[teaching] Teenagers Christmas Gifts

Where I come from, many centuries ago, disadvantaged people (poor,sick, etc) got nailed to trees deep in Carpathian forest. It was our version of Christmas tree.
Now, we are more civilised, and we should donate to all such good causes if we can afford it.

Maelinar, I work for a charitable community organisation, as well as volunteering for another one in my spare time, and in neither do they go after more money once they have received some. I know this is 100% for sure with the one that I volunteer for, because it is a community organisation run by young people, and we do not have the time or the resources to chase people for money.

I think that it is a shame when people say they will not give money (or time or whatever) to charity (when they can) because of one (or a couple) bad experiences. I mean, most people don’t forfeit going to restaurants altogether just because of one or two bad experiences, they try others, seeing where they are happy and enjoy the experience. I think that the same should be said with the charities.

I do not think that it is possible for most people to give a donation to every person/group with their hand out, but people should donate to groups they are happy supporting for whatever reason suits them. I know I support the two organisations I am involved with, I buy the Salvo’s CD from Grace Bros (I still refuse to call it My**s) every Christmas, put a present under a wishing tree and donate to World AIDS Day. These are choices I have made because I believe in the work of all of the above and they are reasonable contributions for me to make. I do not give money to wildlife funds, children in Africa, or most medical causes (except HIV/AIDS), not because I don’t believe in them, I do, but because I have chosen who I am going to give my money and time to. For everyone it is different, and if I have a bit of change I will sometimes cave into other orgs/causes, such as buying a sausage sandwich from a BBQ fundraising for whatever.

I do know, however, that there are particular groups that I won’t contribute to for whatever reason, such as my not supporting their views of women, racial issues, sexuality, etc, or because I am aware of questionable financial management. This however does not mean I don’t contribute, and just because I don’t contribute to one group doesn’t mean the money won’t get to those who I want to help because I won’t support one group, there are very few issues only being supported by one group.

*phew* Sorry to keep going on, but I know as well as anyone else at this time of year it is difficult to make ends meet, and seeing a parade of groups with their hand out can be daunting, but I think that this is the wrong time of year to be giving up on people in need.

Mr evil – my understanding is that the gifts from this program will be going into the same bucket AS the giving tree – just suiting an age group that isn’t well catered for in the usual giving-tree gifts. (I know this because I know Sue Gore-Phillips, who’s running the program – possibly why I got a tad defensive when people called it stupid, etc).

I tend to only give money to medical charities. Even then I am concerned that anything useful they discover will be patented by some american pharmaceutical and made virtually inaccesable through excessive cost.

I will however give old clothes and so on to vinnies et al..

mr evil – one reason to support charities is that if charities didn’t do the work they do, then the govt would have to do it, and they would spend an awful lot more than charities do, and also they can’t be seen to discriminate on who they aid, whereas charities can make a judgment on who is scamming and who is a genuine hardship case.

Simto, I still have a very small amount of compassion, and I will be putting a couple of gifts under the giving tree – one for a boy and one for a girl – because I’m not that completely horrible and intolerant! 🙂

All I’m saying is that I think some charities might need to be a little more strict with who they hand stuff out to.

Oh, to clarify that one – I’m not directly going you, Maelinar – I know you’re busy enough with your own mini-sproglet to foist any of your time and/or money on anybody else’s. And that’s perfectly undedrstandable.

More having a go at the use of the word “Compassion fatigue” as a euphamism for “can’t be arsed”.

People who claim compassion fatigue usually don’t have very much of it in the first place.

There’s only one final solution to poverty, and it’s not a particularly humane one for the people concerned. So in the meantime, why not indulge in a little seasonal goodwill to all men?

No, you won’t fix the entire world, but you’ll help one person for one day. And that’s enough.

You know,

You can always go and put a present under a giving tree. Then you know the gift is going directly to a needy recipient and not towards charity admin costs. And they don’t have your details to keep asking for more and more.

I imagine most people who queue up at the salvos etc really do need the money. Radio talk back will always find the odd wierdo who does it cos they’ve maxed out their credit cards.

The hard part is what to get for a 12-15 yr old boy, that won’t break instantly, or end up costing their parents more money.

There’s a word for people like us, it’s called ‘compassion fatigue’.

I too have personal aversions to giving money to aid and charity organisations, as it appears that the only thing they want from you is your address so that they can continue to ply you for money at a later date.

No matter how much money I give to world vision for some kid in plight in Africa, they will continue to approach me for more, therefore I shall give them none in the first place, which applies to pretty much every charity I have ever encountered.

Should my money ever be needed to reach an end-state, or an actual final outcome, then I will consider investing.