Charity Shocker in Canada - or are these figures real?

by Dogpatch 30 Replies latest jw friends

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  sammielee24

  I agree with those who favour the Salvation Army.

  They are non denominational and I know people who have used their charity. They are in fact the ONLY local charity that I contribute to via the kettle and/or food drives because I know that at Christmas they use the money for baskets for all the needy people on their list. Families that have little in the way of food or gifts at Christmas can have their name on a list and receive a basket with some food and some small item for the kids in the family. For people with nothing, it is a life saver.

  It is place where families can pay a few bucks for a whole bag of clothes for the kids. A good winter coat or a pair of pants and shirt for a job interview can be had for a buck.

  My father was a child of the Depression and he saw first hand the work they did - without expectation of conversion.

  The Society has no such charity toward any of those outside their own organization......I have never sat in on a SA sermon, but I have seen the good works they do and the benefit they provide to some of the most vulnerable and/or down and out in our society. sammies
• 

  blondie

  I know some people are surprised to find out that non-profit organizations hire people and pay salaries. It is permitted but regulated by the IRS in the US. I am not familiar with other countries. The important thing to check in is how much such people are paid and if you w ant to support that organization on that basis.

  As said above www.charitynavigators.com

  I thank Lady Lee for her personal direct experience.
• 

  LV101

  Thanks, Lady Lee, for info. SA has been my favorite charity since reading online stats. I tell everyone to contribute to their volunteers ringing the bells at xmas time and one of my volunteer groups donates regularly to them. I trust the organizations ran by the Catholic Church, also, and another volunteer group seems to prefer donating to them.

  All this information available to the public is so good and encourages people to dig into their pockets when they know lives are really being helped.
• 

  LV101

  Shriners are unbelievable! They really are organized and know how to raise the funds. They have the best of attorneys, doctors, etc., volunteering. Their childrens' hospitals and medical treatment programs throughout the country are incredible.

  LV101
• 

  talesin

  The Salvation Army shelter here will TURN YOU AWAY IF YOU HAVE NO MONEY.

  That is a FACT.

  It's good that they didn't where you worked, Lady Lee.

  I also know a family that was burned out. They had nothing. They were very poor, but not on welfare. The SA would GIVE them nothing. Everything had a price.

  Many churches have FREE clothing rooms, and give away free blankets, furniture, etc. The Seventh Day Adventist Church here, has a FREE furniture store.

  Please note, I said IN MY HOMETOWN. I am not making this up.

  tal
• 

  wannabefree

  I know a JW family that was down and out and in need of assistance temporarily ... did the KH offer? No. However, Salvation Army and St. Vincent DePaul helped out, neither one asked religious afiliation or required them to attend church services. I have seen some approach Kingdom Halls for help over the years, the answer always was ... people like that are just trying to take advantage others, and/or, JW's are a preaching organization, not a social services organization.
• 

  Lady Lee

  talesin

  I'm sad that at the one where you live they did not live by the policies similar to where I worked. Wat a hardship not only on the people who were askign for help but also on the workers who had to turn them away. I've read the policy and procedires book and assume they would have the same policy right across the country but I definitely saw more than one person ignore the P&P and make their own decisions.

  We had a clothing room and anyone who came into the shelter could go through the mountains of clothing and take what they needed. We did have to put limits on some people because we found out they were taking things and then selling them on the street.

  No one with children was ever turned away. We would not make the kids suffer. And we kept a supply of baby formula and diapers for those parents who ran out before their next assistance check came in.

  One major problem we had at the shelter was that welfare would often refuse to fund the assistance when we would have accepted it. We were the ones sitting in front of the person who needed help. We weren't sitting in some office across the city tellign some other person to refuse the help.

  Charities do great work with the little they have. Yes they hire people to run the services. Not too many would be willing to do this work for free over a long period of time. I worked 12 hr shifts. That is tough. Sadly due to cutbacks and the govt pulling back on finding many of the programs many shelters have hasd to get rid of full time staff and replace them with part time so they can avoid payuing benefits. Then it sucks to be in a low paying job where you could actually get injured by a client who doesn't like the way you look at her (I worked on the Women's floor)
• 

  LV101

  talesin --- For real --- no money and they're turned away??? that is so upsetting to me. If this is true I'm thru devoting my volunteering time/donations toward their benefit in any organization I belong to. This is not good! Went back and read your other post and I don't trust them now. How can they turn desperate people away.
• 

  jgnat

  Blondie, you beat me to posting the charitynavigator site. Bravo. Informed givers can check out their charity on some nice empirical measures.

  The Red Cross is open and transparent about its fiscal responsibilities. http://www.redcross.org/pubs/#report
• 

  PaintedToeNail

  I remember a sister in Ohio who was raising her grandchildren, due to their mother being a crack-head and unfit mother. She kept having babies, sex paid for her drugs, and her mother kept taking them. The brothers at the KH told the sister to stop expecting the people at the KH to support her grandkids and the next time she needed something to check with Salvation Army, and other religious organizations for the things she needed.

  I'm not saying the elders at the KH were wrong. Her daughter needed to stop having kids and expecting mom to take them. Her daughter needed to be in a rehab clinic, but she didn't want to be rehabilitated. It was a no win situation.