Another Lesson Learned

If you have been reading this blog for quite a while, you may remember a previous post called A Dilemma At The Checkout Stand.

How ironic that almost two years later, the same issue came up again. Yes. It happened today at the same grocery store in the same checkout stand.

I don't usually shop there much. It used to be a kind of run down, very small store that didn't carry many of the products and brands that I like to buy. Plus, I changed dry cleaners so I usually go to a different grocery store in the same strip mall. But today, I needed to go to the bank and decided to pick up a few items at the store near the bank. I was actually very pleasantly surprised to see that the old store had been completely renovated and it looked really nice.

As I was loading my groceries on the conveyor belt, I noticed the huge pink ribbon placard attached to the cash register. I thought, "Oh no. Not again!" I was ready with my "no" answer if the checkstand lady asked me, "Would you like to donate..." But then, I thought that perhaps I should ask which breast cancer charity they were collecting donations for.

The pleasant lady asked, "Would you like to donate for breast cancer awareness?"

I said, "It depends on which organization the donations are going to. If it is the Susan G. Komen foundation, then my answer will have to be no."

She said it was for "Why Me."

I said, "Oh I'm so glad. You see, I found out that the Komen Foundation funnels money to side groups that support abortion. I cannot, in good conscience, support such a thing."

I like to know where my donation money is going.

[If you read the link above, even though the former breast cancer foundation sponsored by the store two years ago was a different one, it wasn't the Komen Foundation back then, either.]

The lady replied, "We changed foundations a while ago. I can understand that you want your money to go to a specific purpose and for what the charity claims it is for."

I was so glad to hear that! But she went on.

"We have people asking the same thing all the time."

Perhaps many others have become increasingly aware of the fact that some charitable foundations are guilty of funneling money to abberant side organizations. It is terrible to realize that oftentimes, a donor might unknowingly be sending money into a charitable organization's affiliate that conducts the awful practice of killing unborn babies. Abortion is the American Holocaust in action; a tragic sin that any Christian pro-life advocate would never want to support.

Since I wasn't very familiar with this particular organization, I looked it up online when I returned home. It is actually named "Y Me" (which explains the upside-down pink ribbon symbol).

I did some research at their website, but didn't find any evidence that they "funnel" their funds to abortion providers or facilities. However, I was disappointed to read one of their position papers that claims that:

Position
Based on a review of available data and scientific community agreement, Y-ME National Breast Cancer Organization concludes that induced or spontaneous abortions have no overall effect on the risk of breast cancer. Y-ME, therefore, does not support any public policy that suggests the existence of such a link.

So, it would appear that it is not a pro-life organization.

This tells me that I need to be even more diligent when asking questions about charities. Next time, if I'm not absolutely sure that a charitable organization is pro-life, I will not donate. Period.

*******
Update:
According to Charity Navigator, it appears that Y-Me does not donate to any affiliates. That's good news.

But the CEO apparently makes a ton of money...

Don't like that very much. A huge amount goes to "expenses," too.

Just goes to show that I need to do the research beforehand, and find charities that aren't so involved with profit and don't soak up so much money and use it for "administrative" expenses and purposes.