To be really pissed off about my office's attitude towards our food bank donation

[LookingForAHandHold]

Every year we run an office collection for a local food bank. This year we're doing one for families with nothing and young children.

So far im the only one who has really donated. I understand times are tough, but it's £1 for a pack of biscuits in Iceland.

People are making horrible comments too, about the branded names etc and the ungrateful brats who don't deserve it. It's for young children. It just breaks my heart.

I'm so close to taking it all home and donating it myself

Great story! So if you are inside the foodbank to witness the people refusing store own brand food, are you there as a foodbank user or a volunteer?

I see local food-banks on FB thanking - insert company name - for their big donation with photos of the bags of donations. I know for a fact that some of them at least, are staff donations not company donations. That’s a bit shit, companies taking credit, I wouldn’t be donating just for the company to get free publicity. I do donate myself anonymously to local charities so I don’t do it for the thanks but no way would I be forced to donate for someone else to get the credit.

I agree, and I'd be amazed if some of the OPs colleagues don't feel the same.

She didn't pick the charity. She offered to help because no-one else did. She has sent one email.

That’s clearly not your issue though or you wouldn’t also be saying things like

‘I just find it jarring that the same people who get takeaway lunches everyday won't donate even £1’

and then call people hypocrites because they say things like ‘I’d love to donate BUT…’.

These people shouldn’t be put in the position where there have to make excuses for not donating in the first place. You are judging them as morally inferior to you because you donated more than them to a cause you care about more than they do.

I don’t support food banks either and have only supported them when my children’s schools have manipulated me into it, but I’ve donated thousands to other charities over the years and spent more hours than I could even estimate volunteering to help make other peoples lives better. According to you I’d be a hypocrite just for buying myself lunch if I didn’t also donate to the cause my employer has chosen.

That would irritate me.

We mainly buy non branded products at home, so not only being asked to donate to a specific charity (I have charities that I choose to donate to regularly) but them wanting the more expensive, branded stuff would get my back up

How odd that (I assume) professional people multiple professional people, are calling homeless children brats and saying the homeless parents should get a job.

Really bizarre. Assuming they aren't on a wind up, which is equally bizarre.

I judge them based on their comments about why they don’t donate. If you want to donate but can’t afford or don’t want to then don’t. No one is making them say why. But don’t show your arse and say mean things about people that are in such dire need, that they have to rely on charity to feed their children and themselves. That’s the disgusting part for me.

If people weren't buying takeaways etc, the businesses that supply takeaways would go out of business and there'd be more people using foodbanks.

@Honeycrisp an office manager is a secretary. On a lower wage in the business than most others in my experience. (Obviously depends on size of business)
So to say the admin person politely asking for donations from people on higher wages than them, because they've been instructed to by the MD, is hardly in imbalance of power.
Or if it's inappropriate so do a vote and put it to SMT and show these things aren't going down well.

A box of coco pops is almost about £4 now ..I cant afford that for my own kids

There is nothing wrong with the own brand ones that are half the price but if I thought they didnt want the own branded ones, I just couldnt donate

I think the foodbank are doing themselves out of donations there.

Who decreed that “you’re all supposed to donate”?
It’s not compulsory, so you need to stop tying yourself in knots about what other people are doing, or not doing.

People are probably sick looking at their pay slips and seeing how much is taken off them every month, when they aren't in the best of finances themselves. Then being asked to give away even more of their money is perhaps frustrating for them.

I think it’s fine to be a bit shocked by their comments, but that’s it.

If people don’t want to donate, they don’t have to. Whether they have money or not. They can spend their money on nice lunches and treats for the staff room without donating if they so wish.

I donate to two charities close to my heart on a monthly basis. And if friends do charity work I’ll donate to support them.
At the moment, my place of work are asking for tins & toiletries, as well as asking us to donate items for a hamper that will be raffled off, and proceeds go to charity.
I am not donating to either. And it’s not because I’m a horrible person, or can’t afford a £1 tin or tube of toothpaste, I’ve just set my limits and am
happy enough with what I do donate each month. And I’d like to think one of my colleagues isn’t slagging me off for it, but then if they are, so be it.

Well we're all supposed to donate, I've taken charge because everyone else ignores it
It's a local charity for homeless families, I don’t know how anyone can disagree with it.

This comment gave the impression OP had picked the charity herself and sent the email round.

Regardless of who picked it having now seen the other update about this particular charity requesting branded items I think that is more what has put people off donating!

This is ridiculous. Ungrateful much? They would be getting nothing from me.

Yes, I think we have our explanation for the comments!

@thepariscrimefiles I had taken a donation. The street drinkers , one I've known since he was about three, when I was at college with his mum, two I know from when they were shoplifters , when I used to work retail security.
I've never used a food bank. I used to donate often , but hadn't been during an open session, my donation was taken late due a hospital appointment.

Im wondering how that is measured. I donate clothes to charity, in reality if I had sold those clothes, many of which were brand new with tags, ioncluding quite expensive shoes, I think I could have made a couple of grand at least.

However I just drop the bags and go. No one is surveying me or including me in any statistics somewhere, so how is that measured?

I'm very, very sympathetic to your cause, OP, and I would definitely donate to support homeless families. But I think yabu to complain about your colleagues because you have no way of knowing what they might be dealing with outside of work, what they might donate in terms of time, money etc to good causes. Everyone has their reasons and charitable donations are optional.

Of course, some people are just selfish and don't give a toss about families in need either. This is why basic needs should be paid for by the state through taxation in my view. Charity should be for the optional extras. We're so far off that at the moment though!

I AM on benefits due to my disability.

My son is on Free School Meals. I don't see chocolate and cake as unobtainable luxuries.

The op said she had donated toothbrushes. If a parent is not replacing toothbrushes as they are needed, surely they are not prioritising the health needs of their child and a charity shouldn't be masking this?

@Comedycook

Well yes of course I have, and I've been there, but that really doesn't seem like the case in this scenario.

The branded thing is also perhaps getting peoples backs up, it seems quite entitled/ungrateful. There was a young woman on our local Facebook page slagging off the food bank because she had to accept what she was given and couldn't go in like it was a supermarket and choose what she wanted. Claims she had to throw half of "the shit" in the bin. So I just don't give to these charities anymore out of principle. I do give to one other charity close to my heart however.

I'm another who hates being told who to donate my money to. For what it's worth I, and many of my colleagues, take part in an outreach clinic and donate money towards homeless people living in the streets jn our city. These are people who literally have nothing and are entitled to nothing because they have no fixed abode and no kids, so they are bottom of the list for every form of help.

Whilst we live in a country where no one should go hungry, the truth is that families with young children get a million times more help than the people our little charity helps.

The branded things only request could be off-putting. Was this the same charity as in previous years?