Charity solicitations at intersections

[Mkrop]

I'll send you my bank account number if you'd like to contribute to my Cruise of the Month club....I'm thinking about $8K a trip should cover it.

Go stand in the highway and see how well you do first

 

[Linus Van Pelt]

I am speechless

Oh, please.

 

[Linus Van Pelt]

I'll send you my bank account number if you'd like to contribute to my Cruise of the Month club....I'm thinking about $8K a trip should cover it.

 

[Mkrop]

Oh, please.

what

 

[Linus Van Pelt]

what

"Oh, please", as in your statement that you were "speechless" was just a touch melodramatic.

 

[Disney Doll]

I don't give to them.

 

[Mkrop]

"Oh, please", as in your statement that you were "speechless" was just a touch melodramatic.

Take it any way you want. I was speechless when he posted something like that. I acutally has to walk away from the computer bc I found what he said so harsh, so please dont criticize how I feel unless you are sitting next to me or know me. I couldnt even imagine thinking that way about children.

 

[stevenpensacola]

Go stand in the highway and see how well you do first

I'm scared you'd run me over...



I just feel that having kids standing in the road, or in front of Wallymart begging for money is not good. They should be provided with means to EARN the money...now this would be a good life lesson.

 

[wendy46001]

Around here its normally church groups on the road
I always politely ignore them

I'm all for car washes, bake sales...but i'll agree I hate being hounded at every grocery by kids just holding buckets…Its hard to tell who is legit and who isn’t

As for traveling...most of these competitions are fluff....bands don’t have to travel to Disney to play or march in the parade, teams don’t have to compete across the country...most of these "competitions" don’t require anything but asking/paying to go...

 

[Mkrop]

I'm scared you'd run me over...



I just feel that having kids standing in the road, or in front of Wallymart begging for money is not good. They should be provided with means to EARN the money...now this would be a good life lesson.

And I agree with this but I also have learned that this is not always possible. And I would still like to see ALL kids have an opportunity to play sports or dance or band or whatever. I dont want a child to have hear they cant play. Like I said maybe it is bc of what I went thru as a kid, I dont know.

since we dont have an olive branch smiley

 

[stevenpensacola]

And I agree with this but I also have learned that this is not always possible. And I would still like to see ALL kids have an opportunity to play sports or dance or band or whatever. I dont want a child to have hear they cant play. Like I said maybe it is bc of what I went thru as a kid, I dont know.

"little league" sports has become such big busine$$. This may be slightly exaggerated, but around here, if you want to play high school baseball, you have to be on the "right" T-ball team, then the "right" coach pitch team...then the "right" traveling elite all-star team (which costs big money due to all the travel expense/tourney fees/etc). It's got to the point where little league sports is looked upon as simply a way to earn a college scholarship.

 

[MushyMushy]

"little league" sports has become such big busine$$. This may be slightly exaggerated, but around here, if you want to play high school baseball, you have to be on the "right" T-ball team, then the "right" coach pitch team...then the "right" traveling elite all-star team (which costs big money due to all the travel expense/tourney fees/etc). It's got to the point where little league sports is looked upon as simply a way to earn a college scholarship.

Hmmm. Maybe this is why some of us have such different reactions to it. I don't know this whole "little league" and "rec sports" thing. Where I live, there's just one league and they don't typically do well enough to travel anywhere. The soccer teams are all run by a volunteer entity. We have small private dance studios and they are by no means big profit machines. Then we have the school extracurriculars.

Right now, the middle school chorus is furiously trying to raise money for the 7th and 8th grades to be able to compete in NYC. They would never let a child stay behind because the parents couldn't afford the trip, so that kind of thinking if just unimaginable to me. My DD, when she is old enough to go (she's in 6th grade this year), will be paid by us, but she is right there along with the rest of the group raising money for the trip, even though we won't need to avail ourselves of the funds, and she won't get to go on the trip for another two years.

Please tell me that those kids aren't learning valuable lessons with this fundraising!

 

[Mkrop]

"little league" sports has become such big busine$$. This may be slightly exaggerated, but around here, if you want to play high school baseball, you have to be on the "right" T-ball team, then the "right" coach pitch team...then the "right" traveling elite all-star team (which costs big money due to all the travel expense/tourney fees/etc). It's got to the point where little league sports is looked upon as simply a way to earn a college scholarship.

we have some of that around here too, we are not immuned for the high pressure sports stuff, but like I said we still have opps for those who may not have them otherwise so I gladly support that.

And this comes from the DW of a college earned baseball scholarship player and a FIL who played in the majors, so I know all about the "road" to get there and how it has changed and not changed. Many dinner conversations on this very topic when I have been able to stay awake through them

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

I ignore them, too. I only give to the firefighters with boots, and even then I don't like it. I'm afraid someone is going to get hurt, or they are not legit.

One time I was in Target parking lot in a not so great part of town and 4 very tall young men approached me suddenly and scared the bejeebers out of me. Then they asked me for money for their bucket. I said "no thank you." and jumped into my car. But not before I saw a woman that was with them about 6 cars away orchestrating who they should approach next. ("over there, over there!") I should have notified the management, but I just wanted to get the heck outta there.

 

[kaybracon]

... And I would still like to see ALL kids have an opportunity to play sports or dance or band or whatever. I dont want a child to have hear they cant play. Like I said maybe it is bc of what I went thru as a kid, I dont know.

since we dont have an olive branch smiley

So we as a society should pay to have everyone's kids get a chance to play sports (basketball, football, baseball, soccer, swimming, whatever they want to play), go to dance class, play in the band, go to summer camp, drama classes, chess club, whatever? And when some of those kids are good enough to go further, we are expected to pay for that also?

Yes, it's sad that some poor kids won't get the chance to do whatever they want. But to be blunt, that's tough. How about the kids who have to share a bedroom with 3 siblings because their parents can't afford a bigger house? How about the kids who can't afford to go to an expensive college? What about all the kids whose parents will never be able to afford to take them to Disneyworld? That's just not fair is it?

Kids NEED to hear sometimes that they can't do something that they want to do. Sometimes life sucks, and you can't do anything about it. The sooner a person learns to accept that and deal with it, the better they will be.

 

[stevenpensacola]

we have some of that around here too, we are not immuned for the high pressure sports stuff, but like I said we still have opps for those who may not have them otherwise so I gladly support that.

Almost across the street from the "win at all cost ballpark" is a church which runs a ball league which really picks up the slack as far as being a place anyone can play. The cost to play is very minimal...maybe $30 which includes a shirt and hat. This church league gets many players who have had enough to the place across the street.

In a bit of irony, the fields which the church owns/plays used to be where the hard core league played....the church needed the land....the league relocated with what they made from the land sale.

 

[Toby'sFriend]

I do not give to anybody approaching my car. I don't live all that far from the South Side of Chicago and strangers walking up to my car and knocking on the windows unsettles me.

I also find the travel teams annoying - right up there with the "Student Ambassadors" trips across the world, and I say that as the Mother of a kid ON a travel baseball team. The whole Youth fundraising thing has gotten so out of hand. When did it become such a necessity for kids to have $5 to $10k a year spent on "enriching" them?

Yes, some kids don't get to do some things because their parent's can't afford it. It has always been that way, it will always be that way. I will never send my kids around with a charity cup begging for the extra curricular activities. If we couldn't afford food, heat, or clothing - I would beg for my kids. Otherwise, we pay for it or we don't do it.

 

[Mkrop]

So we as a society should pay to have everyone's kids get a chance to play sports (basketball, football, baseball, soccer, swimming, whatever they want to play), go to dance class, play in the band, go to summer camp, drama classes, chess club, whatever? And when some of those kids are good enough to go further, we are expected to pay for that also?

Yes, it's sad that some poor kids won't get the chance to do whatever they want. But to be blunt, that's tough. How about the kids who have to share a bedroom with 3 siblings because their parents can't afford a bigger house? How about the kids who can't afford to go to an expensive college? What about all the kids whose parents will never be able to afford to take them to Disneyworld? That's just not fair is it?

Kids NEED to hear sometimes that they can't do something that they want to do. Sometimes life sucks, and you can't do anything about it. The sooner a person learns to accept that and deal with it, the better they will be.

I dont expect a govt services program or anything like that my goodness but yes as a society I think it is in our best interest to keep kids active and involved in extracurricular things.

Yes it is unfortunate that many kids have to hear no, and no I dont say we supplement everything but MANY things are supplemented with scholarships from college to playing rec soccer. I think the Y provides many children with great opps, so do Boys and Girls clubs and so does PAL. I support these ideas that provide kids with opps to play. It gives kids so much. I think what you can learn from being part of a team is a great life lesson.

And many of things that were mentioned I dealt with. I learned lessons from earning my own money for college etc. I had to do and earn many thing on my own and heard no a lot, from fancy vacations to new clothes.

But I also felt the pain of watching every kid I know get to join the softball team and I was told no we couldnt afford it yet my dad certainly could afford to play cards and gamble our money every Friday night.

Maybe this subject hits to close to home for me or something.

 

[LaraK]

Before the banning of the curbside begging, it wasn't sports teams that were asking for money around here...it was "church" groups and the Animal people. I never gave to either...I knew the church groups were bogus and I don't give to animals (don't flame me, I donate to humans...sorry).

I will say that one time I pulled out a ten dollar bill and gave it to kids I saw on a street corner in Baltimore. They had signs up that they were raising money for new band uniforms.....Baltimore City schools are the pits...I have no doubt there is no money for band uniforms...there's barely money to keep the buildings standing. Why did I break my rule and give money? Because the entire precussion and brass section of the band was over on the sidewalk near the intersection playing in their old ragged band uniforms and the kids collecting were also wearing the old ragged uniforms...I pulled out my wallet.

I don't buy Girl Scout cookies from Scouts who aren't in uniform, I don't support sports teams/school groups who aren't in uniform either.

 

[Chattyaholic]

The only intersection donation I would make would be to the fire department when they're collecting money in their boots.

Any others, nope.

I hate people trying to collect donations in front of stores like Wal-Mart too.

The other day there were two guys with plastic containers asking for donations to some charity I'd never even heard of. There is no way I'm making a donation to someone like that, who could just be collecting money for themselves.

If I want to make donations to charities I'll do it on my own and send them a check.