their secrecy, but they sent me an equally oily e-mail:

Hi Al!

It was a pleasure speaking with you yesterday!  Unfortunately, I cannot give out our manufacturer’s name.  He likes to remain anonymous. Please let me know if there is anything else you need from us.