[KS] Re: HELP -- advice????

[Kevin P. Parks Adv97]

-->>What 'degree of legitimacy' are we talking about? It will be -25C in Kaluga
-->>(and much colder in other areas of Russia) soon, and I am pretty sure that
-->>one third of its population will not have gas, electricity, nor/or central
-->>heating in their faulty collective blocks of apartments constructed in early
-->>1960s by Khruschev government. Isn't this enough to be 'legitimate'? 

If you go back and read the posts to this thread you will see
that no one has questioned the legitimacy of the suffering. 
What is being questioned is the legitimacy of the sender, the
true intentions of the sender, the true identity of the sender,
etc.

-->>If one of these poor people has access to the Internet and appeals for our
-->>compassion, 

If.......


-->>why should we immediately suspect fraud?

Because I highly doubt that this is anyone's first day on the
Internet.

I would guess that 99.99999999999999999999% of all such e-mails
one receives in his/her e-mail box to be frauds.

-->>Their desire to help people around them is legitimate too.

So you know this person personally and are guaranteeing that
this money is going to the right places....

-->>Will we question the 'degree of legitimacy' of a group of desperate North
-->>Koreans should they ask for help through e-mails even if we know that there
-->>is no Internet connection in the DPRK? 

Gosh i hope so.

-->>Why not just help them (or him)?...

Because their identity and intentions cannot be verified and
there are much more certain ways to help.  You could be wasting
your money if it is not going to help desperate people but
rather going to some privileged brat with a scheme and a PC and
modem at home.

If you want to help, then i am betting that there are better ways
to do it than this, such as giving to the Red Cross or
researching other such organizations that are certain to be
reputable, that publish their contributions comings and goings,
and that are likely to have reasonable distribution
opportunities.

If you want to make sure your donations are going where they
should then do the above and don't risk being taking in by a
sham.

cheers,
kevin parks





%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%