Special to El Rrun-Rrun
Remember around Christmas time when you're walking from the parking lot and even before you even got close to the doors at Walmart you could hear the Salvation Army bell ringing as a volunteer stood by a large red kettle asking for donations?
Many people, caught in the Christmas spirit, plunked their change, dollars, etc., into the kettle (or receptacle) to the cheery "Merry Christmas and God bless you, sir," from the bell ringer.
Everyone felt good. You, the ringer, th SA.
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Fast forward to today's COVD-19 crisis.
You or a neighbor is in need and you pick up the phone, call the Salvation Army number, and are told they can't help you because, you see, there's no SA office in Brownsville.
You have to go all the way to McAllen and apply. Even then, it's not a surefire thing that you will pass the examination.
The Red Cross? The same. It has to be a disaster that is happening to you. Not just because a neighbor's family is hungry or may need help with the rent because the wolf is at the door.
And we are told that similar things happen when one goes in an emergency need to ask Catholic Charities on Price Road for assistance.
Many often travel on foot all the away from the barrios in Brownsville, only to be told that they have to be registered with the Catholic Diocese before you can be considered for assistance or given a care package stacked inside within sight of the entrance..
The boss seems to be one Sister Norma, who is never there most of the time and spends most of her time doing charitable work around the Basilica de Nuestra Senora de San Juan or, you guessed it, in Hidalgo county.
And don't even bother to try Goodwill or the Amigos del Valle. They, too, are focused on the needs of those in...elsewhere but Brownsville.
If you knew this was going to happen, would you still plunk your extra change or bills in the Salvation Army kettle?
Or donate during a Red Cross blood drive? Or your ropa de marca a Goodwill?
And when will these organizations realize that (like Catholic Charities) the largest city is Brownsville, the population with the greatest need is also this city, and that the diocese headquarters and its cathedral in South Texas is also in Brownsville?
Is it time for some of the charity shown by local residents to stay home?
Remember around Christmas time when you're walking from the parking lot and even before you even got close to the doors at Walmart you could hear the Salvation Army bell ringing as a volunteer stood by a large red kettle asking for donations?
Many people, caught in the Christmas spirit, plunked their change, dollars, etc., into the kettle (or receptacle) to the cheery "Merry Christmas and God bless you, sir," from the bell ringer.
Everyone felt good. You, the ringer, th SA.
Fast forward to today's COVD-19 crisis.
You or a neighbor is in need and you pick up the phone, call the Salvation Army number, and are told they can't help you because, you see, there's no SA office in Brownsville.
You have to go all the way to McAllen and apply. Even then, it's not a surefire thing that you will pass the examination.
The Red Cross? The same. It has to be a disaster that is happening to you. Not just because a neighbor's family is hungry or may need help with the rent because the wolf is at the door.
And we are told that similar things happen when one goes in an emergency need to ask Catholic Charities on Price Road for assistance.
Many often travel on foot all the away from the barrios in Brownsville, only to be told that they have to be registered with the Catholic Diocese before you can be considered for assistance or given a care package stacked inside within sight of the entrance..
The boss seems to be one Sister Norma, who is never there most of the time and spends most of her time doing charitable work around the Basilica de Nuestra Senora de San Juan or, you guessed it, in Hidalgo county.
And don't even bother to try Goodwill or the Amigos del Valle. They, too, are focused on the needs of those in...elsewhere but Brownsville.
If you knew this was going to happen, would you still plunk your extra change or bills in the Salvation Army kettle?
Or donate during a Red Cross blood drive? Or your ropa de marca a Goodwill?
And when will these organizations realize that (like Catholic Charities) the largest city is Brownsville, the population with the greatest need is also this city, and that the diocese headquarters and its cathedral in South Texas is also in Brownsville?
Is it time for some of the charity shown by local residents to stay home?