Guys, my apologies if I came across as cavalier in my comments on this topic. It was not my intent. I have this annoying habit of expanding beyond a target discussion at times, as my wife will enthusiastically attest to.
An individual's participation in charities and community service (two completely separate things to my thinking) is always commendable, particularly as opposed to doing nothing, and I would never, ever, sell short the voluntary efforts or donations of someone who wants to make a difference.
Healthy skepticism (and yes, cynicism at times) for any good-deed organization asking me to open my wallet, I readily admit to. Having been burned - badly, and multiple times - by the various scandals surrounding the United Way over past years, I have learned the hard way to exercise extreme caution when it comes to "donations". For me it's a Pavlovian response, and I promised myself years ago that I would, in the future, only deliver time and money where I can actually see and confirm the beneficial use of my efforts. I don't like approaching good works that way, but we can thank the UW snakepit for that conditioning.
For myself personally, direct children's charities are my passion, specifically the Children's Miracle Network (catastrophically ill children's healthcare) and the Youth Challenge Academies (voluntary lifeskills bootcamps for troubled teens). Coincidentally, my wife and I board an Air Force C-130 early tomorrow morning for a daytrip to Fort Gordon for an annual review and status report of the current YCA classes underway in Georgia. Along with regular visits to the Children's Healthcare of Atlanta hospitals, we can see up close and personal the impact our donations and time have on kids, and for us that brings fulfilment.
Regarding the AHS project that started this thread - after doing some additional research on their website I see that my conclusion about the nature of this particular project versus my past experience was erroneous, and was not a proper apple-to-apple comparison. The AHS has about two dozen of these projects available all over the country in 2010. There is no differentiation between a Whitney project and those in the various locations of the East or elsewhere. They all have the exact same fee structure attached, and are presented as "Volunteer Vacation" opportunities. That changes the perspective for me, and I should have done a little more homework before drawing a bullseye on this particular project. My bad.
