Doing The Most Good
It's the time of year when people are most likely to give to charity. So I want to know who's all in favor of the Salvation Army? 'Cause I've decided that I can finally admit to myself that they really fucking piss me off. I can't go ino any store without that damn bell ringing going on (Brits, trust me, you never want to experience this, non US/GB dwellars, have no idea if it happens there or not, sorry).
But what really gets my goat is the vans and ads with the slogan "Doing the most good". Since when is charity a competition? and that certainly doesn't seem to me to be a very Christian attitude.
Oh and... I volunteer at the thrift store to benefit the local schools. We're small, we only sell complete, clean, seasonal, working items. The SA central donation processing people turn up every morning to collect the stuff we reject ...but the local SA store round the corner thinks it's funny to tell people whose stuff is so nasty they reject it to bring it to us,
But my main gripe is this "doing the most good" thing. WTF?
/rant
Charities have always advertised and competed for the charity dollar--this is someone's idea of a clever ad campaign.
I'd rather do Toys for Tots.
Salvation Army's pro-christian message pisses me off.
I prefer to work with Goodwill Industries.
yes, they have, but to me this just seems so much beyond "the mission statement". For me, it's got them categorized alongside United Way. once charity becomes corporate, it's lost it's way and the money isn't all going where I want it to go.
I'm an atheist, but I can live with a Christian message if it's truly christian.... but "doing the most good" isn't
I think it could be a reflection of their desire to put the most of your donation to actual services instead of just paying for overhead costs. "Do the most we can with your dollar" isn't as catchy.
I think the salvo's do a good job. Many other charities aren't really that charitable at all.
We always give to the salvos both when we're out and about, and when they do their door to door appeals.
I think they do 'do the most good'.
They don't bother me one bit. I don't care if any organization is faith based as long as they do good with what they get. I usually drop a few buck in the bucket or pocket change if I see them. It is a small thing.
The Salvation Army's religion is pretty weird, but they do actually do good stuff.
Even if they closed down their homeless shelters in this area.
I think they have devoted more of their efforts toward supportive housing programs, though which I have seen people succeed.
I would be a lot more comfortable with their bellringers if they'd go back to the actual Salvation Army Members in uniform.
There's something skeevy about shoving your dollar in the pot when there's a (presumably ex-)junkie ringing that bell.
All the salvo bell ringers over here seem to be older retired type people who are definitely wearing the uniform. I think that lends a lot of credence to their efforts. They don't really ring bells here though. They just sit in chairs with their box, outside the supermarkets and large stores.
I seem to recall uniformed bell ringers outside the stores in the UK, SG or Dana would have to confirm for me.
i wonder how much money you'd collect if you went and set up a bogus salvation army collection stand.
I wonder how much one of those buckets costs.
you can get the bells on ebay....a little paint job, and you're in business. just donate at least 15% of your take to the charity of your choice.
I give to World Wildlife Fund, or Defenders of Wildlife, or the Humane Society, stuff like that. I think animals need more help than people, so, I give to those charities.
Actually, "doing the most good" does seem to be a very Christian slogan to me - also of any other religion that attempts to gain converts with the "G-o-d loves the people of (my) Faith X more than s/he/? loves the people of Faith Y." I give them a few bucks every year, and it's a write-off. I don't know that it all goes to the specified charity or not, but giving once allows me to wave off the others I encounter.
Last week was my wife's birthday. :gift: Our two sons and I gave a donation in my wife's name to a local pregnancy crisis center for her birthday present. We called that one right- she was so pleased.
Now we are all looking to do it again for an inner city mission for everyone's gifts for Christmas. I think its gonna be great.
Last week was my wife's birthday. :gift: Our two sons and I gave a donation in my wife's name to a local pregnancy crisis center for her birthday present. We called that one right- she was so pleased.
Now we are all looking to do it again for an inner city mission for everyone's gifts for Christmas. I think its gonna be great.
while you were gone, you missed this thread:
http://www.cellar.org/showthread.php?t=18700Thanks monster. :cool: I didn't find a poll option that fit so I refrained. But there are a lot of good thoughts in that thread.
In our case, for Christmas my wife, myself, our two sons, one's fiance', and my parents are going to create a money pool that we will all put into the monies we would have spent on each other.
Together we will decide which organizations we will support and how much to each.
World Vision and some local rescue missions, etc. are on our short list.
It sounds workable, I'll let you know.
Don't forget Amnesty International. ;)
pssst,, ruminator....
cellar tip jar
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