Comments

1
My mother worked at an organization which helped children and families in the legal system. Because of this, even though this was not the organization's mission, occasionally people would come by the front door and dump a huge pile of crappy, dirty, often dingy toys and stuffed animals. She had to waste time dealing with this misplaced kindness, and meanwhile her org could barely afford stamps. Moral of the story: give money. People bitch and moan about "charities have too many overhead costs!" but giving helpfully means giving thoughtfully.

Anyway. Go Northwest Harvest!
3
@1, oh lord, don't get me started. The broken car seats. The torn blankets with bedbugs that caused us to have to treat the entire building. The boxes of old textbooks. The strollers that turned out to be on the recall list. Mounds of dirty clothes. Ancient computers -- we were given one with a working installation of Windows 2.0 on it, something I had never seen before (it also weighed about 75 pounds). The dozens of crappy inkjet printers with permanently dried-up heads. More giant 14" CRT monitors than I can count. Stuffed animals covered with, what the hell IS that, tar? Ten cases of extremely dubious-looking hair gel in quart bottles. Opened cans of paint.

You know all that shit got deducted from their tax returns too, at full retail no doubt.

PEOPLE: YOU LOCAL CHARITY IS NOT A GARBAGE DUMP.
4
Thanks for this Goldy.

Also, wanting to volunteer at a soup kitchen, food bank, etc. is great.

Wanting to do it only on Christmas or Thanksgiving is self-indulgent crap and often creates a logistical nightmare for the agency. I can't believe how many people get pissed off and all self-righteous when they call an agency the Monday before Thanksgiving and are told there are no more slots available. "Fine," they sniff "I guess you don't need our financial support either."

No asshole, they need your support the rest of the year.
5
@3,

I've heard tell of people "donating" used motor oil to Goodwill. I guess it's better than dumping it in a storm drain?

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