I have a family friend who worked at our local Salvation Army headquarters as a a secretary. This particular office took all the Christmas donations for children in need, put them in a warehouse, and on a designated day the staff and their friends picked through them all, taking whatever they wanted. She saw people hauling away bikes donated for specific families. Some local children had hundreds of dollars of gifts donated in their name, and on Christmas they received three cheap things, items likely not even from the person who sponsored them.
My friend quit, and I’ve not given them a dime of my money since then.
I deal with a lot of agencies who provide disaster relief.
I used to say the Salvation Army’s disaster services were the one (literally the ONE) good thing they did.
They would come in, set up a canteen trailer, make and pass out hot coffee and donated food in a disaster, usually being one of the first agencies to get there and the last to leave.
Then I found out.
Every time they did this, regardless of if they were actually invited or deployed by the agency in charge (usually FEMA, sometimes others) they would SELF-DEPLOY. Meanjng they would just show up. Ok. That’s not TOO bad, sometimes agencies have to take initiative and get there before the red tape is sorted out. BUT. They, after they left at the end of the incident, they would send FEMA or the host agency a BILL. They used one or two paid employees (usually the driver of the truck and a supervisor); and many VOLUNTEERS, but they would bill for EVERYONE’s Labor at standard federal rates. They would bill for the food they distributed even though it was all donated by another agency or private parties. They would bill for the coffee they made and the supplies. Except they would use electricity from the shelter location, water from donations or from the shelter, and in many cases, they would get the coffee and industrial filters DONATED, but bill for them at retail prices.
Alex stood in the bathroom getting ready for class. She wore basic jeans and a tee shirt that said something about bats on it. She was almost ready for her first day of collage, well as ready as one could be anyway. When most people see Alex, they see an average built lady with short brown hair and a permit scourer. Most would describer her style as biker chick meets goth and she owned more black then any one person should have any right to. But what most people failed to see where the scars, the scratches, the bite mark so well hidden under her leather jacket on her left shoulder. All were memories. Things she had since she was young, this were marks that would never heal. Alex had been out walking in the woods by her house when she was twelve. She was out past dark, as kids do when they have no idea of the dangers of the world, when something attacked her. She didn't remember much, screaming, blood, and a hell of a lot of pain. The official report was a bear had attacked her. A bear, the mere idea of a bear being able to do this kind of damage was laughable to Alex now. if only the police had any idea what was really in the woods. She had thought the attack was painful. No, that wasn't anything compared to the change. The first was the worst of course. Every bone in her body breaking. Pulling apart to stretched and grow. Flesh ripping, tearing itself open to make room for the new structure. Blood pour down from each new cut and hole that her body was making in itself. And she felt every bit of it. She screamed until she couldn't breath, tears streaming down into her mouth. Almost as if trying to drown her. She would have welcomed it at the time. But now she was used to it. Besides the power it gave her was well worth it. Of course being a werewolf had a lot of downsides. Like for instance, today, her first day of collage. She had to maintain that she was human, and given how often she was known to get into fights, that wasn't an easy task.
With a sigh Alex picked up her bag and helmet and walked out the door of her small apartment. Parked outside was her bike. The part of her being a biker chick might have been right after all. She slung her leg over and climbed on. She made sure everything was in place before putting on her helmet and starting the bike. In one swift move, she tore out of the parking lot at a speed that no one should ever drive. It still took her almost an hour to reach the school. Luckily she didn't have early classes. Finding a parking spot was the real fun part, but she managed to find one not to far from the side of the school that most of her classes were. It was more about finding a place where no one would scratch her bike anyway. She headed inside the building and straight to class to her first class which was intro to collage. If there was ever a class that was one hundred percent bullshit it was this one. Luck for her she only had to take it one day. She sat there, listing to the teacher drone on, and on, and on, about all the things that the students needed to know, and all the rules they were meant to follow. She didn't care. Alex decided that watching the other students was a much more interesting use of her time. There was a blonde guy in the back. He was picking a fight with a guy with black hair beside him. Though it seemed friendly. Then a lady to her right who was secretly texting her boyfriend. The guy at the front was taking notes, Alex felt sorry for him. Then there was the lady in the green dress, doodling flowers in her notebook. She was the most interesting of the group to look at. Alex sighed again. This was going to be a long day.
Class dragged on for what felt like forever before Alex was free. She walked down the hall, heading to her class when she heard the footsteps.
“Well, look here. The bitch herself.” Three men rounded on her.
“Hi willy, did you miss me?” Alex replied. She knew she was trapped between them and a wall, and wouldn't be able to put up much of a fight.
“I still owe you for what you did to my truck little lady.” This train wreck of a man, or really overgrown boy, named Willy spoke to her. To be fair Alex may have pushed his truck into a river one night. But he had been the one who popped the tires on her bike, so really they were even.
“In a school? Aren't we a little old for this high school shit?” Willy Didn't respond with words, instead he threw the first punch. He may have been human but he still hit like a truck. Alex hit the wall with full force, hard enough to bounce. She sank to the floor like a sack of bricks. She knew she couldn't fight back. If she did, she'd tear him apart. And that would not end well.
“What's a matter? No guts now that I'm actually here?” Alex bit her lip hard enough to cause it to bleed. Blood ran down her chin. It was the only way she could keep herself in line. She had to. She couldn't do time in jail, and a full blown attack might expose the rest of the pack. Willy raised his hand, rounding on Alex, the two at his side laughing so hard they were doubled over. Alex closed her eyes and waited. But the impact never came. Alex opened her eyes. The sight before her was one she wasn't expecting. The lady in the green dress stood there before her. Her fist firmly wrapped around Willy's.
“Really Willy? It's day one and you're already starting a fight? What are you twelve?” Alex could tell from the way she was standing that she was using all of her body weight to hold him in place. The other two goons were in to much shocked to do anything.
“Stay out of this princess. This is between me and her.” Luckily before this could get really ugly someone else had seen the fight, and they had called the campus security.
“What's going on here?” An officer yelled as he approached the group. He had his hand on his waist to grab at whatever weapon the school had approved for the job.
“Oh thank goodness you're here, He hit my friend!” The lady in the green dress was the one to respond. She somehow managed to sound scared and worried all in one. It had none of the bite in it that her voice had before. And sounded sweet and innocent. Alex realized she was acting, and doing a good job at it too. The officer bought the act perfectly and took the three men with him to see the dean of the school, after yelling at them for hitting a lady. This left Alex alone with her savior. The woman walked over to Alex. She offered a hand to help Alex up which Alex happily took and pulled herself up, careful not to pull to hard.
“Thank you. I wasn't sure what I was going to do.” Alex offered the woman a warm smile. Which she returned.
“Don't worry about Willy. He's mostly talk. He's dad used to be the principle at the high school so he thinks he can run here too. Give him a few weeks to be an adult.” Alex and the mystery woman shared a laughed at that. Before she could reply however, her new friend looked at her watch and let out a sigh of frustration.
“Shit, I've got to get to class. I'll see you tomorrow!” And with that. She bolted down the hallway as fast as she could.
“Wait! I didn't get your name.” Alex shouted after her, but it was to late. She was already gone. Well at least she knew what she was doing tomorrow.
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