Heart Walk Blues

I am feeling so conflicted! The American Heart Association is having their annual Heart Walk here on the 29th. A friend of mine is coming into town that weekend not only for the walk but for Tommy's party. If anyone knows me personally, they will know that I cannot STAND the AHA. I have LOTS of reasons, but the number one reason is that they only donate 1 cent of every dollar raised to congenital heart defects. That is pitiful to me. I have other charities I would rather donate to. The Children's Heart Foundation donates 100% to CHD research, and Tommy's surgeon is a member.

So back to the Heart Walk. I decided to participate in the walk because it is the ONLY thing we have locally to recognise our kids with heart defects. I'd love to start a local group just for heart kids, but I just don't have the strength or time right now. The walk for the kids is only a half mile and we are at the tail end of the "official" walk. Yep, use our kids for the billboards and posters then leave them out in the cold....

I logged onto the AHA website and registered Tommy and me to walk. It's "requested" that we raise a minimum of $50 so Tommy can have a "free" teeshirt that says "Heart Survivor". I figure the kid at least deserves a tee shirt after all he's been through! Great, so now I have to get donations for a charity that I can't stand to be associated with! I send out an email to my family and friends asking for their help. I called them in advance to explain why I was doing what I was doing and asked them to pass it on to whomever they thought would help. The website automatically sets our donation goal to $150 dollars. I figure if I can get 10 people to send in $5 dollars each, then at least Tommy will get the tee shirt. (He should get it just for being alive in my opinion...)

So now it's been 3 days and NOBODY has donated anything! I'm so conflicted! Am I secretly pleased that the AHA cannot use my child for bait for donations for something that will never benefit him? Or am I mad that he won't be getting that stinkin' tee shirt that he EARNED by surviving two open heart surgeries???

I was going to post the link to our page, but in all honesty, I'd rather design him my own tee shirt to show off at the walk. Greedy b@stards shouldn't be making me use my child for bait and switch! Give your money to the Children's Heart Foundation instead. I will add their link in the left column.