HERFs and Charities

[CgarDan]

This is just my opinion and I hope that some of you can chime in and say what you think about it.

In general I feel that a HERf should not have a charity contribution as a pre-requesite to attend.

I myself contribute a lot to different charities throughout the year so the money aspect has absolutelly nothing to do with it. I feel that donations are acts of free will and should be that way without being tied to any attendance. Also HERFs are meant to be avenues for people who enjoy cigars to get together and spend time with each other while partaking in their hobby. Tying a charity contribution in order to attend alienates some participants and takes away from the HERF with emphasis on "donating". Also think about some new people who might hear of a certain HERF and want to come see this as their first experience they should be able to join and see it without having to pay anything to any cause.

There is a point that companies are a lot more willing to send things if there is some charitrable contribution involved. That is a great point and it should be used not as a mandatory donation at the door, but an option to partake in drawing for prizes that companies sent if a contribution is made.

Another thing to consider is having choices of different charities availbale to participate in. Not to say that any of the choices are more worthy than any others, but having one choice of charity is at times similar to having one political choice for a presidential candidate - just too limiting in my view.

There is another thing that might have shifted HERFs towards charity donations and that is the fact that many times you see people who are there just for the freebies and not true BOTLS wanting to learn from others and share in their experiences. My suggestion is something like a mandatory entrance fee that is a credit towards anything that can be bought at the establishment that is attended. In this case the proprietor will get some business in return for letting us use the space and those of us who come to the HERF and want to spend some time in the establishment will be spending some money there anyways so the credit is not an extra mandatory cost associated with attendance but simply a way to limit the amount of poelpe who are in it just for the freebies alone.

Once again this is just my opinion and not in any way an attack or discreditation of how some HERFs are set up or ran. I would like to find out what the majority thinks about the issue. My opinions have been wrong before, but unless one asks and hears what people have to say he or she is just living in an information vaccuum.

 

[grateful1]

This is just my opinion and I hope that some of you can chime in and say what you think about it.

In general I feel that a HERf should not have a charity contribution as a pre-requesite to attend.

I myself contribute a lot to different charities throughout the year so the money aspect has absolutelly nothing to do with it. I feel that donations are acts of free will and should be that way without being tied to any attendance. Also HERFs are meant to be avenues for people who enjoy cigars to get together and spend time with each other while partaking in their hobby. Tying a charity contribution in order to attend alienates some participants and takes away from the HERF with emphasis on "donating". Also think about some new people who might hear of a certain HERF and want to come see this as their first experience they should be able to join and see it without having to pay anything to any cause.

There is a point that companies are a lot more willing to send things if there is some charitrable contribution involved. That is a great point and it should be used not as a mandatory donation at the door, but an option to partake in drawing for prizes that companies sent if a contribution is made.

Another thing to consider is having choices of different charities availbale to participate in. Not to say that any of the choices are more worthy than any others, but having one choice of charity is at times similar to having one political choice for a presidential candidate - just too limiting in my view.

There is another thing that might have shifted HERFs towards charity donations and that is the fact that many times you see people who are there just for the freebies and not true BOTLS wanting to learn from others and share in their experiences. My suggestion is something like a mandatory entrance fee that is a credit towards anything that can be bought at the establishment that is attended. In this case the proprietor will get some business in return for letting us use the space and those of us who come to the HERF and want to spend some time in the establishment will be spending some money there anyways so the credit is not an extra mandatory cost associated with attendance but simply a way to limit the amount of poelpe who are in it just for the freebies alone.

Once again this is just my opinion and not in any way an attack or discreditation of how some HERFs are set up or ran. I would like to find out what the majority thinks about the issue. My opinions have been wrong before, but unless one asks and hears what people have to say he or she is just living in an information vaccuum.

1) a HERF is set up by whatever guide the organizer wishes.
2) see "1)"

 

[uptown_isy]

Here's my opinion. This was brought up weeks ago, and Charlie asked for people's opinions. Everyone was OK with it, before Charlie made the decision. Would have been wise for you to bring up your opinion back then. As Gary stated, the rules of the HERF and any door charges are set up by the person organizing it. If you disagree with the fees or the charity involved, simply don't attend. You stated that you feel a HERF should not have a prerequisite of a charitable donation. This particular HERF does. I think I speak for most people in saying that we don't have a problem making a contribution of $20 to the Warrior Transition Unit. I think that's about the LEAST we can do. Jsut my $0.02.

 

[cabaiguan juan]

huh? Whatjusthappened?

 

[rob300c]

In the case of the Quad State, the donation was required so people who were only interested in the freebies would show up, plunder, and then leave.

For The Big Smoke you pay big bucks for a bag of crappy cigars with none of it going to charity.

If you want to herf for free then attend the free herfs that happen all the time.

For twenty dollars to a good cause you really shouldn't be arguing this point Dan.


Just my opinion...

-Rob

 

[CgarDan]

Guys please read what I said carefully.

i am not talking about any specific HERFs or events. I am just bringing up a general point

DISCLAIMER: THIS THREAD HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH QUAD STATE HERF !!!!!

 

[rob300c]

If you are opposed to a mandatory donation to a charity at a herf just don't go.
Simple enough.

If the herf truly is about getting together and smoking with the boys who cares about a few bucks going to a good cause?

-Rob

 

[stogieman]

Just my $0.02, we have a weekly get together (Herf) every Thursday evening where there is no charity / contribution / door cost. We normally have any where from 15 to 50 attend and it's strickly as you say for the enjoyment / comrardeire / cigar fellowship. Then there are the ones that I attend such as CigarFest up in the Poconos that I pay good money but it's my choice. Then, there's the ones I attend to help out friends, period. Lastly, there are the ones that I do not attend because either I don't have the time, don't believe in the "cause" or simply don't want to attend........

 

[MilesMingusMonk]

Seriously? ???

Simply don't attend if you are opposed to being asked for a charitable contribution. What an odd motivation to make it an issue...truely character defining.

 

[Seavita]

If you are opposed to a mandatory donation to a charity at a herf just don't go.
Simple enough.

If the herf truly is about getting together and smoking with the boys who cares about a few bucks going to a good cause?

-Rob

Dan of course it has to do with the Quad State. otehrwise it would have never never ever have come up in teh 1st place and you would not be posting thsi thread.....

Now lets all just put the BS aside, you typed something that you apparently felt strongly about and enough people jumped on you that now you fell backed into a corner and need to expalin yourself.....truly you should have let this issue rest and just gone to PM as I suggested in the QSH thread yesterday...you are now headed down a slippery and treacherous slope that I think could potentially see you leaving the community with bad feelings and thinking you were singled out...(No I am not a psychic but I saw this thing unfolding the moment I read that question in the other thread)


All of thisnever had to happen had you checked your pride at the door when you first posted......and I like you so imagine what people who don't know you are thinking...and some of which who do who are posting and telling you to chill.....lol

 

[MOBIG]

All different outlets who wants to collect funds for their charity choice do so buy many different ways some have dances sell things such as food or clothing which the proceeds goes to who they want to give it to its your choice if you want to contribute to the cause.
If a church is holding a dance and is charging admission & selling food and money is going to the homeless is your choice if you want to go to the dance or not, so if someone wants to hold a herf to collect for charity and is going after cigar smokers who spends lots of money on cigars anyway it’s no big deal. :whistling:

 

[CgarDan]

The thread was about a phylosophical issue.

I am sorry that I brought it up and appologize to anyone who I might have offended.

 

[Scott1966]

This is just my opinion and I hope that some of you can chime in and say what you think about it.

In general I feel that a HERf should not have a charity contribution as a pre-requesite to attend.

I myself contribute a lot to different charities throughout the year so the money aspect has absolutelly nothing to do with it. I feel that donations are acts of free will and should be that way without being tied to any attendance. Also HERFs are meant to be avenues for people who enjoy cigars to get together and spend time with each other while partaking in their hobby. Tying a charity contribution in order to attend alienates some participants and takes away from the HERF with emphasis on "donating". Also think about some new people who might hear of a certain HERF and want to come see this as their first experience they should be able to join and see it without having to pay anything to any cause.

There is a point that companies are a lot more willing to send things if there is some charitrable contribution involved. That is a great point and it should be used not as a mandatory donation at the door, but an option to partake in drawing for prizes that companies sent if a contribution is made.

Another thing to consider is having choices of different charities availbale to participate in. Not to say that any of the choices are more worthy than any others, but having one choice of charity is at times similar to having one political choice for a presidential candidate - just too limiting in my view.

There is another thing that might have shifted HERFs towards charity donations and that is the fact that many times you see people who are there just for the freebies and not true BOTLS wanting to learn from others and share in their experiences. My suggestion is something like a mandatory entrance fee that is a credit towards anything that can be bought at the establishment that is attended. In this case the proprietor will get some business in return for letting us use the space and those of us who come to the HERF and want to spend some time in the establishment will be spending some money there anyways so the credit is not an extra mandatory cost associated with attendance but simply a way to limit the amount of poelpe who are in it just for the freebies alone.

Once again this is just my opinion and not in any way an attack or discreditation of how some HERFs are set up or ran. I would like to find out what the majority thinks about the issue. My opinions have been wrong before, but unless one asks and hears what people have to say he or she is just living in an information vaccuum.

The focus of my herfs has always been the herf aspect itself and the charity was secondary, in fact I used to raffle off items at my early herfs without a charity or donation but that was my choice. The $20.00 that was mandatory for my last herf at Maxi's was what the owner (Jack) decided to charge for use of his store. That money went to Jack and Jack alone. The $20.00 that attendees paid got them food along with admission and a goodie bag. After that, each attendee had a choice whether or not they wanted to participate in the charity raffle. I had no problem with anyone who just wanted to come and pay the $20.00 and get food and a goodie bag and not particpate at all in the raffle, but again that is how I decided to run my herfs. It is ultimatley up to the organizer how he/she wants to run their herfs and as mentioned by others, if you don't agree with how the herf is being run, then you don't have to attend imho.

 

[BlindedByScience]

In the case of the Quad State, the donation was required so people who were only interested in the freebies would show up, plunder, and then leave.

For The Big Smoke you pay big bucks for a bag of crappy cigars with none of it going to charity.

If you want to herf for free then attend the free herfs that happen all the time.

For twenty dollars to a good cause you really shouldn't be arguing this point Dan.

Just my opinion...

-Rob

If you are opposed to a mandatory donation to a charity at a herf just don't go.
Simple enough.

If the herf truly is about getting together and smoking with the boys who cares about a few bucks going to a good cause?

-Rob

Rob hits this one out of the park.

If someone holds a charity event, and you don't choose to support the charity, don't go to the event! I don't see what's confusing.

Your statement that "In general I feel that a HERf should not have a charity contribution as a pre-requesite to attend." is non sequitur; there are many, many herf's that have no donation required, no fee to attend. Your statement implies that it is wrong for me to organize a benefit herf, which I would say is none of your damn business.

Twenty bucks to a great cause, to attend one of the best herf's there is, seems like a hell of a deal to me. If you don't agree, how about voting with your pocketbook (and attendance) and call it good...??

Good grief, what a ridiculous thread.......B.B.S.

 

[insight]

Just my $0.02, we have a weekly get together (Herf) every Thursday evening where there is no charity / contribution / door cost. We normally have any where from 15 to 50 attend and it's strickly as you say for the enjoyment / comrardeire / cigar fellowship. Then there are the ones that I attend such as CigarFest up in the Poconos that I pay good money but it's my choice. Then, there's the ones I attend to help out friends, period. Lastly, there are the ones that I do not attend because either I don't have the time, don't believe in the "cause" or simply don't want to attend........

This captured my thoughts perfectly. For me there are many types of herfs and they can't really be lumped together. There is a big variance in going to a local casual herf with friends, a CF charity event, the Cigarpass herf, the Norcal wine herf etc. I am happy to pay the entry donation if I want to go to a specific herf requiring one. If I wasn't I would herf somewhere else for free.

 

[ilcchef2]

Guys, lets get this straight...Charlie organized this herf, he choose a great charity, the sponsers donated the cigars for the goodie bags and raffles because this is for such a great cause...this is a great place to herf and there will be tons (literally) for great guys and gals to hang out with...at todays prices 20 bucks is a pitence for such a great time that will be had. Get over yourselves and stop the drama...

 

[Dave]

My thoughts on it... well no one has read anything I've posted and actually taken it seriously at all so far, but what the hell.

Charity begins at the heart, where we feel we should give back on something based on any combination of the two conditions:

1) we truly appreciate the effort and good will the charity represents.

2) we truly feel the receiving charity needs the gesture.

With those two givens in mind, I agree with Scott's point, mainly the separation of charity and herfs. Should they be connected, or should one impact the other, of course not. Nor do I agree that people should be coerced to donate to a charity that don't believe in. No one has the right to say that Charity X is better than Charity Y, as I stated in another thread earlier everyone feels different to who to donate to, which ones strike closer to the heart and which ones don't.

As long as the good will to donate freely is there, then all is well and everyone benefits.

I brought up Scott's post, and I know some of you misread his opening in his LI thread last year, but the $20 was a fund raiser to support the store and food, none of it went to the charity, none of it went for the goody bags. That leads me to another aspect about the misconception of charity. I'll even iterate with an anecdote.

I get invited to a fancy catering hall for dinner promoting a Breast Cancer Awareness. The plate costs $XX, and portions of the monies goes towards the organization's funds, whether it be all or a fraction. Would that be considered charity? Not to me, that is fund raising, I am getting something for the money I had relinquished. Just as I go ahead and buy those delicious samoa cookies from the Girl Scouts of America. I'm not donating, I'm helping raising funds for an organization and getting something in return. I went to Scott's herf, paid $20 for the food to raise funds for the store, and then donated freely to charity for Scott's designated organization.

Why do I call the act of donating to Scott's raffle a charity rather than a fund raiser, simple, I didn't expect anything in return and I gave up money freely for it because I felt the children needed the gesture. Did I take the raffle tickets offered for my donation, of course I did, why not. I felt no reason not to take them. If I got something out of it then fine, if not then the good willed gesture is still there. Why did I call Quad State IV a fund raiser? Well the money put up goes towards the service of admission.

Could they be lumped together, sure, I even directly referred to a herf that did that. Does it always work out, of course not. As stated earlier by previous posts, how they come together is dependent on the organizer. I will say again, and I will keep stressing the point. Not all charities deserves my money. There are some that I feel closer to, others that I don't. I freely donated to the WTU because I truly appreciate their (wounded soldiers) service in providing our freedoms, a freedom that Dan had the right to execute earlier this weekend. I gladly support anyone's decision to exercise their rights, ask questions, and express thoughts freely.

So yeah, as you can see, "I'm not the go along to get along kind of guy". I hope someone actually reads this and then has thoughts of his/her own.

 

[ggiese]

Dan, Dan, Dan...

You try SO hard, but you never seem to "get it". ???

Good luck with your quest...

 

[Swissy]

ok, I'll bite...

his herf = his rules.
my pass = my rules.
your get together = your rules.

It's all about the camaraderie we enjoy while enjoying cigars. Be it a herf, a pass or just a quick local get together. But the one setting it up has all the power in the world to make it happen. So if you don't like the herf charity, the pass rule or the location of the local get together, then YOU have all the power in the world to not attend any of the events. But to honestly enjoy the time spent with cigars and friends, I would think that one would be able to look past what you do not agree with, accept it for what it is, and enjoy yourself. Or do not attend. I don't think there's a lot of need for trying to argue the point - someone went through the effort, the time and the money to set up what ever they are setting up. Trying to knock them, or the event, because of your feelings towards something is just asinine. Either go... or don't.

Consider yourself lucky to be able to attend stuff... I have to pick and choose maybe one event a year due to my location. I'd be all over a ton of events if I was in the Lower 48! Hell... I'd donate to the right wing of the leftist movement to shoot the gay baby whales that were friends of the aborted seals that were clubbed by those that voted early and often if it meant being able to go.

my $.02 for what it's worth.

 

[CgarDan]

People are still reading too much into this so I need to make this last post.

THIS IS NOT ABOUT MONEY - not everything is about dollars and cents

I AM NOT AGAINST HERFS WITH CHARITIES - have been to quite a few of them with last quad state being one and as Charlie and others may vouch made generous VOLUNTARY donations.

THIS IS NOT A KNOCK ON CHARLIE OR QSH -- Charlie had a dillema with free loaders and this was his solution. Thats fine its his HERF.

YES ONE HAS THE FREEDOM NOT TO ATTEND -- but if the laws keep being what they are some day even the ones in NYC might find themselves with an option of attending THE ONLY HERF OF THE YEAR where the charity of choice might be as Swissy wrote in jest " the right wing of the leftist movement to shoot the gay baby whales that were friends of the aborted seals that were clubbed by those that voted early and often ". If that is freedom we are leaving in the wrong country.

AND MY LAST POINT TO PONDER FOR THOSE WHO BELIEVE THERE WILL BE MORE HERFS IN THE FUTURE:

A MANDATORY DONATION IS NEITHER DONATION NOR CHARITY BUT THE PRICE OF ADMISSION