Helping Real Heroes is in the Works

Way back on November 8th, I posted what was to be Transformer Generation Dad's attempt at being philanthropic.  I wasn't founding my own charity or anything, but planning on organizing a mass, grassroots collection effort in the middle of downtown Chicago's busiest shopping district on the busiest shopping day of the entire year, Black friday, this November 25th.


If you know anything about me, or have read even a few posts here, you would realize how big of a deal this is for me to make an effort of this magnitude.  On a relative scale, this is like a normally motivated person climbing Mt. Everest.  The plan was downright intrepid.


As it turns out, donating change collected on the street to a worthy cause is not as easy as it sounds.  The biggest problem is finding a charity that will allow you to say you are donating the proceeds to them.  I had not anticipated this.


What I pictured was more of an impromptu collection for something like a little league team or the guy with the tinfoil hat on the expressway exit ramp and the handmade sign.  Except in our case, the money would go to a veteran's organization rather than purchasing new uniforms or malt liquor.


Much like my recent fire pit building adventure led me to the discovery that rocks are capable of exploding (click here for details of that previous project), a contacted charity that I cannot yet name enlightened me to the fact that we cannot simply stand on a corner and say that we are collecting for said organization.  Had I thought more about it, I would have realized that anyone could then claim they were collecting for any charity they wanted at any given time, thus dragging said charity's name through the mud when the funds generated go toward nothing but malt liquor.


So, having now attempted to go through the proper channels, Transformer Generation Dad hopes to have their application approved within the next few days and still perform our heroic change collecting task in heroic super hero tights for far more heroic heroes.


All the details are at the original post here.  Not much has changed except that we hope to have the charity named soon.  Stay tuned and be sure to contact me at madcap1417@gmail.com if you are anywhere near the Chicago area and even the least bit interested in helping collect for even a short time that day.


I hope to hear form you.