Christmas is fast approaching -- the western cultural time of giving. And what do we do here at Weber County Forum, when Western European culturo-religious mores dictate generous giving?
We put the arm on our gentle readers, that's what!
We did the same last year, and appealed to your gentle and generous instincts, and collectively managed to donate a little more than a thousand bucks to the Marshall White Center Sub for Santa program within a short few days, when the program was in genuine crisis... on very short notice.
Thanks in large part to the generosity of our gentle readers last year, the 2005 Marshall White Sub-for-Santa Program was an overwhelming success.
This year, Marshall White is in slightly less-desperate straights. Notwithstanding Boss Godfrey's attempts to kill it off and sell it to the Salvation Army... The Marshall White Center still remains pretty much the great community resource it's been since 1968.
Nevertheless... there remain still three apparent Marshall White applicant families who need help for Christmas. The program still needs your help. Boss Godfrey isn't chipping in a dime of city or personal money for this, BTW, (Boss Godfrey wishes the Marshall White Center would just "go away.") We talked about this with Fritz Bachman... who runs the Sub for Santa program:
There remain three families in need, for whom the Marshall White Sub for Santa program lacks resources:
- A single mother with kids aged 6yrs (girl), 9 yrs (girl) and 14 yrs (boy.)
- A recently-separated mother of three. Kids: 3yrs, 5 yrs, and 10 yrs (girl)
- A stiill-intact family. Dad lost his job; but the core family is still together so far. Four kids aged: 4 (girl,) 7 (boy,) 12 (boy,) 14 (boy.)
Once again it's up to us all.
Please help these families through your generous donations to Marshall White Sub 4 Santa.
Please get on down there with cash donations, like we all did last year.
You can also call Program Director Fritz Bachman @ 598-5170 to arrange your special donation, or call the Marshall White Center @ 629-8346.
Checks cannot be accepted, BTW... due to Boss Godfrey's bureaucratic B.S.
Update 12/19/06 10:55 a.m. MT: Amy Wicks just posted an update in the lower comments section, the full text of which we incorporate below:
The Marshall White Center still needs your help- I have pasted text from an email sent today from the MWC director below:
Hello to all,
Fritz and I would like to say thank-you to all the people that have helped so far with our Christmas programs. Unfortunately we are still short on food items such as potatoes, rice, noodles, cereal, hams, and juices. We need these things to make food boxes for people in need in our community. There are plenty of canned goods but we will accept more. If you would like to help us with our food boxes please drop of items at the center by December 22nd at 5:00 pm.
Thank-you for your help,
Butch
18 comments:
Rudi-
Sincere thanks for posting this info.
The number at the Marshall White Center is 801.629.8374.
The Ogden City Council and Council Staff decided to sponsor a family this year instead of the usual custom of exchanging small holiday gifts.
This program will make a huge difference to family in need. My mom and I picked up a family as well. She has no grandchildren, so this is her chance to buy fun toys and clothes. Call Fritz if you want to do some shopping yourself for the families in need. It can be fun if you don't mind the crowds.
The fine staff at the MWC and especially Fritz deserve kudos for carefully screening families, making sure needs are taken care of and sizes are correct.
To the WC Forum readers who are in a position to help, thanks for helping to make the holidays a bit brighter for some of the less fortunate members of our community.
Amy Wicks
Amazing ... you are finally doing something positive for the community. Wow ... congratultions.
I mean congratulations ... !!! before you "gentle" readers pounce on the error.
Producer:
Well, if you spent much time in Ogden, you'd know that the "you" you refer to above have, many of them, have a long history of doing positive things for the community, from serving in elected office to serving on appointed boards and commisions to volunteering their time, and money, to a wide variety of civic and charitable groups, to extensive fund raising and still more.
Of course, I guess we really can't expect an occasional fly-in visitor to be aware of all that. May I, respectfully, recommend to you actually knowing something about what you choose to pontificate on before speaking? It really is the best way. Trust me on this.
I believe that the producer just doesnt really know how many good things that the "gentle" readers do for this community. Just because many dont agreee with the Godfrey "vision" doesnt mean that we are bad people. The problem is...Mayor is too short sighted, he believes and many of his junkies believe that if you question them, then you are against them. We just want to be informed, we want real answers, we are good people, we just dont always agree with the way this local government is bewing run. Is that bad?
So...Producer, did you really get paid money from the City to produce the advertisements to bring minorities into the employment of the police and fire department, or did you do them out of the generosity of your heart? I know that you said you did it for nothing, however the City Administration is claiming that they spent several thousand dollars to produce those ads. Which is it? Did they obtain three bids before choosing you, a great friend and investor in the community and staunch supporter of the Godfrey vision?
Hey "Hick"...thank you for asking the benevolent producer that question. I caught that admission form hizzoner too, that the 'city' spent several thousand of our bucks for producer's handiwork.
So far, the city has 3 minority managers. Guess the 'minorities' didn't see the video.
Where did it play? In the employee lunch room?
I know that many 'gentle readers' will respond to the needs of the MCW clients....and to others in our community who need a 'little Christmas now'.
Say, Rudi.....congratulations....YOU are one of Time Mag's 'persons of the year!'
For starting the WCForum....and , I suppose we bloggers are also!
How about that? It ain't as 'press tee jus' as Godfrey being one of the 25 most influential businessmen in that little rag...but, we did beat out that other teeny egomaniac....the one from Iran!!
So, woo hoo!!!
On the Producer's Film Work for Ogden:
First, nothing whatsoever wrong with the city hiring professionals to make recruiting films or other films promoting the city for use at trade shows, job fairs, etc. or training films for use in-city. What matters, of course, is that the work be done professionally and well in light of what the City asked for. [I have no comment on that in this instance; I haven't seen the films involved.] But snarking about the simple fact that the city hired a pro to do the films, or that the person the city hired got paid for his work seems over the top to me. [I like to get paid for my work too.]
That said, having done film work for the city does not give anyone any particular claim to being especially well informed or right about current public policy debates in Ogden. Particularly if the film-maker happens to live and work for the most part someplace else.
And finally, Producer, you surely understand that since you did contract work for the city, having been hired to do it by the Godfrey Administration, your subsequent public shilling for that administration's controversial gondola/gondola scheme creates at least the question in people's minds about how independent your opinions on this matter are. It creates at least the appearance that you are [to use the current indelicate phrase] "sucking up" to the administration that hired you in the past and might possibly be expected to hire you again in the future. Since you are not an Ogdenite and won't be much affected by the results of the gondola/gondola/real estate speculation scheme the mayor is endorsing however it turns out, people just naturally are curious about why you've become so loudly engaged in the debate. Your comments have the appearance at least of being self-serving. Surely, being engaged in the field of public relations yourself, you can see that.
Curmudgeon, let me be more blunt and to the point because I'm not sure the producer thinks we all connect the dots very well out here.
I would strongly suggest that the cost of producing the Minority Hiring video also covered the cost of the Discover Ogden video that this producer also created for the mayor's pet project. The mayor probably shouldn't have pointed out that he paid thousands of dollars for that Hiring video to the producer, because he and the producer both claim that the seperate Ogden City PR video (featuring the mayor, chris peterson and curt geiger) was done out of the generosity of the producers heart and because of his love for our community.
Curm: Since you are not an Ogdenite and won't be much affected by the results of the gondola/gondola/real estate speculation scheme the mayor is endorsing however it turns out, people just naturally are curious about why you've become so loudly engaged in the debate. Your comments have the appearance at least of being self-serving. Surely, being engaged in the field of public relations yourself, you can see that.
Let's not forget that Producer Rupert's business is funded (owned?) by Gadi Leshem, who has substantial investments in Ogden.
Dan S:
Ah, did not know that. Or if I did once, I had forgotten it. Adds an entire other level [or maybe dimension] of potential self-servingness to all this. Thanks for the pointer.
I went to Bizazz Media web page and learned that the Discover Ogden video is the first of 5 videos to be produced. One can connect the dots that the city has paid for all five videos with the several thousands of dollars that were used to produce the Minority Hiring videos.
Also Thurl Bailey provides the rap music for the police recruitment video. Haven't I seen him singing Christmas carols on channel 17 lately?
I wonder how much Ogden City residents paid for those Christmas carols?
"The mayor probably shouldn't have pointed out that he paid thousands of dollars for that Hiring video to the producer, because he and the producer both claim that the seperate Ogden City PR video (featuring the mayor, chris peterson and curt geiger) was done out of the generosity of the producers heart and because of his love for our community."
It's nice to see, despite all the studied "niceness here," that at least one gentle reader "gets" the major point.
I swear half the conversation around here involves folks running around in circles, finding angels on the heads of pins, playing nicy-nice and chasing their own friggin' tails.
Thanks, Anonymous (the blunt.)
Either Boss Godfrey and Rupert lied; or they didn't.
Indeed that is the major point.
How much, exactly, has Rupert taken to the bank so far?
Does ANYBODY have an answer to this?
Rudi:
If the city paid for it, the amount must be in the public record someplace, que no?
Gadi Lesham...of indictment notoriety???
The one who only paid 1.7 mil for over a dozen properties? What is happening with the tile guy?
Godfrey has some pals of extremely dubious character methinks.
(And THEIR friends say....'you sure have a pal of dubious character in that Godfrey person'.
Hey, why has'nt Producer chimed in since the money deal for all of his hard work promoting Ogden came up?
Cockroaches always scurry back into the woodwork when the lights come on!
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