Last week I rang the bell for the Salvation Army. I have been ringing the bell for over 40 years. First I rang it with my husband who was a member of Kiwanis. Then for many years I rang it as a member of Zonta International. Now I am ringing it with the staff and volunteers of Bethany Good Samaritan. It is a pleasure and an honor to do this each holiday season.
I was at Brainerd Cub for an hour and I must have had five or six people stop and tell me how the Salvation Army helped them in the past. The most stirring story was a woman who experienced a home fire and the Salvation Army staff was there right away asking the family what they needed and how could they help them. They stayed connected to them until they knew they were safe and ok.
The story in the Dispatch about Fleet Farm really touched my heart and I have to say how much I admire their decision to change their original plans. Fleet Farm is one of our favorite stores and has been since we moved here in 1960. Before I retired I worked or volunteered for many nonprofits and often we would send a letter to Fleet Farm requesting a donation. They would always send something but they were so humble — never wanting to be acknowledged.
Thank you Fleet Farm and best wishes to the Salvation for a great holiday helping many folks.
Sara Dunlap
Brainerd
Comments (17)
Add commenttaxrates
How is it that our parents and grandparents did so well in this country with the sky high tax rate of 40-60%, capitol gains rate at 35%? Why were they able to raise families, send their kids to college, buy second homes, purchase their own health insurance, not rely on government hand-outs, save for retirement, and leave a nice inheritance for their children? Many without a higher education. Think about it. Because in the 50's, 60's, and 70's, 1% of our population did not hold 90% of our country's wealth as they do today. In the last 30 years, the Republican take over of our government, from the federal level to the local level has resulted in 1 in 6 Americans being on food stamps, 1 in 5 Americans with no health insurance, bankruptcies galore, and tens of millions of working Americans living from paycheck to paycheck. The higher tax rate from the by gone era was the great equalizer for the common man and woman. What does future hold? We will all be following directives from a few 100 thousand Republican trust fund babies unless there are some serious changes. So many people were conned into voting Republican because of the sensationalized fear of guns, sex, abortion, immigration, and issues which have no bearing on our quality of life. And now the greedy pigs ran off with our country's treasure chest and left everyone else holding an empty bag of dreams and aspirations. Please honor all our soldiers who died defending this country by voting in every election. Thank you.
Could it have anything to do
Could it have anything to do with the fact that most mothers stayed home and raise the kids, cooked and cleaned. Going out to eat was a luxury! Most families had one phone on the kitchen wall and it was a good bet that it was a party line. Families had one car, no electronics besides a radio and maybe a tv that picked up a couple of channels. There were very few government handouts and not everyone had insurance. It wasn't expected that everyone would graduated high school let alone college. The world still needed ditch diggers!
tax amnesty
In the last 30 years, not including the federal government, the collective 50 states saw fit to grant tax amnesty 78 times. Some states not, while others 7 and 8 times. Boy those teachers, firefighters, policeman, social workers, nurses, along with other public employees seem to be getting all the breaks. Or was it the the collective 1% which received amnesty? No wonder 48 out 50 states are running deficits and flat broke!
dang, dean
Now you are blaming women? Over half the population is female and almost half the graduates of medical, veterinary and law schools are women. Over half of seminary graduates are women.
I bet you won't convince even one to go back to the kitchen and cook and use a party line phone.
tax amnesty
So, now you can say 5% of the time the 1%ers receive tax amnesty. I wonder what percentage of those states were rank and file Republican?
grandpatax
I think you've been hitting the Geritol once to many. Petty little comments from some old geezer is hardly worth defending!
Lake
Where did I blame anyone? I was just stating facts.
sorry, dean
my bad
although I have since learned that more women worked than we figured in the 1950s. They generally waited until their kids were in school.
I am glad you aren't critical of women working.
Virtually everyones standard
Virtually everyones standard of living FAR exceeds that of our grandparents.
never wanting to be acknowledged.
Cheers, Sara.
I also do a little bit of volunteering with nonprofits and have witnessed the same generous and humble approach from Mills. They touch nearly everything in this community and rarely is their name mentioned.
Lakelander
Are you saying that "mothers that stayed home and raise the kids, cooked and cleaned" wasn't work?? Or does your statement "although I have since learned that more women worked than we figured in the 1950s" only count the women that were on a payroll. My mother was a stay home mom and I think she worked harder than my dad ever did.
llr
I won't enter into any such discussion comparing moms who work at home and those who work outside of the home. I am for choice for women. And equal pay for equal work. And yes, sometimes when my dad would come home and plop down and eat and control the tv the rest of the night, I felt the women got the short end of the deal. I agree with you totally, llr.
Lakelander
"big grin" wise choice of words since 50% of the population would have probably ate you up and spit you out if you said anything else!! Well played.
thanks, llr
on another subject: where do you buy clothes in Brainerd that are "Made in America by Americans?" It is a difficult thing to do. I watched a gentleman at Herberger's trying to find a shirt that was made in the USA and I am not certain he was ever successful.
Made in USA
Lakelander, you should've told the guy to look in the men's clothing sections.
Of course he wouldn't be able to find a man's shirt shopping in the women's section near you.
Jeff
Make sure eyolf approves
of your purchases. As a receiver of one of his idiotic posts directed at me, it seems if you don't shop exactly where he tells you, you are a terrorist and murderer.
lakelander
" I watched a gentleman at Herberger's trying to find a shirt ..."
I thought Herberger's had banned you from the store for these kind of activities?
vinnie
vinnie, where have you been lately?
juan: very lame response