Do you donate the same or lower quality items?

[Anonymous]

I'm making a gift basket for a needy family at the NICU that took care of my daughter. I'm planning to do mainstream items, in part because I don't think any of the moms I met there would want weleda products, organic gender neutral clothes, or handmade toys from etsy., so it's going to be pink clothes from carters, plastic toys, and disposable diapers.

NICU mom here. Have you ever thought about including a little note about the product or toy being from etsy or being organic? You could take a moment to use this as a teaching/informational tool for someone who MIGHT not have been exposed to such products. Then again, that needy family MIGHT be able to teach you a thing or two.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You know what's frustrating, when your donations are considered not good enough. Since when are old clothes and sweaters not considered good enough. Does everything donated have to be brand new?

New or gently used. What's more likely going to help someone feel confident enough to go for that job interview? A newish, fairly in style sweater or something the cat has torn to shreds and used as a litter box? What will keep a child's feet protected better, a gently used pair of sneakers or ones with the soles falling off? I've never seen naked people in the street because they have no access to even rags. But I know a lot of people who don't have the means (like decent, appropriate clothing) to go to work or to get through school without being humiliated or worse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm making a gift basket for a needy family at the NICU that took care of my daughter. I'm planning to do mainstream items, in part because I don't think any of the moms I met there would want weleda products, organic gender neutral clothes, or handmade toys from etsy., so it's going to be pink clothes from carters, plastic toys, and disposable diapers.

NICU mom here. Have you ever thought about including a little note about the product or toy being from etsy or being organic? You could take a moment to use this as a teaching/informational tool for someone who MIGHT not have been exposed to such products. Then again, that needy family MIGHT be able to teach you a thing or two.

How ridiculous. Teach a needy family the benefits of organic products that they will likely never be able to afford on their own!!??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You know what's frustrating, when your donations are considered not good enough. Since when are old clothes and sweaters not considered good enough. Does everything donated have to be brand new?

I've been blessed with donations in a time of need and receiving a pair of pants with a tag still on it was wonderful. It was like a boost of encouragement and self-esteem when I was down. Now, it was really humiliating to get a stretched out sweater with pills on the armpits. It was a message that I was not worth or good enough.

People in need do know the difference between something still in good condition and rags that you would never wear.

Only in america are we so spoiled that this isn't good enough.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm making a gift basket for a needy family at the NICU that took care of my daughter. I'm planning to do mainstream items, in part because I don't think any of the moms I met there would want weleda products, organic gender neutral clothes, or handmade toys from etsy., so it's going to be pink clothes from carters, plastic toys, and disposable diapers.

NICU mom here. Have you ever thought about including a little note about the product or toy being from etsy or being organic? You could take a moment to use this as a teaching/informational tool for someone who MIGHT not have been exposed to such products. Then again, that needy family MIGHT be able to teach you a thing or two.

How ridiculous. Teach a needy family the benefits of organic products that they will likely never be able to afford on their own!!??

This is absolutely wrong.

You should do it and they'll make their choices. I'm the frugal poster from the budget thread and teaching low income folks how to stretch their dollar to eat and live healthy is the key.

You laugh at me when I say we eat oatmeal with banana peel and spread jelly made of watermelon skin on our bread but this is far healthier than the dollar menu junk this folks eat thinking they can't afford healthy food.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You know what's frustrating, when your donations are considered not good enough. Since when are old clothes and sweaters not considered good enough. Does everything donated have to be brand new?

ITA. My kids wear their older siblings' hand me downs, so if it's good enough for me, it's good enough for you.
Beggars can't be choosers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You know what's frustrating, when your donations are considered not good enough. Since when are old clothes and sweaters not considered good enough. Does everything donated have to be brand new?

ITA. My kids wear their older siblings' hand me downs, so if it's good enough for me, it's good enough for you.
Beggars can't be choosers.

Beggars?????

Beggars wear newspaper to keep moist away from their skin so they won't freeze.

We're talking about the mom whose husband left and she needs to find a job and has no clothes to wear for an interview. Have you ever had to explain to HR why you're wearing athletic shoes to an interview? It's HUMILIATION!

[Anonymous]

When it comes to canned food drives and the like, I don't really "buy to donate"--I just look and see what is in my pantry that I know I won't need in the next week or so (whatever I don't already have a plan for) and donate that. So its definitely the same quality that we purchase for ourselves. That being said, I'm not too good to eat store brand or non organic stuff.

[Anonymous]

I was a have-not and now am a have. Let me give you a little insight into United States poverty and I was in a suburb at the time.

When my parents divorced, we were poor. I had no sanitary supplies and would not have cared if they were the cheapest or most expensive. We often had one human-cleaning product. Either a bar of soap or shampoo, usually not both so I would have loved some conditioner! It need not be organic.

Let me tell you about pots. Ours often had scraping-off non-stick shit in them. So please, give me your non-organic food. It can't hurt any more than what it's being cooked in! *I had 2 bros aged 2 and 4 at the worst of our poverty.*

Sometimes in my adolescents I had one or two pairs of socks and frankly, undies. So I would wash them every night and hang them to dry like it was 1892.

I Can't believe how far I've come sometimes. I donate everything. Good condition goes to church outreach or good will. Bad condition goes to homeless outreach. Food goes to church and i sometimes Super Coupon myself into free stuff that I don't really eat but feel good donating. And I've donated organics...like when baby outgrew babyfood.

It's all good ladies. Even pills in the armpits. At least it covers.

[Anonymous]

Whatever's good for my children is good for other people's children.

If it's ripped/torn/soiled, it's in the trash or used as a rag for when my husband works on our cars.

[Anonymous]

If I'm buying something to donate, I buy something nice enough to put on myself or my own kid, but not the most expensive thing. I'll look for coats on sale at Target, for example, but pick a nice color and shape vs. just any old thing. I wouldn't buy $7/pair running socks to donate, but rather a pack of plain white socks that might be $7 for 6. it's just more practical.

I happily use store brands for my own family, so I buy the same when I donate canned goods, etc. And I use J&M stuff on my kid without incident.

[Anonymous]

If I see a really good sale at the store of items I think would be appreciated, I do try to stock up, even if they're things I don't care for myself. When donating used goods, I do try to ensure that things are still usable/respectable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You know what's frustrating, when your donations are considered not good enough. Since when are old clothes and sweaters not considered good enough. Does everything donated have to be brand new?

ITA. My kids wear their older siblings' hand me downs, so if it's good enough for me, it's good enough for you.
Beggars can't be choosers.

Beggars?????

Beggars wear newspaper to keep moist away from their skin so they won't freeze.

We're talking about the mom whose husband left and she needs to find a job and has no clothes to wear for an interview. Have you ever had to explain to HR why you're wearing athletic shoes to an interview? It's HUMILIATION!

My wife tried to donate some older work clothes that were too big for her that she wore many years a go. It was rejected because it appeared to be out of style.

No in america, beggars have cell phones. The other day I even saw a homeless guy watching netflix on a laptop (he was homeless not part of occupy wall street, I have seen him a few month prior).

. The following are facts about persons defined as “poor” by the Census Bureau:
•80 percent of poor households have air conditioning
•Nearly three-fourths have a car or truck, and 31 percent have two or more cars or trucks
•Nearly two-thirds have cable or satellite television
•Two-thirds have at least one DVD player and 70 percent have a VCR
•Half have a personal computer, and one in seven have two or more computers
•More than half of poor families with children have a video game system, such as an Xbox or PlayStation
•43 percent have Internet access
•One-third have a wide-screen plasma or LCD television
•One-fourth have a digital video recorder system, such as a TiVo

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm making a gift basket for a needy family at the NICU that took care of my daughter. I'm planning to do mainstream items, in part because I don't think any of the moms I met there would want weleda products, organic gender neutral clothes, or handmade toys from etsy., so it's going to be pink clothes from carters, plastic toys, and disposable diapers.

NICU mom here. Have you ever thought about including a little note about the product or toy being from etsy or being organic? You could take a moment to use this as a teaching/informational tool for someone who MIGHT not have been exposed to such products. Then again, that needy family MIGHT be able to teach you a thing or two.

Dear God-I would never try to make a gift basket a teachable moment, and if anyone had done that to me in the NICU I would have told them where they could shove it.

When I say "I don't think" most NICU parents would want the same products I want, I mean "having spent several months hanging out with the other parents in this particular NICU I know that most of them would see the stuff I like as a bunch of ugly crap." And yes, I'm sure very person in this sorry world MIGHT be able to teach me a lesson about something. Hopefully that lesson won't be: try to do something nice for a stranger and find out they think you're a self-indulgent whore with bad taste.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
My wife tried to donate some older work clothes that were too big for her that she wore many years a go. It was rejected because it appeared to be out of style.

No in america, beggars have cell phones. The other day I even saw a homeless guy watching netflix on a laptop (he was homeless not part of occupy wall street, I have seen him a few month prior).

. The following are facts about persons defined as “poor” by the Census Bureau:
•80 percent of poor households have air conditioning
•Nearly three-fourths have a car or truck, and 31 percent have two or more cars or trucks
•Nearly two-thirds have cable or satellite television
•Two-thirds have at least one DVD player and 70 percent have a VCR
•Half have a personal computer, and one in seven have two or more computers
•More than half of poor families with children have a video game system, such as an Xbox or PlayStation
•43 percent have Internet access
•One-third have a wide-screen plasma or LCD television
•One-fourth have a digital video recorder system, such as a TiVo

Nothing I have ever donated has been rejected. I'm not sure what charity she was donating to.

I've seen those statistics before.. Let's break it down:
- Although many people have been poor for decades, some are the "new" poor. They had a decent job that allowed them to buy a car and tv, dvd player, computer, etc. Then they lost that job. They still need a car to attempt to find work. And really? What do you want them to do with all the goods they owned? Sell them? They've probably already pawned a lot of things. I know I did when I was a broke college kid. But usually they'll keep a few decent things, because its not like they can afford to go to the movies.

I've also donated a lot of tv and VCRs. They can get these for a couple bucks at goodwill or Salvation Army.