possible donation opportunity?

[User22]

Originally Posted by lefty12357

And that's what we are still attempting to do. The charity may have changed from JB to something else, but our goal is still intact.

Well said my friend...

[Scruffydog777]

I'm off to work. Will try and check in later on.

[Toc De Mac]

This has been an awesome idea from the start and a really neat opportunity to thank Alizée for all that she has done.

Full steam ahead!

[Scruffydog777]

Well I just sent off a message just after 9am EST.
I started putting together a message last night. It was kind of eloquent, but I looked at it and thought that it might be tough to interpret accurately, so I opted for a simpler, more direct letter.

We had already stated our main points, so I felt there was no need to repeat anything unless it needed repeating. I just stressed the main points.
I'm not going to say how I posted it, or the exact amount for security reasons, but the amount was around 1,250 euros.
I worked last night and I'm beat, so I'll be hitting the hay soon. At lot of times I wake up having to see a man about a horse and if that's the case, I will check my e mail and keep everyone posted when ever I hear anything.

(Ce message traduit avec Google Translate.)
Bonjour l'équipe d'Alizée

J'ai reçu tous les dons de nos membres et le total atteint une somme modeste de € 1250. Je suis prêt à vous envoyer cet argent par paypal, si vous me le facture à mon dh777@comcast.net adresse e-mail

Nous sommes un peu au courant de ce qui s'est passé avec Un sourire versez Jean Baptiste. Je ne sais pas si à cause de ce don, il vous met dans une position inconfortable avec cette organisation, et nous nous excusons si elle ne. Nous avons essayé de faire une bonne chose pour vous et vous essayé de faire une bonne chose pour nous et il nous semble que les choses peuvent avoir mal tourné, ou peut-être que nous sommes mal interpréter ces événements.

Nous aimerions donc que vous avez à faire n'importe quoi avec ce don que vous pensez est le meilleur.
Si vous voulez donner à Un sourire versez-Jean-Baptiste, qui est bien.
Si vous voulez lui donner directement à la famille de Jean-Baptiste, qui est bien.
Si vous voulez accrocher à l'argent jusqu'à ce que les choses deviennent plus claires, ce n'est pas grave.
Ou si vous voulez donner de l'argent à un autre organisme de bienfaisance digne, qui est trop bien.

Si à cause de ce qui s'est passé, vous décidez de ne pas l'accepter, nous comprendrons. S'il vous plaît simplement reailze que vous avez beaucoup de fans dévoués de ce forum qui voulait rembourser votre acte de bonté l'année dernière pour nous.

Quel que soit votre choix, nous serons encore là, vous soutenir, et attendent avec impatience votre prochain album.

Merci beaucoup
David Hardy
AlizéeAmerica




Bon jour team Alizée.

I have received all of the donations from our members and the total reached a modest sum of 1,250 euros. I am ready to send you this money through paypal, if you will bill me at my e-mail address dh777@comcast.net

We are somewhat aware of what happened with Un sourire pour Jean Baptiste. I don't know if because of this donation, it puts you in an awkward position with this organization, and we apologize if it does. We tried to do a good thing for you and you tried to do a good thing for us and it seems to us that things may have gone badly wrong, or maybe we are misinterpreting these events.

So we would like you to do whatever with this donation that you think is best.
If you want to give it to Un sourire pour Jean Baptiste, that is okay.
If you want to give it directly to the Jean Baptiste family, that is okay.
If you want to hang on to the money until things become clearer, that is okay.
Or if you want to give the money to another worthy charity, that too is okay.

If because of what happened, you decide not to accept it, we will understand. Please just reailze that you have a lot of devoted fans from this forum who wanted to repay your act of kindness last year for us.

What ever you decide, we will still be here supporting you, and eagerly awaiting your next album.
Merci beaucoup
David Hardy
AlizéeAmerica

[User22]

Very well written letter. I think it should sit well with her. Now it's the waiting game!

[wasabi622]

FRICK. I'm so poor right now, I could shove a medevil mace up my butt, and the bleeding that would result would be less than the cash that I'm currently bleeding out.

Also, I saw something on facebook about her and the one French singer dude she sang "Adelaide". What exactly is going on with this donation?

[FanDeAliFee]

Alizée seems to be a nice person with kind intentions. But after the Jean-Baptiste debacle, one wonders if she is someone who should guide charitable giving, especially in an era where there is economic pain everywhere, making mistakes all the more tragic. Even with her limited formal education, she seems sensible enough that I would not be surprised if this very thought passes through her own mind.

I don't have the time or wealth to investigate every cause I've supported, which is why I've only donated to highly visible charities with long and decent audited track records.

It is true that France has a large welfare state, funded by some of the highest tax rates in the world - rather larger than Americans know, for example. Until recently, a French person could see his primary care physician at no charge. When the government introduced a ONE Euro per visit co-payment to contain frivolous use of the privilege, there were many complaints.

That is what makes it surprising there is no umbrella government entitlement program to secure French people against hunger like the financially-based American SNAP/EBT/Food-Stamp program. Read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supplem...stance_Program

Instead, France uses a system which combines tax-deductible private donations, public funds, and volunteer labor, the most visible expression of which is Restaurants du Coeur. Read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restaurants_du_C%C5%93ur There are also other French efforts to reduce an individual's cost of eating, like employment-based lunch subsidies and "social supermarkets," discussed at http://www.city-data.com/forum/world...od-stamps.html

Even in these very hard times, the American program is not extremely costly; it now costs about $5 each week per citizen to fund, about half a percent of the US GDP. Read http://www.economist.com/node/18958475 But while the government estimates one in three eligible people never sign up, critics complain that some participants sell the food they get at deep discount for cash to buy other things. That is what makes the French use of feeding centers interesting - the food dispensed is actually eaten by the beneficiaries. More yet, there is extended social contact during meals and other events, creating opportunities to try helping depressed and fatalistic recipients reach for independence.

Alizée performs in the annual all-France benefit show to help "Restos" Du Coeur. But did you know that you can donate directly to LOCAL Restos as well? There are two on Alizée's beloved Corsica, including the one in her hometown of Ajaccio. Hundreds of people have volunteered there, two thousand people have been served, and a quarter million meals have been dispensed. Read more at
http://www.restosducoeur.org/francem...185&position=2

Rather than donate money for a boy whose father operates a gourmet (price range: 30-50 Euros) restaurant near Ajaccio which is profitable enough to get the donations refused, why not give money to an Ajaccio restaurant where only those needy enough to humble themselves in public and accept charity dine?

This charity Resto can be contacted by phone, fax, e-mail or postal mail. So you needn't sweat Internet security issues to reliably contact them. And don't doubt that they accept monetary help, because a Web link there reads "Faire un don Matériel," or "Make a material donation" in English.

I'd be surprised if there would be an easier or cheaper safe way to send them money from overseas than through PayPal. And getting them to set up and publish a PayPal account name on their Web page would be doing them a favor. (Thank you for your support, Mr. Deepwaters. And no, I don't work for PayPal. :P )

Mr. JunkMale suggested that Alizée America might fund a regular ongoing charity. But even if this is impractical, couldn't there be an Alizée America Friendship Day at the Ajaccio Resto? July, the month in which the American republic (along with France) celebrates its birthday might be the best time for such events. Everyone remembers Christmas, but needy people get hungry in summer as well! Since Restos presumably owns the copyright on the annual DVDs featuring Alizée, maybe Ms. Karin could create and send them an Alizée poster based on content from it for them to display on the days when the American (and other) friends of Alizée are buying.

In a small place like Ajaccio, Alizée's family would surely hear about it. Unlike the Jean-Baptiste fiasco, there need be no demands on her time or the opportunity to discredit her again. At worst, the local chapter might embezzle the donations, which would be no poor reflection on her. And hopefully the umbrella Restos organization has enough lawyers and accountants to properly audit all its local franchises.

Who knows? If they were significant and sustained, Alizée might one day even consent to say hello to the public (and briefly serve food?) once a year at such an event. Encouraging financial help from her other fan clubs in affluent countries could help make this happen. That's why having the Resto total up Alizée-dedicated individual contributions would make a lot more sense than passing the hat overseas - in America, or elsewhere.

Mr. Scruffydog's message entertains the possibility that Alizée may, for understandable reasons, refuse the money offered to her. I invite those of you who know and trust him to handle your money to offer him your opinion of the present suggestion.

[Junkmale]

Some good points Sec.
I still think that the main intention with this project was to give something to Charity (albeit one that Alizee was involved with).
That's still the case.
Even if Scruffy doesn't have any further contact with her i imagine there would only be a small percentage of donators who would want to withdraw their support.
The intentions were good and remain so.
The money WILL eventually go somewhere worthwhile and your suggestion is as good as any other.

[JEP]

As A Donating Member I Agree With Sec, It Being A Worthwhile Cause That Is Registered.

[BrianO1]

Thank you for the idea Sec! ( I guess thats what we are calling you now ) The backup plan was always to donate to a different Lili related charity, so we can add the one you mentioned to the list of possible alternate groups!



However, one of the main reasons we jumped at the JB group, was because Lili publicly supported it, thus, we knew she would ok with us raising money for that group.

That is why I personally would much rather give the money to the Les Enfoires group ( I think Sec mentioned this in his post as well), if we have to pick an alternate charity.

Its still just as good of a cause, it should still be easy enough to get the money to them, AND, Alizée is directly connected to that group. As we all know, she performs in the fund-raising concert year after year. So again, we know she would be OK with us giving money to that group, as she publicly supports it. So in my opinion, that would be the next best group to give money to.


And hey, maybe our donation could get her more stage time in the next group of shows.