People collecting for causes outside of Walmart

[sharonW]

Annoying! I actually avoid the local walmart on weekends
if possible because every week someone has their hand out.
In these bad economic times people can barely make ends meet,
yet we have to deal with this on our weekly shopping trips!
I donate to my church and maybe a few charities by mail and
thats it!!

 

[Indiana Rose Lee]

It doesn't bother me. If it is a group I like I toss them a couple of bucks. No biggie. But then, I've never been accosted.

For teams, it makes it possible for kids that can't afford to pay to play to play. I think that is a good thing.

 

[Darsa]

My wife and I have a pretty effective way to not be approached by any of the soliciting people outside of stores. We simply take each others hand and being to talk to one another while we are smiling at each other... works like a charm.

Gotta' love that intolerance.

Oh. There was one little boy scout who didn't care a whit. He simply approached and asked if we wanted to buy popcorn. He got a fiver.

Fantastic, I love it!

 

[clarigirl]

It is real easy to say that when your kids get on a team you will just write a check. How do you know the situation for all the kids selling things? To just label all people as BEGGARS.
We have a girl on our team who has a single parent mother that works at a shoe store, we are trying to keep her from being a parent at the age of 15 or 16. Keeping her on her team may be the only way that we are successful. We often take her out with us to the store and we are fundraising mainly for HER! I have paid out of pocket for all of my kids activities.
I actually get most offended by the people who say they give to THEIR church. Those are supposed to be the most giving people, not to say you have to give to that charity, but gosh a little compassion goes a long way too. So whilst you were telling them that, you could have added a " but good luck on your fundraising." to the end of those statements.That would have been a great example of the brotherhood we are supposed to be learning at church.
I have my "wild" days too, but this is a sore spot for me.... as at our last raffle sale, my 10 year old daughter ( and she is real cute ) asked a man if he wanted to buy a raffle ticket and he leaned over and said " H#LL NO" in her ear. I am sure he goes to church also.
I am saying this to say, that is a dollar really going to kill any of us who are disney addicts? I think not. But you never know who it will save. There are far too many more important things in life.

 

[sbell111]

"Mean" would have been reporting the girl's behavior to her coach or the store manager in hopes of causing trouble for the girl. What I did will probably serve as a reminder to be polite when asking strangers for a handout. That particular day I truly felt "wild" and was strung out but I managed to decline her request for money with a very civil reply. Unfortunately, she didn't respond in kind.

Still, you were mean. I hazard to guess what you mean by 'wild' or 'strung out'.

 

[vschroeder89]

Reading this post makes me sick inside, how selfish and ridiculous people are now days. Let me tell you something when you donate money you do this out of the kindness of your heart even if their is a handful of people the abuse the system there are so many organizations and people that REALLY NEED the help and are ignored because people stereo type people asking for a helping hand as fakes and robbing people of their dollar which is WRONG. My father was diagnosed with stage IV terminal lung cancer and I contacted walmart and asked if I could set up a booth to fundraise the money for his medical and travel expenses and their are good hearted people out there that donated and he is getting the treatment so he can breathe and spend 6 more months with his family and then their are people like most of you on this thread that walk by and ignore our booths that are reaching out. When you give you recieve. Someday you will be in need, a loved one with cancer with little or no insurance and savings, loose your job or something horrific happens and you call these organizations to help you with your medical or pay your morgage so you dont loose your house. What do you do? You take but dont give that is what society is today but what comes around goes around and you will not get the help when you need it because you refused to help another pre judging them. I hope everyone thinks about this differntly and thinks about that time in your life when you needed help and every month donate to a organization of your choice or if you see someone sleeping on the street hungry, buy them a hambugar and give them a blanket dont think they are druggies and they deserve it. Our country needs our heart back!

 

[MIGrandma]

Funny you should bring this up, as I noticed two young guys with a table set up outside our local Wal-mart this afternoon that were asking people for donations.

I don't even make eye contact with them. I wouldn't give them a donation as you can't be sure they're legit. And if one of the guys would have said something derogatory about my lack on donating, I would tell him exactly why I wasn't giving him any money.

We mail our check donations to our favorite charities (St. Jude, our local senior center, etc.).

I'm not sure what procedures people have to go through to set up a donation table at Wal-mart. My daughter is a zone supervisor at ours, I should ask her.

Personally, I don't think they should even allow it except for organizations that are well-known like Girl/Boy Scouts, Lions Club, etc. It seems like almost every time you go there is some group/invidual asking people for donations to this or that.

 

[MIGrandma]

Reading this post makes me sick inside, how selfish and ridiculous people are now days. Let me tell you something when you donate money you do this out of the kindness of your heart even if their is a handful of people the abuse the system there are so many organizations and people that REALLY NEED the help and are ignored because people stereo type people asking for a helping hand as fakes and robbing people of their dollar which is WRONG. My father was diagnosed with stage IV terminal lung cancer and I contacted walmart and asked if I could set up a booth to fundraise the money for his medical and travel expenses and their are good hearted people out there that donated and he is getting the treatment so he can breathe and spend 6 more months with his family and then their are people like most of you on this thread that walk by and ignore our booths that are reaching out. When you give you recieve. Someday you will be in need, a loved one with cancer with little or no insurance and savings, loose your job or something horrific happens and you call these organizations to help you with your medical or pay your morgage so you dont loose your house. What do you do? You take but dont give that is what society is today but what comes around goes around and you will not get the help when you need it because you refused to help another pre judging them. I hope everyone thinks about this differntly and thinks about that time in your life when you needed help and every month donate to a organization of your choice or if you see someone sleeping on the street hungry, buy them a hambugar and give them a blanket dont think they are druggies and they deserve it. Our country needs our heart back!

Wow, where did you come from?

First post and you dig up something several years old? Hmmmm.....

I should have looked to see how old the thread was before I responded...again!

 

[npmommie]

I'm fairly certain Walmart has some rules in place about who can set up on their doorstep. Also, I THINK they are supposed to have their 501c notice available for anyone to see. I could be wrong. But I solve this problem by NOT donating to any of those situations. To me, it is no different than begging/panhandling on a street corner. Thre are other, more legitamate ways for organizations to raise money. BEGGING should not be one of them. Also, I donate privately to many causes.

This for me too

 

[happygirl]

I don't see the big deal. If they ask I just say either sure or no.

 

[Lintasare]

Another zombie thread. Does this thread want brains too?

 

[ILUVALASKA]

I am soooo tired of being asked for money. At every retail establishment I frequent there is a prompt on the card reader to pay a dollar for this or that. Can you imagine how much this adds up to just in one week?! Every time I go to a store or the gas station, random strangers walk up to me asking for money and they are alone, not with a sign. They are often smoking. So, you need money for...cigarettes? Um no. I work 7 days a week at a boarding school and if you are not wiling to work as hard I do, for smokes, do not ask some random person to give you money. Maybe I should walk around asking people to help me pay my son's college tuition?

 

[mfd25wife]

Anyway...2 teenage girls stepped into my path as I was hurrying into the store entrance and asked for a donation to their sports team. I replied, "I only give donations through my church" and kept walking. Just as I passed them I heard in a *mocking* voice, "I only give to my church"! I wheeled around in a flash and quickly walked to the girl who said that and asked, "What did you just say"???!!!!! She teared up and couldn't even answer...the other girl's face had totally drained of color. I glared at her for a moment and went on into the store. When I left, they were gone. Gee...I've always wondered why I scared them so.

Wow. You were kinda mean. In general, I don't allow teenaged girls acting like teenaged girls to affect my behavior.

I don't see how it is mean to walk up to a girl disrespecting her and asking "What did you say"? It appears the teenage girl isn't used to anyone calling her out on her rudeness. If she screamed and called her names, THAT would be mean.

When our 501c3 wanted to sell candy bars in front of Wal-Mart, we were required to supply our letter of determination, our business plan and a copy of our budget. Pretty much everything you have to provide when you are doing grant requests. Wal-Mart had to review our application and make a determination if we fit their charitable cause direction.

Time slots were strictly controlled and there were very strict rules on the space we could occupy and the behavior allowed.

We had to give an accounting of how much we raised afterwards and fill out a W-9.

One of the reasons you may see so many in front of Wal-mart is that, at least in our area, Wal-Mart considers this as part of their charitable givings and matches 100% of what you raise.

So, again, at least in our area, the Wal-Marts vet their people out front very carefully.

They certainly wouldn't approve an organization that had high admin costs.

Our Walmart Stores do the same. It's 100% match up to $500. When my DD was in high school, there was always a competition homecoming week on which grade could raise the most money for the named charity, Make A Wish. Several kids from the school had been granted wishes so everyone at the school knew at least one wish child. DD was a cheerleader, and another cheer mom worked for Walmart. She knew how to handle all the paperwork. The girls made posters and I had buckets we use for our Wish-A-Thon (I'm a MAW volunteer) and had banners so people would hopefully know it was legit. They wore their cheer warmups so it was also obvious what school they were from. Many did donate, but our girls were told not to give dirty looks, make snitty statements or anything else that would look bad on the school or MAW.

Make A Wish has a program that promotes schools doing fundraisers for the organization (Kids for Wish Kids). Our school did the sale of hearts and the homecoming challenge and was able to always grant 1-2 wishes.

 

[S. C.]

Wow. You were kinda mean. In general, I don't allow teenaged girls acting like teenaged girls to affect my behavior.

To the topic: I typically don't give to people collecting money outside of stores. The only exception is cute kids. I'll give a couple bucks to a cute kid without giving it a second thought.

Only cute kids? What if you think they are not so cute?

 

[okeydokey]

Wow. You were kinda mean. In general, I don't allow teenaged girls acting like teenaged girls to affect my behavior.

To the topic: I typically don't give to people collecting money outside of stores. The only exception is cute kids. I'll give a couple bucks to a cute kid without giving it a second thought.

If my kids were mocking shoppers at a local store, I would want someone to call them on it.

 

[Aliceacc]

I will happily put money into a Salvation Army drum. I'll buy Girl Scout cookies or Boy Scout popcorn. I'll donate to Long Island Harvest, a well known local food bank. I'll donate a dollar to the cashier to help buy turkeys at Christmas. We give money to the American Cancer Society, to Cystic Fibrosis (my nephew's son has CF) and to our church.

In short, I'll happily donate to lots and lots of very deserving, well known charities. But I'm not giving my hard earned money to a charity I've never heard of. Anyone can buy a card table and print up some pretty official looking paperwork.

Right now, all our charitable donations are going to victims of Hurricane Sandy. We don't have to find an official charity; our friends have lost their homes.

eta-- how funny, I never thought to check the date the thread opened.

 

[alecshawn]

I never give to any of those folks....kids or not. I pay enough in taxes.....thats my charity. BUT, i have donated to the lukemia and lymphoma socient via rush limbaugh show and i have given to the D.A.V.
But, NEVER to someone standing at an entrance to a store..

 

[alecshawn]

I am soooo tired of being asked for money. At every retail establishment I frequent there is a prompt on the card reader to pay a dollar for this or that. Can you imagine how much this adds up to just in one week?! Every time I go to a store or the gas station, random strangers walk up to me asking for money and they are alone, not with a sign. They are often smoking. So, you need money for...cigarettes? Um no. I work 7 days a week at a boarding school and if you are not wiling to work as hard I do, for smokes, do not ask some random person to give you money. Maybe I should walk around asking people to help me pay my son's college tuition?

I love the panhandlers who really do ask for smoke money...here is an idea...GET A JOB!!!

 

[tinkerbellandeeyor]

I love the panhandlers who really do ask for smoke money...here is an idea...GET A JOB!!!

Amen

 

[leebee]

When our 501c3 wanted to sell candy bars in front of Wal-Mart, we were required to supply our letter of determination, our business plan and a copy of our budget. Pretty much everything you have to provide when you are doing grant requests. Wal-Mart had to review our application and make a determination if we fit their charitable cause direction. Time slots were strictly controlled and there were very strict rules on the space we could occupy and the behavior allowed.
We had to give an accounting of how much we raised afterwards and fill out a W-9.

One of the reasons you may see so many in front of Wal-mart is that, at least in our area, Wal-Mart considers this as part of their charitable givings and matches 100% of what you raise.

We were raising funds to take 20 teen-aged dancers to put on a collaborative production with a dance troupe in Vendome, France, and were looking at raising a LOT of money. After much debate, we decided to collect money in front of Walmart. We had to file the paperwork as MickeysMinion described, including the follow-up report, although our Walmarts don't match whatever is raised. We were also required to "give" something to donors, so anyone who wanted it got either a dumdum lollipop or a small tootsie roll (not the midgee size). It was a profitable day- we raised about $2800 thanks to the generosity of the people of the area, who mostly were happy to help a bunch of ballerinas get to France. "Asking" people to donate money was difficult for the dancers. They were a little shy, and a little embarrassed, to "beg" for cash. We talked to them about this in advance, discussed what to say to people, and were very strict about behavior. Anyone who was uncomfortable or whose parents didn't approve did not have to participate. While our Walmart fundraiser was our most profitable individual activity, they all agreed they were glad we were only doing it once.

Please don't assume that all the groups are just collecting money. We had more than a few people who growled "Work for your money" or "I only donate to the church", but those who took the time to talk to the dancers found out they'd been working hard to make this dream happen. Our kids held several car washes, two spaghetti dinners, a huge yard sale, did waitressing and bottle drives and yard work. They sold endless bags of pasta, boxes of pizza, and rolls of wrapping paper, babysat for 4 "mom's night out" events and wrapped gifts at the Mall and at Borders. They staffed the coat-check area for several local theater groups, hanging coats for tip money. In 10 months we raised about $1500 per dancer, mostly from the fundraising efforts (not product sales) of dancers who worked to get where they wanted to be, and parents who supported their efforts.

I don't understand why people are so hostile about fundraising activities outside of Walmart (and it WAS outside, at the doorways... nobody allowed in, same as when we had a pie sale at Sam's; outside ONLY). As long as the fundraisers aren't being pushy or rude, I don't understand why people are so negative about it. I've never found the kids to be hostile or aggressive. I simply say "not today" with a smile and keep on walking, or I give them a quarter (if I have it- often the only thing in my pocket, money-wise, is my credit card). I don't understand why people are so offended. If you feel guilty for not donating and translate that into offense, that's your problem, not the kids' fault!