By Paul Poulsen
WAY back in the day, I had an after school job where I worked as a mechanic at a local garage. I did basic things like fix tires, and oil changes, but I also performed whatever odd jobs the two owners didn’t feel like doing themselves.
One of the owners had just finished re-shingling his roof. As he pulled off the old shingles, he threw them in the box of his pickup. He brought the truck to work on a Saturday morning and informed me that it would be my job to go to the dump and unload the shingles. I was unimpressed.
The truck was so full, it was bottomed out. There was a metric fuck-tonne of shingles for me to dispose of.
When I arrived at the dump, I tried backing up as fast as the truck would go and then slamming on the brakes, in an attempt to harness the power of momentum, to rid myself of my cargo. I was unsuccessful. After a half-hour of scheming, I finally made peace with the fact that the only way to empty the truck was to start unloading the truck by hand.
While the thought of unloading 1,000+ pounds of shingles was overwhelming, the task became much less daunting when I realized that I didn’t have to do it all at once. I only needed to work steadily and unload a few handfuls at a time. The work went much faster than I anticipated and what started as the shit job from hell actually turned into a formative experience for me.
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According to a story in Tuesday’s Edmonton Sun, Edmonton Christmas charities are hurting this year. The Christmas Bureau isn’t even a third of the way to meeting its goal and this means people could go hungry. Santas Anonymous is about halfway to its goal and that means a bunch of unfortunate kids could go without a present. (The Sun’s Adopt-a-Teen, and the Salvation Army are also struggling.)
That’s bullshit.
There’s no reason that charities in this province shouldn’t be able to meet their goals. Sure, we can talk about tough economic times and tightening our collective belts but these charities aren’t asking Edmontonians to donate Playstations and solid gold turkeys. They just need a little extra from all of us, to make sure no one goes without.
There’s no denying that the shortfall Edmonton charities are facing is massive. When you see these goals being missed by tens-and-hundreds-of-thousands of dollars, it’s easy to imagine that there’s no way to meet these expectations and it’s easier to give up and try again next year. But, much like the shingles in the back of my boss’ truck, when a bunch of little efforts are made, big goals (ones that once seemed insurmountable) can be overcome.
Here’s what I propose: Instead of feeling depressed that you can’t make a large donation and not doing anything, make a donation of $10 instead (or a $10-ish toy). That’s right – ten lousy dollars. If you’re reading this on a Macbook while drinking a latte from Starbucks, you can afford to cough up ten dollars to make someone’s Christmas a little brighter. You can find Santas Anonymous, The Christmas Bureau, and the Salvation Army at malls. The Christmas Bureau also has donation sites at fire stations.
Now, you may think, “$10? What’s the point?” Your $10 and her $10 and my $10 dollars will all add up, and before you know it, we’ve all helped these charities to reach (or exceed) their goals.
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If altruism isn’t your thing, the edmontonian will make it worth your while to do your part. Buy a $10-ish donation and drop it in the appropriate hamper. Snap a picture of you doing the deed and email that to the edmontonian and your name will be entered in a draw to win a $100 gift card, and other prizes.
So, even if you don’t care that someone will be hungry on Christmas day or some little kid won’t get a present from Santa Claus, be selfish and turn your modest donation into an awesome prize.
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Photos of you donating to a Christmas charity will be accepted until Wednesday, December 22 (let’s say, noon is the deadline). At that point we will draw names and reward some of you with Christmas gifts.
Make it happen, Edmonton!
(Oh, and by sending us a photo you’re saying, “Hey, it’s cool to share that with the edmontonian audience, I’m proud of my bad-ass charityness.”)
The prizes up for grabs (so far) are a $100 Original Fare gift card. That will get you plenty of good eats at 20 or so Edmonton and area restaurants.
And you can also win two mugs (and buttons!) from the swell guys at the Unknown Studio. That will give you a place to carry coffee and show-off your love of local podcasts.
More prizes to come!
Can people enter more than once? Can I include my traditional annual donations in the name of “The Hilarious Comedian Carrot Top”?
We will limit people to one entry per donation.
So…if you’re going to be donating toy after toy (or money after money) I guess we could consider letting you enter more than once. We may make this decision on the fly when entries start coming in. (After all, we want people to donate more.)
Donations in the name of Carrot Top are actually encouraged.
Does creativity count when it comes to snapping the donation photo?
Perhaps it should, Mr. Paul. We’ll have to brainstorm by next week. I think we’ll have enough prizes to mix things up.
Cool! Just wanted everyone to know that I am awesome, because of how I donate to several different charities this time of year.
*puffs out chest*
*puts on “World’s Greatest Grandpa” t-shirt*
*waits for the adoration to start rolling in*
Ok, everyone, brace yourselves because yes, I am actually sort of about to argue against giving to charity. Make ready with the rotten eggs.
I do applaud the charitable spirit, and thanks, edmontonian, for bringing it front and centre. But as a former fundraiser and current philanthropic enthusiast, I try to encourage people to make informed giving choices, so that their donations accomplish maximum possible impact.
The fact that donations are down for some of the Christmas charities in our city does not necessarily mean that we must all step up and fill the gap.
A recent article (http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/11/23/131545121/advice-from-a-homeless-man-holiday-givers-need-to-coordinate?ft=1&f=1001&sc=tw&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter)out of the states quoted a homeless man as saying that he was offered 6 free meals on Thanksgiving, and then was hungry again the next day. I believe this probably quite common. My own research has indicated that there’s a fair bit of inefficiency and duplication of services by the holiday charities right here in our own city. A cousin of mine who teaches in the inner city has told me about how the kids in her class get lots of gifts from donors at the holidays, spend January writing thank-you notes, and it makes not a bit of difference to the deeper and more serious issues in their lives; like lack of consistent parental attention.
Just because organizations are charities, and just because they paint tragic and guilt-inducing images of the ‘less fortunate’, does not mean they will make best use of your money.
I’m not saying that the charities mentioned here are neccessarily bad, or that people shouldn’t give to them. What I am saying is please – before you decide to give to anything at any time, do some homework. Find out what impact your money will have if you do give – and decide if it’s the right impact for you. Say yes only to those that will deliver the results that are important to you, and focus on those. There’s only so much donation money to go around, so it’s the responsibility of each donor to make it count.
If you are well-educated about one or more of these holiday charities and you still feel confident that giving them your money will produce real positive impact, then by all means – go forth and be generous!
I hope that my ramblings have made some sense to you but if not, I guess now would be the time to let fly with the eggs!
Hey, no eggs here, Nadine – we’re all buddies! I agree with many of your points, and I think they work well with this challenge, since we want folks to donate to anybody they like; we’re not endorsing any specific group (just in case that wasn’t clear).
But you’re right, Nadine, it bears saying outright that not all charities are created equal, and everybody should feel welcome asking organizations about exactly how their donations are used!
Nadine, it’s a valid discussion (and one we’d consider posting something about in the future).
Sally said most of what I was going to say. But I want to comment anyway. :)
I’ll repeat that, while we name some charities here, people could donate toys and money to pretty much anyone with a Christmas campaign. That said, most charities seem to have a Christmas focus now anyway, so we’d take photos from just about anything.
Going a little further, The Christmas Bureau and Santas Anonymous, specifically, have a pretty clear mandate about one month each year. I know Santas has low overhead (one, maybe two, staff?), so it may be just the kind of charity worth a donation. Especially considering you’re not giving cash, so everything passes on to those claiming need.
We also get where you’re coming from on the “guilt-inducing” stuff. That’s why we like Paul’s idea so much.
He’s not saying “Hey jerks, donate already.” He’s saying “If you want to help, but feel overwhelmed (or, I guess, guilty) about not donating and who to donate to, just pick one charity give them one small gift and we’ll all do a bit to help.”
Just to chime in on Nadine’s comment…
Does she have a charity she can recommend as making the best use of my money? And when can we expect a picture of her donating to said charity? =]
The goal of Uncle Pauly’s Christmas Challenge is not fill the shelves at any one particular charity. I only mentioned the ones I did because they were named in the original Sun article.
In all honesty, I don’t care WHO you donate it to. Instead of simply mentioning that someone will just be hungry tomorrow anyway or that Christmas gifts for inner city kids won’t provide them with what they need most, go out and do SOMETHING. In the context of our challenge, that something is donating a modest $10. Drop off $10 at your church, the Bissell Centre, or the hand of a guy looking for spare change outside of a liquor store. Just do SOMETHING.
I want two things to happen here:
1) I want you to contribute to whatever charity you feel is most deserving.
2) I want us all to have a little fun doing it.
Hey, guys, thanks for getting where I’m coming from! I can see you are my kind of people – big-hearted and community minded. And you put out a heck of a site.
Jeff – if you are interested in posting further about this in future, I’d love to participate. The question of whether admin costs are a meaningful indicator of a charity’s worthiness is an especially interesting debate.
And in answer to Paul’s challenge – look at you, making me put my money where my mouth is! Touche, my friend.
Actually, I believe that the’right’ charity is different for each person according to his or her goals and values, so I hesitate to recommend one in particular to everyone.
But when it comes to what I support myself, I don’t mind sharing. I am pretty broke, so I primarily contribute volunteer time at this point in my life. Locally, I support the United Way by volunteering on one of their committees. This is because I used to work there and I know how much extensive research and follow up goes into their decisions of which year-round local social initiatives to fund and facilitate.
Internationally, I am a volunteer translator of loan descriptions for the microlending charity KIVA. Although there is still a lot of research to be done on the long-term impact of microlending, I am a fan of its ‘hand-up’ approach, as opposed to traditional foreign aid hand-outs, which have been proven to stifle local initiative and entrepreneurship. And KIVA is one of the most reputable of the microfinance institutions around.
I don’t have a photo of myself translating or attending committee meetings, but here’s a link to a loan I translated, with my name on it: http://www.kiva.org/lend/227792
Will that do?
Nadine – I think that it’s awesome that you give freely of yourself and of your time. So many are quick to complain but few provide solutions. You’re out there doing your thing in an effort to make real change. You’re to be commended.
And now comes the big but… =]
BUT that said, as explained in the initial post, within context of this little endeavor, is a $10-ish toy, gift or donation.