Doing what they can

[BigV]

Originally Posted by axlrosen

In general I agree - donate to causes you know, not the ones who come calling, cause who knows what they're up to. Even if the charity is legit, they may be going through a fundraising company that takes 80% of the money.

However this didn't seem like a band of roving violin-playing scam artists to me, so I decided to trust them. I thought it was incredibly sweet of them to want to help out, so I wanted to encourage that.

HUZZAH!!

In addition to your points, what would I want to teach my young? Do nothing? Trust only big organizations, you can't do anything on your own? Individual initiative is bad?

I do want to teach them: yes, use your judgement. Err on the side of generosity. You **DO** make a difference. Keep trying and encourage others to do so. Do your best and don't agonize over what's past or other things you can't control. And throw a dollar in the kids' case.