OT a frightening thought

[Trickytreesreds]

The international Lions is a good charity, all their admin costs are raised by their own members through social events and the money is kept in the admin account as opposed to their charity account which is where the public's donations and money raising efforts go. They then try to monitor this charity money when it is paid out. If possible, not giving out actual cash, but buying necessary equipment and supplies. Also, they tend to support local charities more.

The Lions have a lot to answer for though, as a member of the young lions (Leos), I met my dear wife 43 years ago.

That's refreshing to hear. Not your wife though, that's your own doing.

[MadAmster]

The international Lions is a good charity, all their admin costs are raised by their own members through social events and the money is kept in the admin account as opposed to their charity account which is where the public's donations and money raising efforts go. They then try to monitor this charity money when it is paid out. If possible, not giving out actual cash, but buying necessary equipment and supplies. Also, they tend to support local charities more.

The Lions have a lot to answer for though, as a member of the young lions (Leos), I met my dear wife 43 years ago.

A sensible approach and one I have said should happen with "foreign aid". Governments should pay bills as opposed to giving despoyc dictators money they can trouser rather than spend on helping their fellow countrymen.

[ramAnag]

A sensible approach and one I have said should happen with "foreign aid". Governments should pay bills as opposed to giving despoyc dictators money they can trouser rather than spend on helping their fellow countrymen.

A bit like saying don’t give money to street beggars then, MA...but even the poorest of beggars might be a bit reluctant to accept his/her seventh cup of coffee/cheese sandwich of the morning.

There seem to be all sorts of excuses for not giving these days...at both individual and national level and the ‘Right’ seems hellbent on reducing foreign aid.

I’m inclined to agree with you...there is no excuse for the wealthy world not to help the poorest, imo...but it needs to be properly targeted and some ‘joined up thought’ from both the givers and the recipients.

[Geoff Parkstone]

It's a question of balance with "Street Beggars". Your point is valid re 7th cheese sarnie but Joe public is equally reluctant to feed an alcohol/tobacco/drug habit ("alcohol effect") by giving cash.

There have been various voucher schemes around to bridge the two perspectives, but not sure how successful they have been. Vouchers always seem to stigmatise people, despite being a logical solution. Then retailers still allow beer or biftas to be bought with food vouchers, preferring the trade over exercising moral judgements.

Then there is the "cute dog" effect. For years there was a street beggar at London Bridge Station who had an appealing Heinz dog as companion. He always had piles of dog food, but little given for himself, no doubt due to the "alcohol effect" above

[ramAnag]

Of course your initial point is a fair one.

Not sure there are any retailers supplying ‘biftas’, but the food voucher scheme is something I hadn’t heard of and seems like a good potential solution.

Tbh...whether a beggar has a dog or not makes no difference at all to me, but I have to concede that - simply because of the time involved - I’m more likely to give cash than food/drink and I never give to those who congregate around cash points (remember them?) looking vaguely menacing.

[Geoff Parkstone]

The problem with retailers is more a corner shop one rather than supermarkets. Thus beggar can obtain a pukka pie a pint and 10 fags for his £10 voucher and the shop buries the sale. There is no redemption link to sales like the free newspaper voucher schemes of a few years ago

[Geoff Parkstone]

Oh yes, and what is this thing "cash" that you speak of?

[Andy_Faber]

It's a question of balance with "Street Beggars". Your point is valid re 7th cheese sarnie but Joe public is equally reluctant to feed an alcohol/tobacco/drug habit ("alcohol effect") by giving cash.

There have been various voucher schemes around to bridge the two perspectives, but not sure how successful they have been. Vouchers always seem to stigmatise people, despite being a logical solution. Then retailers still allow beer or biftas to be bought with food vouchers, preferring the trade over exercising moral judgements.

Then there is the "cute dog" effect. For years there was a street beggar at London Bridge Station who had an appealing Heinz dog as companion. He always had piles of dog food, but little given for himself, no doubt due to the "alcohol effect" above

Mrs F puts me to shame on this and is pretty 'direct action'. If she's out at lunch in London (lol) and sees a 'street dweller' she assesses as being deserving/in need, she will simply ask 'do you want a hot lunch' and if the answer is a (usually astonished) 'yes' she marches them down to the nearest street vendor and buys them one. No judgement about how they can offord fags/cider/mobiles/dogs, no strategy, she just feels like she's done some good if she's made some poor sod fell better for a few hours. She utterly amazes her London-dwelling colleagues on this, who admit that street dwellers are invisible to them.

[MadAmster]

A bit like saying don’t give money to street beggars then, MA...but even the poorest of beggars might be a bit reluctant to accept his/her seventh cup of coffee/cheese sandwich of the morning.

There seem to be all sorts of excuses for not giving these days...at both individual and national level and the ‘Right’ seems hellbent on reducing foreign aid.

I’m inclined to agree with you...there is no excuse for the wealthy world not to help the poorest, imo...but it needs to be properly targeted and some ‘joined up thought’ from both the givers and the recipients.

No solution is perfect but paying the bills is better than giving despots millions to gold line their bathtub when the cash was intended to feed/house/create jobs/etc for the poor and needy.

We have an eastern European woman who sells the "homeless mag" outside our local supermarket. I used to slip her a coin every week and not bother taking the mag. Until I spotted that she was being dropped off in the morning and picked up again later in the day by a bloke in a newish Beamer and there were 3 other women in the car. I wasn't the only one, not by a ,long chalk, giving her money. The "homeless mag" selling isn't going to provide a living. All the bits and bobs they get given does. I'm not alone in no longer giving her money, quite a lot of the village has stopped but, obviously, it's still a lucrative "spot" as she's been "selling the mags" for about 10 years now...... It's a business to them.

[Geoff Parkstone]

Yes, I've seen the same thing with Bigger Shoe sellers near me. Moldovan (or is it Moldavian?) in this case

I don't want the magazine but buy her a Gregg's sausage roll (her choice) on Saturday when I see her, and bought something for her 3 year old daughter last Christmas. That way at least the charity collector pimp doesn't get any of it