Help me -- I'm incredibly jaded now.

Pallister, you might can give it away on Craigs List. I did that with my old 19" just yesterday. It still worked, and the dude who got it seemed genuinely grateful.

 

He clearly was not a Katrina evacuee ...

 

Thanks for the suggestion. Figured his would be the perfect time to donate it.

 

Anyone who does charitable work expecting a 'happily ever after' ending is going to be sorely disappointed.

People who are truly in need have so many needs--not just financial, but emotional and psychological and medical and so much more. It's not a Disney movie, where the panhandler saves every dollar so he can go to college.

So if you were starving, and someone asked what you wanted to eat, you might just ask for a giant chocolate cake instead of an egg white omelette, because you never know when someone might ask you again, ever.

My friend has a foundation that benefits homeless women--she gets a hundred calls a year from well-meaning and wealthy friends who have stuff to give away. They drop off endless bags of broken toys, ripped up books, clothes you would not wear to paint your house, rusty pots and pans. She throws it all away. 'We're trying to help people,' she says, 'not tell them they only deserve garbage.'

One more thing: if you typically get charitable at this time of year, caught up in the annual holiday spirit, think about saving your efforts for another time of the year. Charities are inundated in December--and forgotten during the other 11 months. There's just as much need in June as there is during Christmas.

 

Well said, 21. I help do fundraising for a local organization that takes in a huge percentage of its annual giving in December. They've made it a point to step up outreach earlier in the year because it really helps with their budgeting, etc. And the point about people donating broken stuff and complete crap to charity is the total truth. Believe it or not, it can cost organizations more money to have to sift through and then toss or store what people donate.

 

You know, thinking back to Alma's post on the Spike Lee thread, this is an area where a more diverse representation in journalism would help.

Someone who has come up in those neighborhoods, and who has experienced that type of poverty, might still be in total agreement with what's been said on this thread about abusing other people's generosity.

But I guarantee you they would be able to offer a different perspective about it.

That would go a long way toward helping to understand the mentality of, say, a family with an HD plasma flat-screen in their three-room (not bedroom, three-room) apartment ... which, those of us who have not been in that situation could barely even fathom.

 

Interesting thread. I grew up very low middle class in a rural area. Someone said earlier, "We were poor, but didn't realize it." I guess that's how we were. Hell, I never knew we were poor til I saw my parents' IRS filings for my college financial aid applications. How the hell a family of five survived on 13,000, I'll never know. Anyway.

Over the years, I've been associated with a number of friends who came up a lot harder than I do. One friend was abused by her husband and is going back to school again and supporting herself and her two kids. Another got her education after getting pregnant at a very young age. She later went on to work for Family and Children Services under the same program which helped her out. A third friend grew up in a poor section of NYC. I won't ever forget going for Thanksgiving at her aunt's house in some of the projects of NYC. It was kind of like the earlier posts. Her uncle had a decent job and they had all kinds of electronics and a nice car, but lived in a shithole. I can't undertstand that philosophy.

What I do have is a load of respect for my friends who DID pull themselves up by their bootstraps. Despite not having a lot of money growing up, I never had to deal with that. It's admirable.

 

Thirty-one posts in and Hondo hasn't chipped in with how this is all the Democrats fault and how the woman is a lazy sack of shit.

It's a Festivus miracle.

 

That should've been post 20K.

 

Sadly, this one is from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, not The Onion.

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=535960

 

Funny, I was going to post that, too.

 

Thanks guys (and ladies) for your posts and perspectives.

To answer the question asked early on -- No, I didn't ask about the TV. As a journalist I would have. As a PR hack, my thought was "Let's make sure we don't include it in the picture." I'm not a journalist anymore. I'm not sure I like to say that, but that's the truth.

Still, the asshole in me probably would have asked about the TV, but I was taking my cues from my co-worker, who had been personally working with this woman. I don't know if he knew about the TV because he seemed as shocked as I was.

I realize there could be an innocent answer to this question. Maybe she won it in some drawing. Maybe it was a gift. Or maybe, she did blow half her $3,300 check on the TV (or even worse, rent it through Aaron's Rip-Off-A-Rama). But, in the end, it's not my business how she spends her money. It's my business to make her story as inspiring as possible so that others will feel compelled to help or maybe seek the help they need. Is it lying? As long as I don't know the answer, then no. I'll plead ignorance.

I didn't get into this non-profit for the "happily ever after." I got into this position because it was the only one out there and after six months in the penalty box I needed something that paid the bills. It just so happened they needed someone with my skills set. It's kinda like being at the bar at last call. There's only one lady (or guy, depending on your preference) left standing. If you want something other than yourself, that's your option.

Well, the alarm clock's a-ringing and I guess now I'm hust realizing what I got into bed with. Dealing with the regret and a hangover simultaneously can be staggering. It's going to be a long, bad day.