Agree. Churches were the original mutual aid societies in so many ways, and when you’ve been helped by them especially, you want to keep paying it forward. While I struggle with the stances of a lot of churches (coughs in atheist), I’ve also seen them come together and do some incredible things for my patient families and my Bestie who is part of a very large religious group. It’s… definitely not black and white.
All that to say, I don’t think there’s a WRONG decision here. Whatever your gut is most comfortable with, I think that’s fully valid.
Yeah, many religious folks take tithing/almsgiving VERY seriously, for good or bad. (Thinking mainly of icky prosperity gospel type stuff when I say “or bad”.)
I can’t say that wasn’t my first thought too, but as @AllHat and @Bracken_Joy and @druidessie have said it’s very much tied into their religion and their church community. And their church community is stepping up to help where they can.
If they hadn’t said how they’d be using that portion of the money up front and just said after the fact ‘Thanks everyone who donated, we gave X to the church in accordance with our beliefs and used the rest for <whatever>’ I’d have said ‘Ew, earmark a donation later this year for <cause church disagrees with>’ but at that point it was their money to do with as they wanted and not my business. So I’ll probably go that route now. As pointed out, money is fungible so donating gift cards wouldn’t actually change anything and would probably cause more hassle as more pieces of plastic to carry and track…@katscratch I thought about that one, but it’s another fungible thing and in this case I don’t have direct contact with the hospital or any idea how their insurance works.
My first thought was that too, but star of bethlehem usually has yellow stamen and anthers I think? but maybe not. I had it at my house in Salt Lake, it was considered kind of an invasive pest because once it got established it was hard to get rid of.
Oh! I also just realized - I believe star of bethlehem has only one flower per stalk and it looks(?) like this one has a series along it (like a foxglove).
ETA: Oh, or maybe compound flowers, but still, one at the end of each stem or branch, none along the stem.
The nice thing about inaturalist is that experts and other users weigh in. So I’ll submit some thing with the apps most likely suggestion if it seems appropriate, or if it’s just the genus, and then other people will come in within the next couple days and help me find a specific identification.
Ex just did this with a native Rubus that ended up being salmonberry
I didn’t know that about iNaturalist! Usually I submit things to a big plant identification facebook group. I know, facebook, but there’s a lot of smart people there (and drama gets shut down REAL fast), so .
Star of Bethlehem (S.O.B) was my ID as well. Super invasive here in VA. I have them in my yard and my efforts to eliminate them have only caused them to spread further. SOB is an appropriate moniker for this plant.
Man if I was close I’d come over with some tools and take care of all of them for you. Of course I don’t have a yard of my own but if I did thousands of these would make a nice carpet.
The species from this genus that I’m familiar with (different than this picture) seems to thrive on disturbance. The more you dig it up the faster it spreads, think like bindweed. Smothering it, hand pulling the instant you see it, and not tilling seems to help weaken the bulbs.
Ooh, thank you for sharing the final solution! I was really puzzled because that is clearly not the star of Bethlehem that I’m familiar with (that grows around my parents’ house).
I know, facebook, but there’s a lot of smart people there (and drama gets shut down REAL fast), so 
