TOYS FOR TOTS ... I'm Not Happy

[jayelem]

Made a run to the local Kmart and 2 individuals had an authorized table set up for Toys for Tots.

They already had my attention and I was in a giving mood , but their script or what they told me was way out of line and lacked all the goodness a organization should stand for.

" Let me show you the gift's selected by the U.S. Marines , a Electronic Keyboard that retails for $65 today for only $45 and with profits we will give Toys for Tots 2 additional toys"

Ok, nothing wrong except keyboard was a cheapie that you can find for $10 - $15, and the other Toys with donations of $ 30 and $25 really sucked, I wouldn't pay more than $3 at a local dollar store.

So I asked the girl if she was a volunteer or getting paid, she's getting paid and worse she knows the prices are unbelievable yet she still has to pressure people into giving $$$.

This really bothered me, so I found out this was put together by a marketing co. called Taylor Made Productions out of Glenview Illinois, I'm sure Toy for Tots will receive some contribution but what percentage.

What I did, was go to the Toy dept. in Kmart, I bought a beautiful Cali Beach Barbie and 3 Hot wheel Cars , total cost $9.70 and as I left I deposited them in the Toys for Tots box.

The gifts were so much better than what they had, and they never suggested I do that, which is so WRONG during a time of giving for needy children.

I'm thinking of calling Toys for Tots on Monday, I rather volunteer for free and help them on a Toy drive than watch a marketing company pull this kind of crap.

 

[cybok0]

all holidays are terrible, people don't care about the poor. they just care about getting a ps3 for there rich brat kids. they will just walk past the toys for tots and the salvation army volunteers.

 

[topcats69]

all holidays are terrible, people don't care about the poor. they just care about getting a ps3 for there rich brat kids. they will just walk past the toys for tots and the salvation army volunteers.

well I see there are at least to people who care.

bravo to u 2!!

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Yes I saw this before at Best Buy, to me its a scam.

 

[cybok0]

well I see there are at least to people who care.

bravo to u 2!!

it's not that people don't care it's that it doesn't affect them. they don't need help during the holidays or even the rest of the year.

they have their money and their expensive toys for them and their kids.

 

[vinnyv07]

I just think there are a ton of people that really are more concerned with what is going on in their lives rather than others. Kind of like....out of sight out of mind. It's not that people don't care, it's more like people forget when they don't see other people in need. It's sad really. Toys for Tots has a good idea but shouldn't be selling overpriced toys. It sends a bad message.

 

[Bob Haller]

I will NEVER give another dime to make a wish after they gave a hunting gift to a sick kid. Sure give them the chance to KILL something

Once you give to organization A they SHARE your name and address and your overwhelmed with worth causes

For several years I help a good friend with gifts to a needy family.

The father is serving life in prison, no doubt deserves it. the mom was sick and died. the 5 kids are with their moms sister, and live in the projects,

we try and give some nice gifts

 

[lakebum431]

I will NEVER give another dime to make a wish after they gave a hunting gift to a sick kid. Sure give them the chance to KILL something

Once you give to organization A they SHARE your name and address and your overwhelmed with worth causes

For several years I help a good friend with gifts to a needy family.

The father is serving life in prison, no doubt deserves it. the mom was sick and died. the 5 kids are with their moms sister, and live in the projects,

we try and give some nice gifts

Wow, I totally disagree with you here Bob. Make a Wish is a great organization that helps tons of very sick kids do what they WISH. You may not like hunting, but many many people do. And if that very sick kid got to smile because of this trip I for one am happy about it. Good for you for helping out that family, but I've seen MAW help many many sick kids.

 

[jayelem]

I'll second that , Make a Wish is a great organization, close family friend son who passed away had childhood cancer, the did all they could for him, heck he even met the Power Rangers and went to Disney World, I thought that was great.

Make A Wish is on my list of worthy organizations.

 

[Van]

Bob Haller I think your missing the point of Make a wish, it was the kids wish to go hunting and regardless of wether you agrea with it or not it was his wish and thats what matters, not wether your sensibilities were assaulted. Believe it or not there are alot of kids who like to hunt and do so with they're fathers and uncles and grandfathers and friends and it is a way of life for many of them and they're families.

That being said I to am against any business thats making a profit off of charity, I saw the same thing yesterday at Sams Club in Winder GA and told them to take a hike. I make my donations at the kettle during the holiday and in the box that Toys for Tots puts in the stores, the box is the official way that they do it and not through some company.

 

[Bob Haller]

Make a wish could of certinally found something more appropiate for the kid who was dying and wanted to go kill something............

when they made that decision they must of realized it would tick off a percentage who donated.

Sure take the kids out and snap some photos, no need to bring back a dead animal....

 

[jayn_j]

We had a situation here about five years ago with Toys for Tots. There was a large corral (about 8' diameter) set up at a local Wal-Mart. It was three days before Christmas and the bin was nearly full with donated toys. A woman came in that morning and noted that the bin was empty. She was part of the group that was to pick up and distribute the toys. She asked the manager if someone else had been there to do the pick up and was told that an employee had seen someone place something in the bin without paying. Since they couldn't prove how much had been paid for, they simply put everything back on the shelves!

Five days later, after a lot of negative publicity, Wal Mart made a very public donation of $600 to Toys for Tots (and probably took a writeoff). There must have been over $3k of merchandise in that bin.

I switched my discount shopping to Target. They have a much better community service reputation.

 

[Bogy]

it's not that people don't care it's that it doesn't affect them. they don't need help during the holidays or even the rest of the year.

they have their money and their expensive toys for them and their kids.

The well documented fact is that the middle class gives the least to help others as a percentage of income. And to some extent, in the total dollars given. The very wealthy give huge amounts of dollars, and some even give a significant percentage of income. The best givers are the working poor, particularly as a percentage of income. They have known what it is to do without, and they can see themselves having to do it again. They very likely have received help in the past, and when they have the resources, they give to help others. And often they give to help others even when they don't have the resources. OTOH, the middle class person is afraid if he gives to help others it will mean he won't have "enough". He or she lives under the illusion that what he has is his/hers, with no help from anyone else. He/she is very concerned that only those who "deserve" help be the recipients of their "generosity" and quite often want to make sure the recipient know who they have to thank.

I've been the conduit for thousands of dollars of help over the years. One of the biggest pains in the butt has been donors that put all kinds of strings and stipulations on what you can do with their money. I'm a tightwad myself, and find it hard to spend money on things for myself. But when I give money to help someone else, I let it go. I've had people promise to pay me back (or the agency whose money I was distributing). I always ignore those promises. If I have the money to give, I give it freely and never expect to see it again. I have my own guidelines as to where I give my money, and where I think its going to do the most good. I encourage everyone else to find causes you believe in, organizations you trust, and give generously. Then don't feel bad because you can't give to everything. OTOH, unless you have evidence of malfeasance, don't knock other organizations because you don't agree with their focus. They may meet someone else's guidelines, and nobody is holding a gun to your head forcing you to give. They aren't, are they?

 

[Roger]

I don't give money away. What I suggest is pick a family and buy a food basket and gifts for them. Or you can go to the grocery store and buy food to give to a food bank. Buying blankets is another thing that I like to take to a women's center. I'm sure if you look around you can adopt a family and buy them what they NEED which is food and mostly clothes along with a couple of toys. Give stuff away after buying them never ever give money, that way; you know where your money is going and 100% of it is put to good use.

I like toys just as much as anybody but there are more needy things that people need. I adopted a kid for Christmas one year and got a list of what they wanted.
I don't remember their age but they were young and when I got that list I exspected to see a bunch of toys... instead I got a list that contained blanket, pillow, gloves, and stuff like that and I balled my eyes out. They got some toys too.

Use your head and help the needy instead of throwing your money at people that you don't know what will happen with it and instead of buying a piece of junk toy buy them a blanket and coat instead along with a food basket or some treats.

 

[avediswolf]

I pick a couple angels off the angel tree at the bank, and buy some gifts for the needy children, I split it between things they need and fun things, so they get a little of both.

This year, I was dumbfounded while looking at the angels on the tree, I saw two spereate ones, one had no clothes sizes listed, and the wish list had only "An XBOX 360, and games". The other had clothes sizes, but the list had XBOX 360 game titles.

For the first one, I figured, how could parents, and the angel tree folks let that get through, sounded a bit greedy.

The second, I figured if they wanted games, they already had an xbox 360, and wasn't probably that needy.

I was just stunned. Makes me wonder how many are receiving donations, that may not need them.

Anyway, I "adopted" two angels this year that looked like they needed some help, hope to make their holiday more enjoyable.

 

[Van]

Dont forget foundations like the salvation army who have been around for a very long time doing good work, they still need help primarily in monetary donations.

 

[Van]

The best givers are the working poor, particularly as a percentage of income. They have known what it is to do without, and they can see themselves having to do it again. They very likely have received help in the past, and when they have the resources, they give to help others. And often they give to help others even when they don't have the resources.

This is so completely true even beyond charity, of all the people that I have received tips from and little gifts over the years that I installed satellite tv for it was the low income people that tipped me the most and the best and gifted me nicely. For the longest time if it hadnt been for the tips I would have had to of scraped the bottom of the barrel for enough gas money to make it through the week or enough money to get something off the dollar menue and mcdonalds. During the last two years of my employment with dish I took the tips and put them into my daughters piggy bank and took some and dropped it into various charity drops or my favorite was to slip it into a coat pocket or something else of the tippers or a family member when they werent looking, nothings sweeter than found money.

 

[Sapient]

Naturally people should donate to causes they agree with. One should also check the efficiency of prospective charities. http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm allows you to examine various organizations. Toys for Tots, for example, is very efficient. Say what you will about their techniques, 98% of the donations they take in make their way into the hands of needy kids. 1.9% goes to fund raising and just 0.1% is used for administration.

Frankly, that is amazing. Compare with the Red Cross, which also gets a 4-star rating from Charity Navigator. 91.5% of their money makes it all the way into their charitable programs.

This year my family is giving most of our Christmas money to help refugees in Darfur.

 

[skydiver]

Made a run to the local Kmart and 2 individuals had an authorized table set up for Toys for Tots.

They already had my attention and I was in a giving mood , but their script or what they told me was way out of line and lacked all the goodness a organization should stand for.

" Let me show you the gift's selected by the U.S. Marines , a Electronic Keyboard that retails for $65 today for only $45 and with profits we will give Toys for Tots 2 additional toys"

Ok, nothing wrong except keyboard was a cheapie that you can find for $10 - $15, and the other Toys with donations of $ 30 and $25 really sucked, I wouldn't pay more than $3 at a local dollar store.

So I asked the girl if she was a volunteer or getting paid, she's getting paid and worse she knows the prices are unbelievable yet she still has to pressure people into giving $$$.

This really bothered me, so I found out this was put together by a marketing co. called Taylor Made Productions out of Glenview Illinois, I'm sure Toy for Tots will receive some contribution but what percentage.

What I did, was go to the Toy dept. in Kmart, I bought a beautiful Cali Beach Barbie and 3 Hot wheel Cars , total cost $9.70 and as I left I deposited them in the Toys for Tots box.

The gifts were so much better than what they had, and they never suggested I do that, which is so WRONG during a time of giving for needy children.

I'm thinking of calling Toys for Tots on Monday, I rather volunteer for free and help them on a Toy drive than watch a marketing company pull this kind of crap.

Good for you! You did a great thing.

 

[Bogy]

I pick a couple angels off the angel tree at the bank, and buy some gifts for the needy children, I split it between things they need and fun things, so they get a little of both.

This year, I was dumbfounded while looking at the angels on the tree, I saw two spereate ones, one had no clothes sizes listed, and the wish list had only "An XBOX 360, and games". The other had clothes sizes, but the list had XBOX 360 game titles.

For the first one, I figured, how could parents, and the angel tree folks let that get through, sounded a bit greedy.

The second, I figured if they wanted games, they already had an xbox 360, and wasn't probably that needy.

I was just stunned. Makes me wonder how many are receiving donations, that may not need them.

Anyway, I "adopted" two angels this year that looked like they needed some help, hope to make their holiday more enjoyable.

Poor kids see the ads on tv just like rich kids.

At one point in another community I was one of those who headed up an effort that provided food, clothes, and gifts for 160 to 180 families each year. Most of what they received were the food and clothes. There and at other times when I've been involved with groups delivering these boxes at Christmas, I've had to remind volunteers that there will be times when recipients will be in nice houses, etc., but that the family's breadwinner may have lost his or her job, or an illness may have devastated them. You don't know the circumstances, so don't judge. The families that were obviously used to a life of poverty were grateful for whatever they got. It was much harder for the family's who weren't used to it, and probably most difficult for the parents who were not used to not being able to buy their kids what they wanted. I got a call from a mom one year with the list of toys her kids wanted. I had to explain that this wasn't the way our organization worked.

It may have been a kid who just wanted what they saw advertised on tv that put down the xbox, or it may have been a parent who put it down. Who knows. I'm glad you gave to someone.