After scrubbing down everything in sight, and in evaluating each item from the supermarket on how it can be disinfected (if we throw away the outside packaging, a lot can get by with a wipe down before and after storing) I then looked at one of the most difficult to disinfect items which arrives nearly every day: the mail! Especially the religious solicitations (and soon a political avalanche as well.) Time to start with the religious “stuff” which has been a problem I’ve avoided for a long time.
A lot of items won’t stand up to water or alcohol, and a lot I don’t even want to handle. But I finally decided to take on the solicitations, especially of a religious nature. I have friends who think that throwing a holy card (probably unblessed) into the garbage should be confessed. I don’t know if that is true or not, but I do know that I feel guilty for doing so. But what am I to do with all the “stuff” they send me? So far virtually no not-for-profit has seemed to honor my request not to receive mail or phone calls (which have accelerated since the tie-down.)
Well, I finally took on the imposing pile of “stuff.” I’ve sent the following letter to ever singled solicitor, and now, even if they don’t honor my request, responsibility for the discarded so-called holy cards and other paraphernalia are on that sender. They can take wasting donor funds to the confessional. But I no longer will feel any guilt at all. Here’s the letter I wrote and have been copying all day, mailing on my stamp, and never going to open again. Plus, my desire to disinfect now applies to much less volume. (I’m thinking UV light for that). Feel free to copy whatever fits your circumstances:
Letter to unsolicited ‘charitable’ solicitors:
Dear Not-for-Profit entity,
I have been on your mailing list for sometime now, and I may even have made a donation or two in the past. However, with the changes in the world and in my own life, needs and focus, I will no longer be donating to your organization or to a number of other not-for-profits I may have supported in the past. It is not that you have done anything wrong, nor can you change my decision, which is made for my own intentions.
This last mailing from me is a goodwill gesture to help you avoid needless mailing expense. I don’t want address labels, wrapping paper, ribbon, holy cards, notepads, rosaries, medals, scapulars, Christmas and other seasonal cards, stickers, little candles to return for melting, mini prayer books, sticky nickels, scraps of fabric to sign and return, raffle tickets, calendars, imprinted ball point pens, linty gloves and socks, mini-manicure sets, or any of myriad other gimmicks I receive constantly. And I surely do not want donations made in my name to other not-for-profits which will merely add to the problem. I simply want much less mail to receive, open and dispose of, which is clogging my recycling bin and, worse, using up my time and energy. If I am on your calling list, please move me to your “Do not call list.”
Please cancel all your mailings to me, __________ (insert name and variations)
and variations thereof, at this address:
123 xxxxxxxxxx
yyyyyyyy, ZZ (Add other addresses like an office if applicable, and to avoid another stamp.)
Beginning NOW, I will no longer open any mail from your organization or from dozens of others to whom I am sending this letter. DO NOT write to me, because I will never see it; it’s going straight from mail box to garbage. And you would simply be wasting the funds you get from other donors. Thank you for your anticipated compliance and cooperation. This is not a first warning; it is a final warning. Please respect my decision and your responsibility.
Sincerely,
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