Yuo can always donate directly to the organization you support, you can do this even through ESK to get tax receipt.

Or put your name on ESK juhatus ballot and push out the old board

Please explain as to why you are "gravely disappointed" about my statement; a personal voicing on my part. Why do you care? How would you change things. ESK has dominated fundraising and supporting since Hans Lupp passed away. We found out then, that things were quite not the way they should have been.

Alas, too many individuals have been through the revolving doors of ESK. Among them are some who do not believe that the community is being served to the extent that it might by the laws of the land.

Then again, that is my personal opinion, based on the bias that is anti-gaid/skaut evinced by not only ESK but other orgs....

Until proven otherwise...

With respect,
Tõnu Naelapea,
eestlane at large.

Dear Tõnu,
Your comments have made me not want to participate in the Estonian community.

What's with everyone hiding behind anonymity?

In all fairness, let's not forget that donations of time are precious too. Our very rich and diverse community here in Canada is built up on a combination of donations of incredible passion, time and money. TESS executive members and members of organizations such as ESK and also all our various camp and activity organizers donate countless hours, sometimes even at the expense of their professional wage earning time. With all due respect every hour is also a precious gift. I humbly submit that every donation has a value and to remember that people do choose to give in whatever way they can.

I choose to stay anonymous this time because my name will show bias towards org's I love and I want to remain neutral and on the topic at hand. That said, I am biased toward Kotkajärve too. I love Kotkajärve and believe that it deserves support, both monetary and manpower. But the issue here is shoddy paperwork and the blame thrown at Sihtkapital. What upsets me most, is that this blame will go toward the wonderful Sihtkapital administrator who sends out the paperwork. I cannot believe that she would not help TESS in any way possible since she is a KJ person herself. If by any chance the excel document was not included to TESS (one person can only do so much), then I must reiterate: on page 2 of the application form it says in black and white to fill out page 3. Again, if it is not clear what it means, one can pick up the phone and call Sihtkapital office where the administrator (who often goes well beyond her duty to help ANYONE who asks for help) could have easily explained and sent out the document to be filled. She has helped the org I volunteer with numerous times with said papers.

So rather than lay blame, think for alternatives. There are many people out here who love KJ. If TESS asked them each to pitch in as little as $10, the money for KJ 60th would be collected in no time, and they could get more than what was asked from ESK.

PS! Thank you to the ESK admin for her great work!

Oh gosh….. Oh my…..Oh dear! Mari knows all about ESK forms, knows that ESK processes 20 applications a month and frowns at people who don’t give to ESK. She thinks ESK hired help would be over loaded if they needed to count the number of pages every applicant hands in and tell the applicant he is missing a page. Imagine that!! Oh my! Office processes less than one application a day and grumble about the work load!!! Methinks Mari is an ESK insider. Who oh who can she be???

If my experience with filling out the forms for many years and making some educated guesses qualifies me to work at ESK, maybe I should apply when they're hiring.
Actually, no thanks, I have a job already :)