Charities…..
Hello chatters…….charities….hmmm…….just last week my carpet fitter was telling me his daughter worked for the top animal one, he said she despised how she saw money being used by the top people……she has a senior position herself and of course they have to go to various conferences, while she is quite happy to stay in basic accommodation and does, others are taking advantage and staying in top hotels, dining out at the best restaurants and no skimping on expenses ….if it were not for her love of animals she would leave……going back a couple of years I recall a charity aid worker using charity money to pay a 12 year old for sexual services……the very reason he was in a different country to help these girls…….where does our charity donations go ? how much reaches and is used to really help the charitable courses ?…..I know our donations are needed for medical research and to buy hospital equipment, I pop cheques in the envelopes that arrive through my door at Christmas…I used to have a direct debit monthly to a charity which I have now cancelled after many years……I don’t want my money being spent on fancy hotels……. I donate a lot of stuff to charity shops, I do hope the bulk of their money goes to the said charities………what to do….who knows……
Recommend0 recommendationsPublished in Senior Chatters
I think some of the charities are okay, but others seem to need more and more. Just watch the adverts on tv and tot up how much you would spend giving to them all, Starlette. I give a lot of good things to two local charity shops, but their prices keep rising. I do not buy from them, I just notice these things. The other one ‘s are the bags left for you to fill, I have filled these with good clothes ect, ect, only for them not to be collected, and we seem to get them day after day, then none for quite a while.We do give to several charities , but I choose who to give to now.
Hi Tania…the bags though the door infuriate me too….filled one a few months ago only for it not to be collected….three phone calls later…..sorry they didn’t get back round to collect them and wont be doing so now…I can find out when they are next in your area…no thank you and don’t leave me any more bags……….plus I have a friend whose husband collects these bags and he gets paid good money…….
I have also been reviewing my gifts to charities recently — some of the well-known ones
who I believe do good work but as noted above – ‘fat cats’ sitting on the ‘Boards’ and
no doubt drawing salaries/fees for their presence – – also the amount of paper coming
through my door practically every day – calendars (which I do not want or need) raffle
tickets etc. All of which cost money to produce and process – and even if the charity
is given a favourable rates for design, printing, postage, etc. it is still a huge waste of money
that should be put to better use helping the animals or people the charity purports to
assist.
I also now choose carefully who I continue to support.
Hello GG….yes November time there will be the packs of Christmas cards from the various charities landing on the floor…and I think the same as you when I receive these coasters and Pens……how much have they cost to produce and post…beggers belief….
Very good blog Star. I to choose which charity I donate to. I have two I donate money once a month, and the more hands on one, is homelessness. You can donate some things one would never think of. Probably not a thing to discuss here, but I will lol Sanitary items for homeless women and girls. I had never thought of it, until I seen a program about it. All I have to do is buy some every shopping day, and also other personal items, for men also, basic things we take for granted, toiletries. I give them direct to the women volunteering there time to take them around. Its all volunteer. Dog kennels occasionally have donated dog food and bedding, old bedding I had to much of. These are the places I like to donate to.
Hi Ma…….its something that we are now asked to do, and the schools are providing the sanitary ware also……we have the food banks in all the Supermarkets…….things like this I have never known in my time……yet we seem to live in a more materialistic world with so much more expensive techy stuff and three car families……so many begging on the streets……but who are the genuine ones, best to just buy a meal or a hot drink for them….we have the food banks in the local pubs too where food and other stuff is donated to the needy, this does go to the genuine needy…..they are checked out……and one of the local Churches are actually providing activities and food for the kids while they are on holiday from school because they wont be getting their free dinner when off school……..its just the larger charities that make me wary….
Yes I understand what you mean Star about the larger charities. These things at schools and supermarkets are great at least you are not handing over actual cash and not knowing where it is going.
I am so glad to read that there are others who see the things that I have seen for a very long time. I am not old enough to have experienced the end of the second world war, but I know who devastating and horrible it was for those that survived. My grandparents told me counts stories of people starving and freezing and having bare enough to feed themselves. Many the world over sent help. Churches, organizations private donations it was a good thing, a gift of caring for people and no money or profit changed hands back then. Now I am saddened to say this is just not the case. Today it’s not about helping anyone other than the helpers themselves. Recently I felt compelled to give to a church organization claiming to help and support older people, and families in bad situations that could not help themselves. I was approached by several nice looking suit and tie men and proper young ladies and asked if I would care to help those in need. These young people produced brochures with not so nice pictures, downloaded from the internet, handwritten testimonials, produced using word processing software and computers claiming; that these were handwritten by school-age children in a land that hardly has electricity much-less computers. Interesting…
Ladies and Gents. I was born, true enough, but not yesterday. This group refused to take a few dollars as a donation, no they asked for the signing of a monthly contract for a year and automatic bank payments, and unknown to the donor, the contract would automatically renew itself each year. With a min donation amount of 20 dollars. I took a nap a few times during my math class while in school ladies, but I didn´t always sleep.
I checked this organization out, oh did I forget to say I am an old dog but do know my way around computing. this was all a put together money maker program put together as a fast get-rich plan. I had to laugh really, and I was not shocked I was raging mad. But then too I did learn. Now I am smarter..
Have a wonderful day
Hi happysailor….was going to say hello sailor but thought better of it…lol………I hear what your saying…….there is a church organisation where my sister used to live……a very well known one……many members of the congregation have signed up to have a set amount taken from their wages monthly for church funds……..church funds… Pfttttt…….you should see the houses that the givers of the sermons live in…wont give their proper titles…….all in 4 and 5 bedroom ones…huge chandeliers in every room always on, bedrooms too….how do I know this, I know their houses and pass them regularly…….my friends husband is currently following their teachings……and guess what………he does their gardening and decorating for them…….wont type what my friend says about this…….brainwashed with a few expletives thrown in……
Like most Chatters, I support the same Charities as I have done over the years – and more to the point, as personal funds allow
Hi Drummer, we can only give what we can afford too…… and to the ones we trust……….well to be more precise no longer to the ones I don’t trust……
I recently went into the city to search for a few things. As I was walking along glancing into the wish windows, I call this because to me they are what I wish I had but can not afford. Nevertheless, I saw a woman sitting cross-legged with her back against the wall holding a small plastic bowl outstretched. beside her lay a handwritten note asking for donations, declaring that she was with a home and hungry. I put her age at roughly 50ish, and not overweight but not underweight either. His wasn´t unattractive by any mean although nor a Liz Taylor but with a good brush and a mirror the magic could work. Hooked, I placed five euros in her bowl, she smiled and I continued on my way. But nagging questions began forming within me as I floated from place to place, window to window. After a while, I gave up looking for whatever it was that I was looking for, old age showing eh? I decided to start my trip back home. This time I walked the return trip on the outer side of the street.
Once again I saw the lady sitting and across from her, I saw a bench for weary shoppers to have a sit. The bench called to me like the Sirens of old sailing stories, see, I am a Sailor!, I decided to sit and take a load off.
I am a curious lad by nature and I do so love watching people, and this person intrigued me. In the hour that observed her, more than 20 people Men Women and yes even a few mid-teens all donated to this lady`s bowl. After each donation the lady quick as a heartbeat she dumped her bowl under a lite blanket covering her crossed knees and presented the empty bowl for the next passer-by. My interest grew as I watched this over and over again. I asked myself, dummy that I am, If I was so hungry that I felt the need to beg on the street, why would I not immediately go to a small fast-food stand that was no more then 15 ft away, and buy something? A soft bell started ringing in my mind. I decided to try something, and experiment if you will.
I went to a small sandwich shop and ordered a nice sandwich fresh with garden veggie a nice slice of delicious meat and cheese, fresh french fries and the trimmings and a nice med sized drink with plenty of ice, it was so warm. The cost was more then I had placed in this ladies bowl beforehand but that s not the point here. I returned to where the lady sit sat, and asked if she would allow me the honor of giving her a lunch. She thought about my offer for several seconds and then said meekly that at the moment she was not hungry but would save it for later, but could I donate anyway!
Let’s consider this here. A lady sitting on the street, hot day no place to sleep hungry enough to forgo her pride and plead with people. beg for a few cents to fill her stomach, and declines a fresh meal? Instead asks for cash? I happen to notice that between her crossed legs the blanket had had move just enough to see that there was a nice little stash of bills and coins there.
I did not know what to say, so I left her the bag with my paid for lunch, I had long since lost my appetite, and moved on.
Several days later I was again in the city, and again the same lady. I found my way to her and asked her if she was hungry, she looked at me and instantly remembered me and began packing her things. I waited and then decided to see where it was that she was going so fast. To make this story shorter, l followed her to a parking lot and watched with great interest as she changed from a lonely desperate street lady needing help into an average person preparing for a shopping tour. Nice ring arm bracelet nice shoes and with a car that most people save a long time to afford. I was beside myself .
Please pardon me for being so long-winded here. I have seen this scamming all my life. But I can say that this has not hardened me in heart. Now I am critical and pay close attention to such things. I pride myself that I can spot these things very fast. Experience is a great teacher so I hope that my words here might help someone. I am by nature a giving man and help at the drop of a hat and will never change. I am just more careful these days. thanks for an ear or read..
Interesting read Sailor……in the village where I live we never ever have street beggars, but last month one appeared,……..maybe irrelevant but she wasn’t White……people very soon recognised her and knew where she lived a few streets away…….she soon upped sticks and moved off the pavement back into her benefit paid for home, now this might make me seem racist, and to a degree I am because now we have been swarmed out with these people from another country who think its ok to steal off our back gardens…….walk to the shops in their night clothes, hang out sitting on the streets into the night laughing and chatting……harassing women who pass them…fly tipping all over our lanes and Woods………even one of these women stole bunches of flowers off a seat where a well known local chap used to sit, bunches of flowers with cards attached had been left on the seat in his memory …who would stoop that low….she did and ran off up the street…needless to say she was identified………so to anyone who wasn’t White on the streets I wouldn’t give the time of the day……the others get a sandwich or drink…….heard too many stories like yours…we have to get as wise as them……no one likes being made a fool of…..