Sponsorship of family for Christmas

We'll have to agree to differ but I've seen first hand where people with the ability to free up tens of thousands by just trading down their cars were given money. I work with a few guys from ballymun and the running joke at christmas is when they tell the VDP give "help" to those who don't need it (and didn't ask for it).
The line I heard is that "We're not here to judge people and if someone asks for help we don't say no".
 
Charities, like many other organisations, don't always get it right but in my view, the SVDP get it right far more often then they get it wrong. They don't judge and we should be careful also when we don't know the full facts of a story. I know of someone who got help from them, her husband is earning €100k a year and from the outside you'd think nothing was wrong, big house, big car, big wig down the golf club. Reality was he was up to his ears in debt through gambling, would put the months wages on a football match and when his wife tried to leave, he put her in hospital. She went to the SVDP one weekend when she had no food for her and the kids and he was off on a bender some place.
 
She should have called the police. Getting bread money from well meaning amateurs does nothing other than enable her husbands addiction. It would be no different to paying off his drug debts. I wouldn't be surprised if they do that too.
 
Hi Purple,

Can you offer a solution as to how the likes of St-VdP should operate?
 
Purple said:
The line I heard is that "We're not here to judge people and if someone asks for help we don't say no".
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I can't believe that there is a significant number of people seeking help from a charity like SVP when they don't need it. Whilst I'm sure it does happen I can only hope that these cases are in the vast minority.
 
Easel said:
I can't believe that there is a significant number of people seeking help from a charity like SVP when they don't need it. Whilst I'm sure it does happen I can only hope that these cases are in the vast minority.
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Sure, just like nobody commits welfare or tax fraud.
 
Purple said:
Sure, just like nobody commits welfare or tax fraud.
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You would hope they are also in the vast minority.

I, probably to my own nativity, believe a lot of the work SVP does goes to worthy recipients.
 
Leper said:
Hi Purple,

Can you offer a solution as to how the likes of St-VdP should operate?
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I'd suggest that when the Vinnie de Paul arrives at the home of someone has liquid assets worth tens of thousands of Euro which they can dispose of with minimal impact on their lifestyle they should not give them money which was donated by people who have much lower incomes.

Maybe treat the money, and the people who gave it to them, with a bit more respect.
 
The high moral ground is a great place to be and long may it last. But, unless you've stocked future lotto numbers that will win you the jackpot or work in the field where there are huge guaranteed bonuses, you cannot afford to be smug. We can easily run into another recession, our investments can turn sour, our well paying jobs can cease, for some reason or other our life savings can disappear and let's not forget divorce which brings poverty to many too. Health is a major issue. If any of these fails we can slip from a smug existence to poverty almost overnight.

Even in Cork, house rental has gone through the roof. In Dublin it's worse. We are in an age where it is becoming increasingly difficult to even acquire the deposit to buy a house. Gaining a mortgage is difficult also. The long and the short is that people are becoming more poor and it seems there is no end in sight. Some of the posters here nearly want those in difficulty to wear sack-cloth and even look and act poor. God help the poor if they own a car! I wonder how many contributing here were ever homeless, had the bank on their case re inability to pay the mortgage, were out of work for long periods, had businesses that failed, etc etc.

We never had so much real poverty as there is now. Somebody comes up with the idea of sponsoring somebody for Christmas. What about sponsorship for the other 364 days? I remember a rent-a-grandad-for-Christmas-Day a few years ago promoted by well meaning people of Cork. What happened? Grandad showed up for the Christmas Dinner which he shared with a well meaning family; got cast out later to his lonely poverty stricken bed-sit and his dead body was recovered from the Lee some days later.

I remember the Christmas Eve Midnight Mass where after the Consecration unwanted toys were presented at the altar for distribution to the poor. Even the priest asked from the altar "At this late stage, to whom can we give the toys?" We're all great at solving the poverty situation after we've had a few pints while sitting on a bar stool, but the following morning we can't solve anything.
 

I'd suggest you volunteer your time in a deprived area and see first hand how svp is much needed. Perhaps ballymun as you mentioned above. And I think volunteers are very aware that its donations they're handing over and don't do so without asking questions
 
I spent years collecting for the SVdP and have seen first hand how they "distribute" that money.
 
I agree completely. How smug is it to dive out money to those who don't need it when there are so many who do.
 
Its very easy to say "they don't need it" but there are plenty of cases where in an abusive relationship
Purple said:
She should have called the police. Getting bread money from well meaning amateurs does nothing other than enable her husbands addiction. It would be no different to paying off his drug debts. I wouldn't be surprised if they do that too.
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She did and he broke her nose after he was released. Its sorted now, she has left him and they are now in the process of seperating. However the SVDP was what put food in their kids bellies whilst this was going on. It was the kids really they were helping here
 
I would rather SVP get conned occasionally and still helped the thousands of needy people it does every year, than it folded and their amazing work stop. The vast majority of people svp help badly need it.

This is a really begrudging thread, I hope it won’t turn people off donating. It would be impossible for svp to have 100% certainty every time, but experience of SVP volunteers I hear from is that they are visiting people in dire need for the most part. Sometimes hardship and difficulties are less visible. Sometimes someone will get something they might not need as much as they could, but applying the principle of totality, SVP are providing a much needed service.

Their shops are great too - they sell things at a good enough price to raise money and cheap enough for people in need to afford them - unlike oxfam and others whose clothes are still not affordable for the poor. Donating clothes and other items to SVP is a great way of ensuring you’re helping those in need through providing affordable preowned essentials and raising funds for them.
 
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