Time to have a telethon by Americans FOR Americans?

This one may be controversial and a little off the beaten path, but follow along.

If I suggest the notion that maybe it is time to have a telethon by Americans...for Americans, would that make me a socialist? After all, socialism seems to be a popular buzzword lately being thrown around the political landscape.

Yes, I may be serious here. People need jobs. People need money, cold hard cash. And it seems lately, jobs (and cash) are like gold: something to be treasured, very hard to come by.

Yesterday, I encountered three separate friends who are in desperate need of financial help.

• A Las Vegas-area single mom with two daughters, one of whom has been sick. The mother works a minimum wage job and has a tough time making rent and bills. She struggles finding sitters for her children while she works nights. One of her utilities is being shut off this week. 
• In North Carolina, a single mother of three works overnights at a call center. One month's behind on rent and facing a possible eviction, she relies on a live-in boyfriend to help financially. She is also facing surgery for cervical cancer. 
• In Atlanta, a former teacher is trying to raise $129 to get her personal belongings out of a storage facility in Raleigh, NC, stored there from a previous move some years ago. She is a month behind on the storage unit rent payment and the lot owner is threatening to auction off her personal possessions.
• In Las Vegas, a 12-year communications/PR professional and former teacher has an unusually tough time finding employment in his field.With bills piling up and a gym membership about to be suspended for nonpayment, he looks to extreme measures of raising short-term cash, such as pawning jewelry.
  

Okay, that last one was me...

But unfortunately, this is very typical of people we know across the country. Many are either unemployed or severely underemployed.

So yes, if you have a job (no matter how good or bad it is), consider yourself very lucky and very blessed. But for those who don't, and we know many people who are without work, how do we help them? Does it make us as a society bad people to help them? I'm not talking wealth redistribution here, just thinking of creative solutions to help those who are victims of a bad economy.

A telethon, perhaps?

Maybe it could work. A telethon to raise money to help average Americans. Social service and faith-based organizations such as the Salvation Army and the United Way could be the beneficiaries in being the recipients to help normal, everyday people, people who want to do the right thing by society, who just need a little boost...who need cash.

I wish I could help all three of my friends I mentioned above. I would open up my checkbook in a millisecond. But how can I help, when I need help myself?

So while this may have been more if a rant and a vent, hopefully it will turn into an urgent call for action to look at those in our circle of friends who may need an extra hand or two as the holidays get closer.

E.C. :)