Dorothy Philbin | CNBNews
GLOUCESTER CITY NJ (April 21, 2022)–Every year I buy a subscription to the Walnut Street Theatre and one of my favorite things to do is scan the list of supporters. Last year I noticed that one of the financial supporters was The Shriners’ Hospital. I think most everyone has seen the ads for Shriners’, a boy named Alec is in a wheelchair and shows you the adorable blanket you will get if you give $19 per month.
This started me wondering. The average person contributing to the hospital probably thinks the entire amount goes to providing health care for the children. If I want to support the Walnut Street Theatre, I’ll send a check to the theatre. If I send it to a hospital, I expect it to go for health care.
Another thing that came to my mind was what other theatres did the Shriners support? How much of people’s contributions went to other causes unknown to the contributor?
I couldn’t leave this alone, I had to go farther. Was Alec, (Cabacungan) with his adorable blanket, being paid for the ads? I couldn’t find a definite answer, but I did learn that he lists his career as a Motivational Speaker and his wealth is between $1 million and $5 million. That’s not bad for an $ 18-year-old!
Other companies supporting the Walnut and probably several other non-profit organizations are Independence Blue Cross (your health care premiums,) ARAMARK (they supply school lunches to many or most schools,) two banks, six insurance companies/agents, PECO (Philadelphia electric,) and my favorite – Disney. They charge $100+ admission per person so they can support non-profit organizations across the countries and maybe the world.
Other companies which do the same are AARP (a major financial supporter of Planned Parenthood which is not a major issue for people over 50 years old,) Coke (in 2013 gave $98 million to charities,) Pepsi ($71 million just for COVID, some of which went to World Health Organization – WHO, which support a change of function research in China.) You are overpaying for almost anything you buy or use. I have a better idea. Why don’t all these companies which we have no choice but to use lower their prices and let the consumer (us) decide whom/what we choose to support?