Would you send an email like this to your customers?

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While they asked for financial help if the person can afford it, I don't think they are looking for financial gain. All they want to do is pay their rent and survive. If they were looking for more then it would be financial gain.

I actually pray for financial gain to be used to help others. Excess is kept in trust for the poor.

Don't get me wrong I don't wish the person any bad luck nor would I turn him in. I'm also a sucker for a sad story and alot of times I go out of my way to help others. This just sounds too much like a scam even to the token Liberal here

Think of this.....

Without counting there have been about 12 or so respond to this thread and 2 at least have said they would be willing to help, roughly 15%. Now if the guy has 1000 email contacts and gets 15% to give him something that's a pretty good return especially when he is getting free posting on forums everywhere besides.

If you need somewhere to send the excess Tom chck here there's hundreds of hard cases

http://www.bargainbeg.com/
 
I totally agree with Fred and Jeff. It does have the sounds of a scam. Not saying it is, but it's just like the "Starving, will work for food" signs. For most of them, when you offer them work, they pass it up because they really just want to pull on people's heart strings to get money from them.

Again, I don't know these people and they very well may be very stand up people in desperate need. There are ways to get assistance. But I would not spam a customer list to beg for money.
I have had to ask for help before. If it is legit, my heart goes out to them. But what are the odds that they are going to start refusing the donations once their rent is paid?
 
Another scenario to consider.

It is possible that this email did not come from the person who owned the business. Perhaps ~ and it is a possibility ~ the business went under and its assets were sold.

"Business assets" is a flexible term and can include all manner of things, including a customer contact database. All that contact info is a temptation for abuse and fraud.

Supposing the huge email list fell into the hands of a scammer who is familiar with the former owner. Said scammer now pretends to be the owner, writing a long, sob story letter and asking for handouts.

I would suggest caution and researching the source before doing anything else. If it is a scam, the perp will be caught and any monies he collected will have disappeared.