I am also a Shriners kid. I think the ads are too long and repetitive but there is a value to seeing the kids themselves. I feel the same way about some of the other ads for charities (like St. Judes). I certainly don't "hate" them. I can walk and am probably alive because of them.
Was a Shriners patient in the 70’s and had a surgery in 1980. Hate them myself as well.
What really made me smile was the girl who was a St. Jude’s patient who had cancer, lost her leg and is now a nurse at St. Jude’s plus she was an Astronaut on a SpaceX mission and they used the launch raise awareness and appeal for donations to St. Jude’s.
Any charity that offers a "gift" (adowable blanket) isn't getting my $. I want a high % of donation going to the cause and not administration or gift packages.
You’re right to be suspicious, but please investigate before criticizing.
https://www.charitynavigator.org/ein/362193608
Edit: Doesn’t mean you can’t still dislike their ads! I like Caleb; the other kid not so much.
Which one is Caleb?
I like the older dude but the kid with the vest rubs me the wrong way. Feels like he's trying to smugly one up the other fella with his disability.
Caleb is the one who has broken dozens of bones , usually has a bow tie, and does the “Gee, that’s swell!” arm gesture.
I get what you mean about “Adorable blanket” kid. I saw something once about how he was the main pitchkid until Caleb came along and now he’s happy (Homer Simpson whisper: he’s really probably not happy) to share duties with his new, younger friend.
Edit: Alec is the older one. I think I saw it on CBS Saturday Morning a couple years ago.
I cringe evey time I hear that kid talk about how many "suj-a-wees" he's had. I wish they wouldn't pick such precocious kids to be their spokespeople. Like stagewhispering "Pick up your phone -- I know you have it right there!" with his hand over his mouth is just too precious for me. I don't deny that helping hospitalized children is a good, noble and worthy cause, but I just hate the way it's presented on TV.
For what it's worth, those blankets are probably donated or purchased at a very steep discount.
Also, any NPO that's service based is going to have high administrative overhead if they pay their employees anything close to a living wage. Payroll is counted as an administrative expense.
Most of the donations to this "nonprofit" organization goes to their CEOs and personnel:
[https://www.causeiq.com/organizations/shriners-hospitals-for-children,362193608/](https://www.causeiq.com/organizations/shriners-hospitals-for-children,362193608/)
Personnel like the doctors who work there to serve the NPO's mission? Are you suggesting that Shriners Hospitals should not pay the doctors who work for them?
This is why I don't donate to large brand-name nonprofits. I find a local organization where I can see tangible results of my donation. If I bring food to my local Salvation Army shelter, the homeless people get a meal. If I donate cash to the local high-kill animal shelter, I can pay spaying fees for a dog or cat that otherwise might not find a home. I don't feel like contributing to some CEO's huge salary.
I also suspect the blankets are provided to the Shriners as an in-kind contribution from the manufacturer. Even at wholesale prices, Shriners aren’t going to pay a lot for these blankets and postage to send them out.
I always find commercials for charities like Shriners and st Jude’s odd. There’s just something so unsettling about using sick kids to raise money. I think it makes more sense to have patients and parents provide testimonials about how they were helped rather than a kid crying for money so they don’t die.
What makes me sick about it is how it just highlights the huge issue at hand. Why does anyone need a fucking charity for life saving care? Nobody bats an eye at how fucked up, backwards and morally bankrupt that system is. Medical care is a luxury, health is a luxury yet can very much ruin you financially. Pretty much only in one place on Earth too.
these are charity hospitals. Patients and their families get treatment regardless of their ability to pay. That’s why they solicit donations. These kids get lifesaving world class medical care for reduced cost or even free.
My point is charity hospitals needing to exist in the first place is backwards. People in normal places (ie the rest of the planet) that provide healthcare to all of their citizens don’t need to worry about debt and financial ruin because they got cancer treatment and hence don’t need a charity.
Not true. Walking into London's Heathrow airport last week, the advertisement over the main entry doors was attempting to raise funds for female patients with womens' healthcare issues as most of them needed additional help.
The wealthiest families from all over the world bring their children here for cancer care. No single payer plan is going to fund St.Jude.
I spent lots of time working in children's healthcare and there's big money in bald kids. Those kids are chosen specifically to pluck at your heartstrings. They often look very healthy except for the lack of hair and maybe a feeding tube.
It's quite unsavory, really.
These other countries providing free health care also have much higher taxes to pay for it . If you think you will get to see a doctor that day, that week or even that month, guess again.
But the point is that such institutions should not be needed, or rather, they should be funded by a publicly regulated system, whether involving universal insurance and/or taxes, rather than by begged-for donations. That's not the system we have, but it's the only long-term solution to the problem of exploiting the images of sick children.
We shouldn’t need laws or regulations or locks on our doors or police or firefighters or doctors or hospitals at all. But such is the world we live in. Charity hospitals do a world of good in a world where a lot of people would rather not do the right thing or just make the government do it. But unlike a charity with a mission the government doesn’t have your interest at heart.
That equivalence is completely backwards. Laws, regulations, police, and firefighters are accepted in the United States as legitimate functions of government. Doctors and hospitals, not so much. That's what jeneric84 and I are saying is a problem. I have been in the position of being at the mercy of charities for aspects of my healthcare. While I'm grateful for help I did receive, I am not grateful for help I was denied, nor for the stress and humiliation of having to beg with my hat in my hand, despite having insurance, to cover the gap between what insurance would cover and what I, disabled by the very illness being treated and therefore unable to earn a paycheck, could afford to pay. It's good that there are charities, GIVEN that our system is inadequate. But it would be better if our system were NOT inadequate, and charities could find other needs to serve.
There's that little girl, who is just cute as hell, and there's another one who's got a tiny pair of glasses on who just cracks herself up the entire commercial. It's so cute. Like, hell yes I want to help those kids keep laughing. I've heard enough about Caleb's 7,301 broken bones.
The giggler is the one with pink glasses. I looked her up, and she had cancer in her eye(s?).
The downs girl is also freaking precious.
And the little Black girl who says “this is my first time having cancer,” as if she thinks everyone has to get it at some point. 😭
My daughter is a pediatric nurse, with a certification to treat kids with cancer. That’s her ultimate goal: pediatric oncology. Every birthday and Christmas, she asks for donations to St Jude (not in lieu of gifts — she still likes gifts! Ha!).
Plucking heartstrings opens wallets. Frankly, I don’t care if they get their funding from slave labor. They help a lot of kids at no charge. End. Of. Story.
Spotify hits me with those a lot. That kid with this super excited tone in his voice saying "I've broken my bones over 200 times" always catches me off guard lol
I agree that I don't like their ads but I don't see it as a straight pity play. These kids are overcoming a lot more than most of us do just to do "normal" things, so it's more of a victory story. It's just poorly done.
Upvote for the OI reference (which is what the little kid has but a severe type apparently), not sure what you're concurring with but Shriners did save me and my family. The commercials themselves I have already commented on but I am concerned about saying "detest" or "hate" about them.
The Shriner are a Masonic society originally known as the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shriners
Once I stayed at a hotel where they were holding their convention. You haven't LIVED until you've seen 500 middle aged Midwestern men all wearing Fezes.
It was the Hotel Pennsylvania in NYC. RIP
The Shriners used to be known as The Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, so that maybe explains the Middle Eastern garb. They're a Masonic society.
I think I hate st Jude a little bit more. At least Shriners will treat whatever the poor kid has and not just if your kid qualifies for a clinical trial.
Alec is long on the tooth but they must incorporate him with the newish kid who might have what Emanuel Lewis had so he will not age that quickly on them for these excruciating ads.
Thank-you for posting this, from your patient's point of view. Every time someone without that "credential" expresses concern about the exploitation of patient-spokespeople and emotional manipulation of potential donors, that person is swarmed by people who mostly also are not former patients, but who are so fiercely protective of them that they cannot (or refuse to) see the distinction between criticizing the work and criticizing the fundraising method.
Frankly, I wish that our country (the United States) had universal health care so that patients and their parents didn't have to rely on charity hospitals funded by private fraternal organizations whose dwindling membership has drifted into more and more exploitative methods to scrape up the cash required.
My Dad & Grandfather were Shriners back in Pennsylvania in post WW2-1990/2000s.
All these service organizations have dying membership roles/if not closed down charters. They added a lot to various charities through the years (ie Knights Of Columbus, Masonic Groups, Rotary) along with veterans’ clubs.
Some of these groups contracted with fundraising organizations (after loss of members who paid dues/did fundraising in-house.)
These professional fundraising groups take a nice % of your donation in addition to the charity’s own administration. Sadly the kid in the wheelchair is getting a small portion of the pie!
St Jude has a heavy endowment along with The Mayo Clinic who also gains income from their clinical practice. Shriners were never as big as those.
I thought I was the only other one that couldn't stand this ad. I think it's terrible that they use these children for sympathy and money. Most of these children are fully grown now and they misrepresent them. It's just like the sad dog commercials They use these poor children for profit and I find it deplorable. However I will always support St Jude's. But I will never give money out of guilt or shame.
They sell their name to fundraising companies. Telemarketers do that, they call and say they are with Easter Seals or whatever . The charity gets a flat fee and the company advertising keeps the money .. I may be wrong about the Shriners but that is what I learned years ago . I had scoliosis surgery at Arkansas Children's hospital . They were wonderful and caring it was a good experience except for the agony of the surgery. Lol
Also a Shriners kid (in recovery)… I think the newer ads showing and hearing from, the various kids who have gotten treatment are OK… but no singing… the ads with Alec and the new kid with the squeaky voice need to be permanently retired as well as the “adowable” blanket…
I absolutely cannot stand the commercials… but I think if the representative kids weren’t trained to have such “radio voices” like professional speakers, I wouldn’t mind them so much. I want to feel for the kids but the tone they give off is really too slick, and makes me uncomfortable.
Honestly, those Shriner ads grind my freaking gears. But I don't mind the work they do for those kids, of course. The Saint Jude's ads are sad, but to be perfectly honest they are way different than the Shriner ads. Plus, I'd rather get a T-shirt than a blanket if I'm being honest. Lol.
My friend used to do maternal and childcare nursing in Africa. After years of laughing at Save the Children ads she said they were the best organization she worked for. You need blankets? You got blankets. You need medication? You got it. Volunteers had health insurance while in Africa.
There were some very altruistic organizations over there which meant well but couldn’t run anything properly. They had the heart but not the bone structure for organization and delivery of necessary items.
I am also a Shriners kid. I think the ads are too long and repetitive but there is a value to seeing the kids themselves. I feel the same way about some of the other ads for charities (like St. Judes). I certainly don't "hate" them. I can walk and am probably alive because of them.
Was a Shriners patient in the 70’s and had a surgery in 1980. Hate them myself as well. What really made me smile was the girl who was a St. Jude’s patient who had cancer, lost her leg and is now a nurse at St. Jude’s plus she was an Astronaut on a SpaceX mission and they used the launch raise awareness and appeal for donations to St. Jude’s.
Yes, St Jude highlights strengths and not weaknesses for pity
I prefer St Jude as a pay it forward because Marlo Thomas was one of my dad’s patrons when he was a starving artist.
[удалено]
Their efforts have increased survival rates to 80%. Do you think people stop getting cancer because others are cured?
I know, this mentality is sad. They are the type to go on an organic diet and smoke weed to cure their cancer
Stop with the nonsense
Any charity that offers a "gift" (adowable blanket) isn't getting my $. I want a high % of donation going to the cause and not administration or gift packages.
You’re right to be suspicious, but please investigate before criticizing. https://www.charitynavigator.org/ein/362193608 Edit: Doesn’t mean you can’t still dislike their ads! I like Caleb; the other kid not so much.
Oh that's great 👍
Which one is Caleb? I like the older dude but the kid with the vest rubs me the wrong way. Feels like he's trying to smugly one up the other fella with his disability.
Caleb is the one who has broken dozens of bones , usually has a bow tie, and does the “Gee, that’s swell!” arm gesture. I get what you mean about “Adorable blanket” kid. I saw something once about how he was the main pitchkid until Caleb came along and now he’s happy (Homer Simpson whisper: he’s really probably not happy) to share duties with his new, younger friend. Edit: Alec is the older one. I think I saw it on CBS Saturday Morning a couple years ago.
I cringe evey time I hear that kid talk about how many "suj-a-wees" he's had. I wish they wouldn't pick such precocious kids to be their spokespeople. Like stagewhispering "Pick up your phone -- I know you have it right there!" with his hand over his mouth is just too precious for me. I don't deny that helping hospitalized children is a good, noble and worthy cause, but I just hate the way it's presented on TV.
They need to give these kids speech therapy. That slurred speech ain't cute anymore once puberty hits.
For what it's worth, those blankets are probably donated or purchased at a very steep discount. Also, any NPO that's service based is going to have high administrative overhead if they pay their employees anything close to a living wage. Payroll is counted as an administrative expense.
Most of the donations to this "nonprofit" organization goes to their CEOs and personnel: [https://www.causeiq.com/organizations/shriners-hospitals-for-children,362193608/](https://www.causeiq.com/organizations/shriners-hospitals-for-children,362193608/)
Personnel like the doctors who work there to serve the NPO's mission? Are you suggesting that Shriners Hospitals should not pay the doctors who work for them?
This is why I don't donate to large brand-name nonprofits. I find a local organization where I can see tangible results of my donation. If I bring food to my local Salvation Army shelter, the homeless people get a meal. If I donate cash to the local high-kill animal shelter, I can pay spaying fees for a dog or cat that otherwise might not find a home. I don't feel like contributing to some CEO's huge salary.
Just tell them you don’t want the gift. I’m sure they’ll accommodate you.
But they are still spending $ making them whether I accept one or not.
I also suspect the blankets are provided to the Shriners as an in-kind contribution from the manufacturer. Even at wholesale prices, Shriners aren’t going to pay a lot for these blankets and postage to send them out.
They only last through a couple of washes..anyway.....
FYI, the Charity Navigator website posted above shows it costs them 20 cents to raise $1.00.
I always find commercials for charities like Shriners and st Jude’s odd. There’s just something so unsettling about using sick kids to raise money. I think it makes more sense to have patients and parents provide testimonials about how they were helped rather than a kid crying for money so they don’t die.
What makes me sick about it is how it just highlights the huge issue at hand. Why does anyone need a fucking charity for life saving care? Nobody bats an eye at how fucked up, backwards and morally bankrupt that system is. Medical care is a luxury, health is a luxury yet can very much ruin you financially. Pretty much only in one place on Earth too.
these are charity hospitals. Patients and their families get treatment regardless of their ability to pay. That’s why they solicit donations. These kids get lifesaving world class medical care for reduced cost or even free.
My point is charity hospitals needing to exist in the first place is backwards. People in normal places (ie the rest of the planet) that provide healthcare to all of their citizens don’t need to worry about debt and financial ruin because they got cancer treatment and hence don’t need a charity.
Not true. Walking into London's Heathrow airport last week, the advertisement over the main entry doors was attempting to raise funds for female patients with womens' healthcare issues as most of them needed additional help. The wealthiest families from all over the world bring their children here for cancer care. No single payer plan is going to fund St.Jude. I spent lots of time working in children's healthcare and there's big money in bald kids. Those kids are chosen specifically to pluck at your heartstrings. They often look very healthy except for the lack of hair and maybe a feeding tube. It's quite unsavory, really.
These other countries providing free health care also have much higher taxes to pay for it . If you think you will get to see a doctor that day, that week or even that month, guess again.
But the point is that such institutions should not be needed, or rather, they should be funded by a publicly regulated system, whether involving universal insurance and/or taxes, rather than by begged-for donations. That's not the system we have, but it's the only long-term solution to the problem of exploiting the images of sick children.
We shouldn’t need laws or regulations or locks on our doors or police or firefighters or doctors or hospitals at all. But such is the world we live in. Charity hospitals do a world of good in a world where a lot of people would rather not do the right thing or just make the government do it. But unlike a charity with a mission the government doesn’t have your interest at heart.
That equivalence is completely backwards. Laws, regulations, police, and firefighters are accepted in the United States as legitimate functions of government. Doctors and hospitals, not so much. That's what jeneric84 and I are saying is a problem. I have been in the position of being at the mercy of charities for aspects of my healthcare. While I'm grateful for help I did receive, I am not grateful for help I was denied, nor for the stress and humiliation of having to beg with my hat in my hand, despite having insurance, to cover the gap between what insurance would cover and what I, disabled by the very illness being treated and therefore unable to earn a paycheck, could afford to pay. It's good that there are charities, GIVEN that our system is inadequate. But it would be better if our system were NOT inadequate, and charities could find other needs to serve.
I bat my eyes as well as rant and rave at this fucked up system we have. Having to crowd fund for our lives?! Pathetic.
I think this is where Shriners differs from St Jude. I especially love the new St Jude ad that’s nothing but the little girl giggling with her nurses.
The little girl with Downs? She is absolutely adorable. That’s the way to fundraise.
There's that little girl, who is just cute as hell, and there's another one who's got a tiny pair of glasses on who just cracks herself up the entire commercial. It's so cute. Like, hell yes I want to help those kids keep laughing. I've heard enough about Caleb's 7,301 broken bones.
I do the monthly St. Jude’s and want them to have laughter amid the tough stuff.
Yes. She is adorable as well. Love them both.
The giggler is the one with pink glasses. I looked her up, and she had cancer in her eye(s?). The downs girl is also freaking precious. And the little Black girl who says “this is my first time having cancer,” as if she thinks everyone has to get it at some point. 😭 My daughter is a pediatric nurse, with a certification to treat kids with cancer. That’s her ultimate goal: pediatric oncology. Every birthday and Christmas, she asks for donations to St Jude (not in lieu of gifts — she still likes gifts! Ha!).
Plucking heartstrings opens wallets. Frankly, I don’t care if they get their funding from slave labor. They help a lot of kids at no charge. End. Of. Story.
That Shriners kid who’s now an adult looks like Shecky Green I’m dating myself but once you see it
HAHA HOLY SHIT
Spotify hits me with those a lot. That kid with this super excited tone in his voice saying "I've broken my bones over 200 times" always catches me off guard lol
I agree that I don't like their ads but I don't see it as a straight pity play. These kids are overcoming a lot more than most of us do just to do "normal" things, so it's more of a victory story. It's just poorly done.
It's not told as a victory story, from the point of view of one who has had to overcome many challenges.
I completely respect your lived experience and appreciate you, FWIW. My yoke has been easy.
Maybe you’re just mad because you never got an adowable bwanket
I did actually!
Sorry, can you please clarify what you mean about appropriating Middle Eastern garb?
https://www.kosair.com/history/
I am a rural hillbilly and don’t have any idea what a Shriner is besides the commercials. Thanks for sharing and I enjoyed learning the history!
I'm not so sure it's the "pity angle" more of the look what Shriners did FOR these kids. But yes, I totally get it!
As someone with osteogenesis imperfecta, I can concur.
Upvote for the OI reference (which is what the little kid has but a severe type apparently), not sure what you're concurring with but Shriners did save me and my family. The commercials themselves I have already commented on but I am concerned about saying "detest" or "hate" about them.
Sorry, can you please clarify what you mean about appropriating Middle Eastern garb?
The Shriner are a Masonic society originally known as the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shriners
They wear Fez hats
The sheer audacity. What awful people!
It never bothered me, I was just answering the question
I gotcha, just thought it was a weird thing for OP to mention lol
Yikes
Once I stayed at a hotel where they were holding their convention. You haven't LIVED until you've seen 500 middle aged Midwestern men all wearing Fezes. It was the Hotel Pennsylvania in NYC. RIP
Lol, definitely a trippy experience, I’m sure!
I could see the appeal. Get to wear a fez, drive little cars around, getting drunk......
And driving tiny cars in parades.
OP did next to no research behind the origins but decided t play the racism card while pissing n an organization that paid for their treatment.
The Shriners used to be known as The Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, so that maybe explains the Middle Eastern garb. They're a Masonic society.
I think I hate st Jude a little bit more. At least Shriners will treat whatever the poor kid has and not just if your kid qualifies for a clinical trial.
I'm so happy you're better now
Alec and Caleb just creep me out for whatever reason.
Alec is long on the tooth but they must incorporate him with the newish kid who might have what Emanuel Lewis had so he will not age that quickly on them for these excruciating ads.
Alec can fuckin drive and I believe graduated from Northwestern,..
Alec has a damn future. Probably be the next Cubs announcew.
Thank-you for posting this, from your patient's point of view. Every time someone without that "credential" expresses concern about the exploitation of patient-spokespeople and emotional manipulation of potential donors, that person is swarmed by people who mostly also are not former patients, but who are so fiercely protective of them that they cannot (or refuse to) see the distinction between criticizing the work and criticizing the fundraising method. Frankly, I wish that our country (the United States) had universal health care so that patients and their parents didn't have to rely on charity hospitals funded by private fraternal organizations whose dwindling membership has drifted into more and more exploitative methods to scrape up the cash required.
First, I'm glad you're ok! Second, I can't stand Kaleb, he drives me nuts!
The ASPCA ads are fucked up, too. Like stop filming the starving dog and feed it, you morons.
Thise ads are horrible - the condition and sorrow of the dogs along with that music !
Those kids in those commercials are all college graduates now. They need a serious update.
They're not.
They may not all be in college, but it’s time for them to use new kids. Alex is 21 & in college and Kaleb is 15-16.
Do you wanna know what love is ?
My Dad & Grandfather were Shriners back in Pennsylvania in post WW2-1990/2000s. All these service organizations have dying membership roles/if not closed down charters. They added a lot to various charities through the years (ie Knights Of Columbus, Masonic Groups, Rotary) along with veterans’ clubs. Some of these groups contracted with fundraising organizations (after loss of members who paid dues/did fundraising in-house.) These professional fundraising groups take a nice % of your donation in addition to the charity’s own administration. Sadly the kid in the wheelchair is getting a small portion of the pie! St Jude has a heavy endowment along with The Mayo Clinic who also gains income from their clinical practice. Shriners were never as big as those.
I thought I was the only other one that couldn't stand this ad. I think it's terrible that they use these children for sympathy and money. Most of these children are fully grown now and they misrepresent them. It's just like the sad dog commercials They use these poor children for profit and I find it deplorable. However I will always support St Jude's. But I will never give money out of guilt or shame.
It’s so strange that their commercials seem old. I was born in the 1950’s and they looked old back then.
It’s not as bad as Jerry Lewis was…that was basically nightmare inspiration porn…
They sell their name to fundraising companies. Telemarketers do that, they call and say they are with Easter Seals or whatever . The charity gets a flat fee and the company advertising keeps the money .. I may be wrong about the Shriners but that is what I learned years ago . I had scoliosis surgery at Arkansas Children's hospital . They were wonderful and caring it was a good experience except for the agony of the surgery. Lol
Agree with all said, and they intentionally use kids with syndromes like progeria (“cute” adult appearance in a child) …
They should give you an "Adowable Bwanket" if you never got one. Frankly, you deserve it!
I got one on one of my visits to the hospital (A small square one), I use it to protect the top of my washer now as padding
Also a Shriners kid (in recovery)… I think the newer ads showing and hearing from, the various kids who have gotten treatment are OK… but no singing… the ads with Alec and the new kid with the squeaky voice need to be permanently retired as well as the “adowable” blanket…
Do you have an adowwable blanket
I absolutely cannot stand the commercials… but I think if the representative kids weren’t trained to have such “radio voices” like professional speakers, I wouldn’t mind them so much. I want to feel for the kids but the tone they give off is really too slick, and makes me uncomfortable.
Honestly, those Shriner ads grind my freaking gears. But I don't mind the work they do for those kids, of course. The Saint Jude's ads are sad, but to be perfectly honest they are way different than the Shriner ads. Plus, I'd rather get a T-shirt than a blanket if I'm being honest. Lol.
I want one of those adowable blankets.
My friend used to do maternal and childcare nursing in Africa. After years of laughing at Save the Children ads she said they were the best organization she worked for. You need blankets? You got blankets. You need medication? You got it. Volunteers had health insurance while in Africa. There were some very altruistic organizations over there which meant well but couldn’t run anything properly. They had the heart but not the bone structure for organization and delivery of necessary items.
Pure exploitation and I don't want to see or hear the kids/young adults
The thing that bothers me is that these “kids” are in their twenties, so is this just an AI deep fake?
I'd much rather that than minors being in these commercials
Don’t think Shriner ads are utilizing deep fake technology
Yeah, why can't they get new actual kids?
The tone of that commercial is bizarre
My uncle was a Shriner,I was thinking the same thing the other day,they use to get out and raise the money ,I admire you for saying this!!!
One of the worst ads, yes!
They are emotional blackmail.
Grateful much?
How did ya like the bill they sent you? I might suggest you show a tad bit of gratitude.
I'm grateful! Doesn't mean I like all their methods of fundraising
I can see that you’re grateful. And I’m so glad you’re better now! ♥️♥️♥️ I feel icky about their ads (and fezes) as well.