Day 24,266: When Donations Don’t Seem To Work
I wanted to donate to a Philly-based Covid non-profit, but my credit card was denied. That was strange so I tried again and got the same result. I called the credit card company and all was fine. The problem was on the merchant’s end. I then picked a second Philly charity to the same result. I think both nonprofits feed the same bank account so I gave up that line of attack for today. Instead, I bought tulips.
Buying tulips doesn’t sound like an anti- Covid act, but it is. My neighborhood group in Philly had been actively listing businesses in need of help and the local NJ Tulip farmer was one of them.
Tulips have a short season. At best, they bloom for 1-2 weeks and the local tulip farmer’s harvest was going to seed. All the spring flower shows and flower events had been canceled. Pivoting, the farm started online orders at bargain basement prices – literally 50 cents a stem — to bring some joy to quarantined homes, save the harvest, and keep employees working.
Want to order tulips? Don’t wait long. The season, again, is short. Here’s the link:
https://hollandridgefarms.com/tulip-delivery/
It gets you a surprise box of 20 tulips in two colors. The delivery fee from FedEx doubles the order total, from $9.99 to $19.99, but the point is to help Holland Farms, not protest FedEx charges, so I placed the order.
The bad news is that if you go on the Holland Farms blog you’ll find people are still crazy customers complaining about shipping times, response times, you name it. The Holland Farms team wrote a great response: “We are doing the best with what we have available … First and foremost we are farmers and growers. We are not a buttoned-up e-commerce giant with unlimited resources.”
And that’s the story of all of us lately. We are doing the best with what we have available and need to cut some slack for everyone else doing the same. Meanwhile, with the hope of spring springing eternal, it is as good a time as any to bring some tulips into someone’s life — even if it’s just your own. Go for it!
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A moment on Gun Sanity: Did you know that last month was the first March since 2003 with no school shootings? Of course, there were no schools in session. The scary part is some quarantined teens are at risk for going to the dark side, and gun shops and sales are considered essential along with pharmacies, hospitals, and grocery stores. So when we go back to big events in public places, more people will have more arms to do more harm. Call me crazy, but I think Tulip purchases are not just about keeping a local farmer in business, but a statement of the need for more flowers in everyone’s life over ammo.
The Crone Diary 