Columnist Ruthe Deskin: Be aware of charities in disguise

Ruthe Deskin

Thursday, Nov. 19, 1998 | 12:11 p.m.

What's in a name?

Quite a bit if you are a well-known charity doing good works in the community for almost 30 years.

Recently I received a solicitation in the mail to help feed the homeless during the coming holiday season. As a longtime contributor to the program, I sat down and started to write out a check to the Las Vegas Rescue Mission. I took another look at the envelope and it was an appeal from the Las Vegas City Mission, an organization of which I had no knowledge.

Soon advertisements began to appear in the newspapers asking for donations to feed the homeless. The ads for both organizations were very much alike. Another ad ran in the newspaper pointing out the difference between the Las Vegas Rescue Mission and the Las Vegas City Mission.

If that isn't confusing enough, imagine how the workers at the Rescue Mission must feel after 28 years of feeding and ministering to the poor, to have another group assume a name so similar that many donors will not differentiate between the two.

It's unfortunate, and I would hope purely coincidental that the Las Vegas City Mission, organized this past August, has taken on so many characteristics of the long established Las Vegas Rescue Mission.

Feeding and nurturing the homeless is a commendable venture and the Las Vegas Rescue Mission has been doing just that for 28 years. The Las Vegas City Mission doesn't have that kind of track record in our area.

That bright yellow bag you might find on your doorstep is there for a good purpose. The bags will be distributed Friday evening and Saturday morning.

Beginning at noon on Saturday, 7,000 Boy Scouts and their leaders will be on the streets collecting food for hungry families. Your job is to fill the yellow bag with non-perishable foods for the Scouts to pick up.

The goal has been set for 135 tons of food for the Salvation Army to distribute to the needy. Last year, the Scouts collected 118 tons of foodstuffs. They need your help to establish a new record.

One of the best kept secrets in state government is the Desert Willow treatment Center.

The spacious and well-furnished care center is state funded and operated. The center provides services for children 6 to 17 years of age and their families.

Included in the programs are an acute psychiatric hospital for adolescents, psychiatric programs for children, and a long-term residential program with specialized treatment for troubled children.

It's comforting to know that help like that offered at Desert Willow Treatment Center is available.

Aren't we rushing things a bit?

This year Christmas was busting out all over even before the witches and ghouls of Halloween had a chance to retire into the spider webs. Thanksgiving is almost completely lost as department and novelty stores fill their shelves with ornaments, tinsel and Santa Claus.

At this rate we'll be decorating trees on the Fourth of July.

You know you're getting old when you know your way around, but you don't feel like going.