Thursday, May 11, 2017

Are They Charities?

Years ago, when you gave something to a charity, they took it from you, no questions, no problems. It didn't matter what was wrong with the item, the charities took it off your hands and if they couldn't use it, they threw it away. 

That was then.

Now, I have tried to give to a number of charities and they've acted as though I've given them something covered in cat hair and fleas. I have been trying to sell and get rid of my 15+ year old sofa-bed. First I put it up on gumtree and had a good price on it. It was there for 3 weeks, had 90 views and made to page 10 without a single person asking me anything about it before I deleted it. If it didn't sell there, I didn't see the point in lowering the price and trying again.

Then, I tried friends and family. A lot of them have never see this piece of furniture up close. But none of them wanted it. 

So, I tried out some of the mainstream charities I knew about. Life Line was the first place I thought of. They came out yesterday and took one look at it and said no. This was because it's got a small tear on one arm. After owning this second-hand sofa-bed, which came with that tear, for 15 years, I'd say it's in very good condition for something that' had 2 owners. The bed inside it is in very good condition and yet they still wouldn't touch it. 

They suggested the Salvos - and I said not them. The last time the Salvos came by here on two occasions, they wouldn't take my television because it wasn't a new one. And then the second time, the guy who came by didn't like my bedroom suite and only took the bed, leaving a solid timber bedroom suite behind for me to get rid of! 
So, they suggested Vinnies. I called up St Vincent De Paul and they asked if 'it needed mending or fixing up'. I told them about the small tear and straight away, the lady on the other end refused it. When I pushed her about them being greedy for the money end of it... asking if it's just the money they're after seeing that they're only after the good stuff, and leaving anything damaged behind instead of fixing it... she hung up on me.

So, when you do think about it, the mainstream charities aren't there to give anything to anyone who really needs it. They're there to line their pockets with our money. They won't pick up all our donations, just what they can make money with, and leave anything damaged or old with us. 

My question to those charities we hoped to rely on so much is: what the hell are we supposed to do with these things when you don't want them, when we can't sell them, when we can't give them away? Tell me where we are supposed to take them that doesn't lead to landfill.

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