This not an example of aggressive panhandling...

A shout-out to our friends and neighbors in Lake Worth. Some in our community are in need of help and I am highlighting their plight here to garner support. This group is in SERIOUS need of immediate support! On November 7 our friends at Everglades Earth First (EEF) staged a protest in Palm Beach Gardens. The protest was reported by several news outlets and I also reported on their protest. You can read about it here.

As you can imagine, these types of allegedly illegal activities can prove to be enormously expensive. There is bail, lawyer fees, fines, vehicle battery disposal charges and all the additional costs of having an 'action' twenty miles away. The time, effort, and logistics can be daunting, even for seasoned professionals like EEF. To defray the costs EEF set up a funding site to raise money. You can see their funding site here.

Our friends at EEF are trying to raise $1000. This seems to be an overly modest goal, but they are overly modest as a group anyway. Be that as it may, they are looking to raise $1000 to...

The protest, somewhat related to the Briger tract, was on November 7. On November 7 and November 8 EEF raised $530. Today is November 24. Between November 9 and today EEF has raised a grand total of $50 bringing their total to just $580. But a close reading shows that they can wait for this money until that December date, in 2015. So, use the time to chill, collect and save spare change, but you can also help by donating TODAY. Give from your heart.

Wish to learn more about EEF? This might help:

Amazing isn't it how an organization can have no leadership AND capable of "direct action" at the same time. These people at EEF are ahead of their time. They also have a very clear "anti-oppression" policy. You can read their policy here:

EEF is opposed to "oppressive behavior" that "demeans, marginalizes, rejects, threatens or harms any living being" in any form including "interrupting to verbal abuse". So, if you actually try to live under this anti-oppression policy, are you actually the one being oppressed? There are many 'living beings' not included in the broad EEF 'anti-oppression' policy, including people that may not agree with their ways and means of doing things. For example, if I were a lake or other body of water, I would feel oppressed by having battery put in me. We can debate for hours the degree to which a lake is a "living being." As a former commissioner would say, "Let's have a workshop on it."

Now, you as an individual may or may not be covered by the EEF 'oppression' policy. It's hard to tell. So before you send them money you might want to find out where you stand. What if during a conversation you mention your deer hunting trip to Michigan? Awkward.