Oprah is an amazing person.

[moocow]

I never really liked Oprah before, cause I always thought her show was gay. Until today. I'm watching her show, entitled "ChristmasKindness". She went to South Africa and bought gifts for over 50,000 children... shoes, clothes, school supplies, balls, baby dolls. Then she bought more gifts for orphans in South Africa, who's parents have died from HIV or have been abused and raped by family members and such. The same thing, clothes, shoes, everything. Next, she took a young girl who hadn't seen her mother in a long time, because her mother was in a clinic for AIDs, to see her mother. The girl's mother died that March, unfortunately.

Oprah is sponsoring some of these children for the rest of their lives, meaning she' going to be paying for their college schooling and everyone.

There need to be more people like Oprah. I mean, someone who is so unselfish with their money, you know? It's amazing how much of a difference in someone's life you could make by doing something like this. I mean, these kids would have walked 20 miles just to get a whistle or a balloon.

Anyway, here's the link to the website about it here (http://www.oprah.com/tows/pastshows/200312/tows_past_20031222.jhtml) .

I wish I had more money to do something like this. I really do.

[Rainman]

A real cure for the problem would be to help stop the spread of AIDs or even fund AIDS' cure research. Gifts are nice, but when you're dying of AIDS they don't mean much.

[Gerudo]

lets look at it this way...

i dont think an AIDS cure is gonna be comin' around anytime soon... but hey, i could be wrong... they could find a cure tomorrow... who knows?

but until that time, if you know you are going to die alot sooner than your friends or family, isnt something like this nice?

[Rijuhn]

Oprah is a lot nicer than the media and comedians portray her as being. I didn't know she was so caring with her money. Most people don't realize how much "rich people" really do help out the less fortunate.

[Breaker]

Originally posted by Rijuhn
Most people don't realize how much "rich people" really do help out the less fortunate.

...and in return we give them the gift of less income tax.

[Brasel]

Originally posted by Breaker
...and in return we give them the gift of less income tax.

True, but wouldn't that money they give make the difference in their tax break? I could be wrong, I'm not well versed in this area.

I would like to give like that, but I don't have the money to spend on my family and friends, let alone the needy. I did have a middle aged couple come through my check out line at Wal-Mart a week or two ago that bought 360 bucks worth of clothing for needy children. I thought THAT was cool.

[Master Ghaleon]

I wish she would give my broke ass some money. I should go tell her that Im gonna die soon so I would get like a 5000 dollar shopping spree. Oprah wont remember me so I would get away with this

[Radium]

dude, if i had a billion dollars I'd do the same thing :p

[vegeta1215]

Speaking of giving for the holidays, have any of you read about what Penny-Arcade has been doing? http://www.penny-arcade.com/childsplay/

In short, they created an Amazon wish list of toys and video games for members of the PA community to buy for this children's hospital in Seattle for the holidays and have received enormous amounts of support, over $123,000 in gifts total! It's insane, you should check out the pictures they've posted. I feel good that I contributed a little by buying a Connect Four board game for the cause :D

[gdorf]

Now I like Penny Arcade even more. :)

However, I could care less about the generosity of Oprah. Its easy for a billionaire to give money. Maybe if she didn't live in mansions the size of small towns I'd have a little more respect. :shrug:

[Mercy]

Originally posted by Anthony
True, but wouldn't that money they give make the difference in their tax break?
Yes and no. No, in that they still get the same tax breaks for being rich in the first place. Yes, in that they get additional tax breaks when they write off their charitible contributions. Ain't our system grand? But hey, everybody ought to be rich. (http://www.raskob.com/jjr.htm#eotbr)


m.

[Foxy]

I agree with you, mooie! If I had lots of money, I would be doing stuff like that all the time. It would be much better served going to poor kids who don't have any food to eat than just sitting in my bank account.

:)

[Rainman]

Originally posted by Gerudo
but until that time, if you know you are going to die alot sooner than your friends or family, isnt something like this nice?

I'd rather be alive....

Seriously, if drug companies were really into curing AIDS it'd probably be cured by now. Right now they are making a good living selling the drugs that keep AIDS people going, but don't cure them. I'm don't mean to sound anti-corporate, but it's the truth. Large donations like the ones Oprah can provide would go a long way to getting the cure.