Haven't donated yet but I will. Donated some GI Joes last year and the wife donated some dolls. This year I think I'm going with WWE figures.
Fuck donating to Toys for Tots...where were they when my mother and I were living in a vehicle when I was a child...fuck them and fuck any charity who claims they help those in need. I certainly never saw any of these so called charities in action.
harshly worded, but I can see the point you're making. I've been through some pretty dire sh!t myself, and ended up going to a lot of so-called sources of emergency help, only to be told the best anyone could do was to tell me where else I could try.sometimes what you actually need is real physical help, not advice As a result of my various experiences (which I won't go into), I find that I'd much rather give to smaller local charities that I can see at work in my area. thankfully my wife works in a role where she gets to deal with a lot of them, so we often find ourselves at local fundraisers, charity events, and the like, so it all works out.
I really enjoyed reading your post, I'm actually amazed to hear someone else on these forums understands where I was coming from. I do donate, but not to organized charities. Last year after the super outbreak in April ravaged my area, there was a donation drive put on by a small local radio station to help those who lost everything in one of the many tornadoes to hit my area...I donated a box of clothes and toys, while I was there I got to see with my own eyes the help the victims/survivors received. On the flip side, I've experienced for myself and seen first hand many people who need assistance get denied by the big organized charities not to mention the hoops you have to jump through to get anywhere with them.
I have to kind of agree on the organized charity thing. I don't donate to them at all. I much more prefer the more personal approach of hitting up shelters and donating things to them for the parents who have children there. Believe me you can accomplish so much more that way. and....you can see how happy the folks are to get whatever you donate. makes you feel so warm and fuzzy inside.
As long as I've been an adult with my own disposable income I have donated to toys for tots. I will this year to. Usually, during the year, I buy two of some figures, and they end up as the donated toys.
We don't have Toys for Tots over here but we go give toys to the charity collections when they come around this time of year.
yeah, i had a mess of toys that year as well, it was awesome. I got so much free stuff from Hasbro, and it all went to T4T. I did that friday night. they had a buy one get one half off sale, so i bought 14 deluxes for only $56!!! so stoked to go drop those off this week, just wanna peel the price tags off first. i really recommend checking out Toys for Tots as a volunteer. It's so amazing to be able to actually volunteer to pass out toys to people in need. the kids who come and get to "shop" for their christmas gifts are so excited and happy, it's really one of the best things ever. while i'm sorry to hear your feelings for the program, and that you even had to be in a fucked up spot at all, i think most of these programs only work if people go to them, so if your mom didn't maybe that's why? i'm not exactly sure, but hope that you (and someday your children, if you decide to have any) will never have to experience that feeling.
Gauge is right, shelters are a great alternative to standard toy drives (and often have toys of their own), and often need a lot of support during the holidays. Many shelters can also really use toiletries and cosmetics, so look into the individual needs of the shelter in question before you show up in in person. That being said, I donated a bunch of stuff to a charity Toy drive today. I believe it was destined for a shelter, though I don't have any personal beef with things like Toys for Tots and Toy Mountain and etc.
