Monday, February 13, 2006

Apparently, I am quite disappointing

So I volunteer at this organization called Love In the Name of Christ. Love, INC for short. The organization acts as a go-between for people in the community who have needs, whether they be monetary or physical or whatever, and with churches in the community who would like to help meet these needs. In general, we act as a buffer, protecting churches from having to invest resources in verifying the claims of everyone who has need in the community. We also act as a one-stop-shop for the person in need, so that they don't have to call every church in the area.

Anyway, so Love, INC has a number which runs to an answering machine. People call in, give their name and number and briefly describe their need. Today, a lady called in and said she needed help moving. I called her back to get more info on where, when, why, how much, etc. You see, this is not an unusual request, but Nate told me that we should always find out contact info for where they are moving from and to, because we do not want to be helping someone skip out on rent or move into some place illegally. When I asked these questions, the lady flipped out, her husband started yelling in the background, and then the eventually hung up on me. The reason, as far as I can tell, is that they *are* skipping out on rent and moving somewhere else.

The interesting part, is that not even 10 minutes later, some random guy calls up and asks "Are you a Christian Society?" I was somewhat taken aback, I must admit, because the word "Society" implies to me some sort of Freemason type thing. So I hesitated and said, "Well, we are a Christian Organization, if that is what you mean." Confirming this, the man proceeded to tell me that he was a Christian and that no Christian organization should ask all sorts of personal questions when they are helping people, that he was disappointed in this, and that was all he had to say.

So...I don't get it. The lady *did* claim that the landlord was trying to screw them over, but even if this were verified, couldn't they just not pay and then win in any court battle? If you were their neighbor and had no involvement, would you help them move?

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