Some Alternatives to support the unwed mothers and children Part 3/3 – Private Sector
THE PRIVATE SECTOR
There are many possibilities for the private citizen to add and support this cause. From healthcare providers and Insurance companies to the millionaires and billionaires along with private donators.
(1) Health and Insurance providers.
Healthcare and Insurance providers would be well advised to come up with special plans for unwed single moms and children, including dental. In some extreme hardship cases even down to almost zero. Making plans equated based on income, life situation, and amount of children.
They should consider those in need now and their children as future paying customers in the long run.
(2) Churches
I cannot speak for all church congregations when it comes to helping the poor, but most churches regardless of their denominational affiliation do set aside funds for those in need. However, most of this help is only for the short term.
Of course I understand that resources are limited and not every church is in the lucky situation to have a lot wealthy members and/or members that give. Here is where again the State or government could step in and support those efforts with financial aid. That way churches can provide more and better services.
(3) Millionaires and Billionaires
Those are my real favorite people. And I don’t mean that in a complimentary way. Just as churches I cannot speak for others and for everybody.
While conservative Billionaires usually follow the rule: Do good and don’t brag about it; there is not much known about their spending habits.
The Koch brothers for example, better known in coherence with the “Tea Party” are big time donators but the media is a lot more interested in their political activities and recently slammed by The New Yorker’s Jane Mayer in her article “Covert Operations,” (14) where she accused the brothers of “waging war against Obama”.
Truth and publically known is that the Koch brothers spent more than 100 Million Dollars on right wing political Causes, but what is not publically known is more than 600 Million Dollars in Pledged or donated money (15) went to arts, education, and medical research.
Another example is Linda McMahon (R – Politician and CEO of the WWE Entertainment) and her Husband Vincent Kennedy McMahon (Chairman of the WWE) and their entire family. Linda McMahon spent alone in 2008 over 8 Million Dollars to charity (16) causes (WWE company donations and support not included).
Linda Mcmahon Charity Activity 2008
The McMahons are well recognized on their social welfare spending. Linda McMahon (if not running for office as a republican) is the CEO of the World Wrestling Entertainment and Vincent K. McMahon is the Chairman. The WWE is one of the biggest contributors to the “Make a wish foundation” (16), Children’s Education foundations, and many more, sending their poster Wrestlers John Cena, Big show, Kelly Kelly, John Morrison, and others permanently on fundraisers. But they are the only conservatives with public recognition on their Donations and only because they promote this through their weekly televised shows “Raw” and “Smackdown”.
The same counts for all sports events. Except the WWE who takes pride in their social engagement, major sports events like NFL Super bowl and others don’t seem to be interested in supporting this social cause. What they fail to see is that the ignored hardships of today are the fans and ticket buyers of tomorrow.
It would be a signal in the right direction if major Sports presenters, leagues, and broadcasters would make a public stand for Pro-Life, families, and children and not always duck before special interest lobbyists and lawyers in order not to offend somebody.
For example, remember the “scandal” of Tim Tebow with his 2010 Pro Life Super bowl commercial. While conservatives praised that young and brave man liberals went furious demanding this be removed (19). Thanks to CBS the commercial was aired, but what I missed was the NFL making a stand for this cause, a clear statement of their support.
My belief is that, millionaires and billionaires (especially liberals) only spend money when the Media is nearby, using their Donations as a promotion for themselves. And since the Media is a short-term-story-headline media they are not interested to continue promoting family support issues. But immediate headline producing catastrophes such as tsunamis are always good for headlines and for those billionaires to promote themselves.
PUT YOUR MONEY WHERE YOUR MOUTH IS
(4) Non Profit Organizations
A great way for WE THE PEOPLE as society to support this cause is to get involved in so called NPO’s (Non Profit Organizations (20)). Nonprofit organizations are tax exempt and can provide a wide variety of direct support. There are way over 1.4 Million NPO’s registered in the United States and the location of one of them is easy (20).
One of the best NPO’s supporting the Pro-Life cause is Steven Ertelt’s LifeNews (21). Working tirelessly on the cause his Website provides valuable information about every aspect from healthcare to financial support.
Personal responsibilities of each and every one of us
The issue of single parents in poverty, orphans in America, or the problems with adoption, should not exist in the richest nation on earth.
There is a lot we can do:
- First of all, on Christmas, Easter and all the other Holliday’s when our hearts are usually wide open, we can ignore the media coverage of foreign country begging, and start looking at how we can support the unwed mothers and children in our own country first.
- Don’t throw away your clothes and/or household items, but instead drop them off at churches, women centers and local children abuse centers.
- Lobby to Media, Sports entertainment, Health Companies and other services making your voice heard and tell them you won’t support them unless they make a stand for life, family, and children.
- Call your congressmanall the time and let him/her know you want him/her to make a stand for family values, women and children, and not just in “word,” but in “deed,” even if it is against the party line. It does not matter as long as it helps.
- Volunteer 1 hour at your local women’s shelter
- Get involved with state officials to change laws and policies that do not benefit women and children.
- Donate $5, $10 or $20 a month to your favorite local charity.
- Volunteer 4 hours a month at your favorite local charity.
And always remember Mother Teresa when she said:
Mother Teresa Love
“Never worry about numbers.
Help one person at a time,
and always start with
the person nearest you.”
~~ Mother Teresa ~~
Special Thanks:
Thank you to Jacqueline B. Lang (12), who worked together with me on this issue, providing valuable information and great insight.
Jacqueline is a devoted mother, business and academic professional. Jacqueline has worked for many years in many different roles including 18 years in leadership roles in management; she has also worked as a Congressional Campaign Manager, taught at the college level and served 8 years in the United States Army Reserves. Her education includes a PhD Business (c), specializing in Organizational Development and Women Leadership, MBA and BA in Communication, along with course work in environmental & safety training and executive coaching. She is currently co-authoring ‘The Power of a Women’ and ‘Breaking the Glass Ceiling without a Hammer: Career Strategies for Women’ both will be published in August of 2011
Sources:
1) www.tclehner.wordpress.com
2) CNPP/USDA
3) Associated Content
4) BabyCenter.com
5) Money.Cnn.com
6) eHow.com
7) Tclehner.wordpress.com
8) U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
9) Texas Adoption Regulations
10) SOS Children’s Village
11) TheGivingPledge.org
12) http://jblangconsulting.com/
13) www.OpenSecrets.org
14) The New Yorker
15) Politics Daily
16) Paul Levesque Network
17) American Charities.com
18) Wikipedia.com
19) New York Daily News
20) Charity Love to know.com
21) http://www.lifenews.com/
Some Alternatives to support the unwed mothers and children Part 1/3
After my last column “How abortion can be avoided with common Sense” (1) I took a stand as of why I am against abortion and why I believe that abortion is not necessary.
In this column I want to give you some solutions as of what to do with all of the born babies, how we can support and provide encouragement for the unwed mothers so that they want to keep their babies instead of running to an abortion clinic.
And this is only the tip of the iceberg of possibilities and only a basic approach for many possibilities and opportunities. What it takes is men and women that will stand up and who are willing to fight for the right direction.
It is not enough to be against it – what we need is an Alternative to Abortion.
And this is one of the biggest issues we have today in the conservative movement, all the politicians, bloggers, columnists, and nationwide religious leaders speak out against abortion, but in their effort to fight this cause and their attempt to cut down on public funding for abortion they all fail to provide proper solutions. How can WE THE PEOPLE – WE THE SOCIETY step in and support young couples and single mothers to keep their babies.
As long as we do not provide these solutions, radical pro-Choice activists, lobbyists, and special interest lawyers will always have a head start over us.
Why is it so hard for conservatives to provide alternative solutions and support?
It all has to do with politics and political ideology. Fiscalconservatives have the problem that on one hand they vote for less government involvement and more personal responsibility, but on the other hand they know very well that when it comes to supporting young parents/families’/single parents some Governmental involvement is necessary in order to provide acceptable solutions.
The trick is to find a middle ground, a solution aside of political or lobbyist interests and to use common sense in order to accomplish both. The secret word is Assistance rather than control.
Though there ARE private organizations and Religious groups stepping in under certain circumstances, counting exclusively on private support through Charity foundations or private organizations does not work because this is not a headline producing issue such as a Tsunami, or Africa support.
Who are we talking about now?
We are talking about social hardships, such as:
- Women, who during pregnancy find out that their husband/boyfriend is a dead beat cheater and find themselves all of a sudden – against their original life plan – a single mom.
- We are talking about young couples who find themselves pregnant and don’t know how to deal with the situation
- Teenagers, who now made that mistake of having unprotected intercourse or the protection failed for some reason (that is always possible, there is no such thing as a 100% protection).
- Divorced women who face the challenge of a dead beat father who does not pay his child support.
There are many reasons for being a single parent, and many reasons for women to think about abortion. Bottom line we are talking about those who did not have being a single parent as a life plan but now are facing the challenge of being left behind, and children do cost money.
According to CNPP/USDA, published in 2010 under the title “Expenditures on Children by families, 2009” (2) that a child in the United States cost you, from birth to age 17, an average of $ 205,960 considering a 2.79 percent annual inflation rate Associated Content (3) reports in July 2010. Middle income families will spend $ 286,050 on child rearing while high income earners an average of $ 475,680.
Estimation, made on babyCenter.com (4), on my own son, based on my income and living in the Midwest, entering “public college” as a single parent came out with $ 446,720 from birth to age 22 when he is finishing college. And since my son is going to private college – do the math.
|
Expense |
Start Age |
End Age |
Annual cost |
| Housing |
0 |
18 |
7267.00 |
| Food |
0 |
18 |
2552.00 |
| Transportation |
0 |
18 |
2254.00 |
| Clothing |
0 |
18 |
1015.00 |
| Helathcare |
0 |
18 |
1077.00 |
| Childcare/education |
0 |
18 |
4585.00 |
| Miscellaneous |
0 |
18 |
1946.00 |
| College |
0 |
22 |
18,548.00 |
Cost for first Year excluding College: $ 20,696
Total Cost is: $ 446,720
With all love for our children and looking at those numbers that sure can be scary, especially when you are a single mom, or a fresh out of college young couple just entering the workforce, or when you are a teenager and your parents are struggling with the kids they already have, and now they are needed to help financially support a grandchild in order to allow you to get back to school.
Here is the major question:
How can we as a society step in and support women who keep their children, how can we support women who want to give their children up for adoption without putting a blemish on them?
How can we support young parents and unwed young mothers during and after pregnancy?
First, we have to divide between governmental involvements –
What can the government, respectively the politicians do?
and
What can be done by the private sector accomplish besides providing proper information.
As a fiscal conservative Republican I totally oppose governmental involvement in private enterprise, economy, and private issues. However, social issues and the support of our Citizens future is very well an issue where the government should get involved in order to provide the proper necessities and secure the future of families and our youth. This is called support, and not control. Part 2 continues our discussion.
tclehner
