Sponsorship of family for Christmas

Easel

Registered User
Messages
171
Hi,

Pretty crazy to be talking about Christmas in August but the topic came up the other day.

Is it possible to sponsor a family for Christmas- Gifts/food etc? And, what's the best way to do it?

Last year my family & extended family spend way too much on giving nonsensical gifts to each other just for the sake of it.

I would like to see if it is possible to directly sponsor a family for the period and spend €20 each on a secret santa type of set up.

I already give to charities and like the idea of shopping specifically for a family over giving an additional donation to a charity.

I am not looking to meet the family directly and like the idea of getting general info on them to assist with what to buy.

e.g.

family of 5, 2 boys aged 5,8 and 1 girl aged 12 listing some of their interests.

Has anyone done anything like this before? Is there any merit to it or is it just self serving?
 
The Lions Clubs around the country donate food, presents, etc, to needy families over the Christmas period. You could see if there's a Lions Club near you and make the donation of food, presents, etc, to them and it will get to the appropriate family.
 
No shortage of charities that you can donate to, SVDP is another example of one that does excellent work at that time of year. Shoebox appeal is one to consider for kids in the 3rd world. you could also try the Temple street donate a present campaigh
 
I remember visiting families to distribute butter from the butter-mountain and meat from the beef mountain back in the day. Some of the people to which I distributed the stuff were better off than most people. The term Freeloaders comes to mind. I ain't gettin' involved and my score (€20) per person will go to St-Vincent de Paul.

Please find it in your heart to forgive me. I'm still a cynical Leper in the final stages of leprosy. I must ring my bell and shout "Unclean!"
 
there are a fair few charities who ask for donations of presents which are handed out to families at Christmas - normally called Toy Appeals or similar. One of the things they always ask for is for stuff for teenagers who sometimes get forgotten when it comes to presents. 2fm do one, as does temple street and think SVP does as well. They have been organised in both myself and my partners place of work over the last few years.

The shoebox thing is done via the schools out our way...

Some of the people to which I distributed the stuff were better off than most people.
Always people who will take advantage of the goodwill of others. There was a case on another site a few years back where someone claimed to be badly stuck at Christmas for presents for the kids after being very active on the site for a fair few months and forming 'bonds' with people. A lot of people donated money to them secretly, and the person disappeared immediately afterwards. Once it became known that it was a play (by accident), turns out the person had 'benefited' by close to 5k through peoples generosity !!
 
I always thought we were poor growing up there was 12 of us in a 3 bed council house and not a penny spent on it . The father was tight with money and you left school at 15 and got a job to pay your way and move on as quick as you could. Sadly the father died in sqaller but left a sizeable estate after him. The moral to my little rant is how do we know who is rich or poor.
 
SVDP have a policy of never saying no if someone asks for help, so I never give them anything.
My god, is this what the country has come to? I always thought SVP were one of the best to give to. What charities would you consider worthy?
 
Are there any charities you would recommend that don't do this?
10% of what I earn goes to social protection. That's about enough. I'm not a big fan of the Homeless Industry or the Charity Industry in general. I support the Merchant's Quay Project and a couple of overseas development Charities.
 
What about an organization like Jack & Jill or The Laura Lynn Hospice. Families with children who avail of services of these 2 organizations are often under financial pressure as often a parent has to give up work to care for a very poorly child & they have the financial burden of trips to the hospital & not being able to go home for long periods of time due to childrens’ lengthy stays in hospital.
 
What about an organization like Jack & Jill or The Laura Lynn Hospice. Families with children who avail of services of these 2 organizations are often under financial pressure as often a parent has to give up work to care for a very poorly child & they have the financial burden of trips to the hospital & not being able to go home for long periods of time due to childrens’ lengthy stays in hospital.
They both do great work. Jack & Jill deliver services at 1/3 of the cost of the HSE.
 
Its not always obvious from the outside looking in why people need help. I've seen the SVDP give help to a family with a big house where the father had got into gambling debt. SVDP money and food went to the wife. You can argue that it was the fathers fault but at the end of the day, if it meant the kids went to bed with food in their tummies...

Many Health charities are great but do a bit of digging

An alternative is to donate your time. Plenty of charities always looking for volunteers

 
SVDP have a policy of never saying no if someone asks for help, so I never give them anything.

That is absolute rubbish. There is no policy - it's at the discretion of the volunteers visiting. Svp is an enormous charity that helps a significant amount of families and every penny donated to a local conference will be spent locally.
 
That is absolute rubbish. There is no policy - it's at the discretion of the volunteers visiting. Svp is an enormous charity that helps a significant amount of families and every penny donated to a local conference will be spent locally.
No, that's complete rubbish. I have first hand experience.
When someone is re-paying €900 a month on the €120,000 worth of cars in their driveway they should trade down before they look for charity.
 
I had a tenant overstaying and was in considerable arrears. Once when I was visiting for the latest non-rent, I discovered my tenant's sister had moved in with her family. As I was leaving, walking down the road I noticed Svp people dropping in - I waited to talk to them.

People in the house told Svp they were living there years and paying the rent was causing them hardship with Xmas only 2-3 weeks away.

I took great pleasure apprising them of the true state of affairs, and then going back to tell the squatters!
 
Charities are big business. I had a very nice young lady call to the house here the other evening I am in rural co Galway looking for me to sign up for dogs trust Ireland. She was a good salesperson in fairness and I gave her a bit of time but unfortunately told her the sad tale of 4 kids going back to school and the 12 direct debits we already have I thought she was going to give me a few euro but she left with a smile.
 
I never denied that cynicism is the main component of my DNA. Back in the day I had issues with St-VdP dishing out money the way they did. However, in my later years I reckon St-VdP are doing lots of good. OK! there is a per-cent of every contribution going to hands that don't deserve but, I'd rather see somebody who is genuine in his/her poverty getting something rather than nothing. There are the freeloaders and we'll always have them. That says a lot about our Ireland.

But, what if? - Say St-VdeP and other worthwhile charities decided to cease existence (even for 6 months) and handed the poverty problem back to our government. I just wonder how much more the poor would be less well off.

I hear some contributors here calling for sale of personal possessions, downgrading of living standards. Great! Very shortly we'll be screaming for the effluent of the affluent to be cleaned by the poor in thanks.

Before anybody points the finger, bear in mind that circumstances can change quickly and you could be in poverty and faster than you think.
 
No, that's complete rubbish. I have first hand experience.
When someone is re-paying €900 a month on the €120,000 worth of cars in their driveway they should trade down before they look for charity.

The volunteers (mostly elderly with svp) are calling to families in their homes. If they choose to lie to gain charitable help then that's sickening. Volunteers can only go by what they're told and can see around them. Long time volunteers become quite astute as to what they're being told and get to know the families in the area. If it's a transient population with lots of renters then that becomes more difficult. And don't for one second think huge sums are being handed out. Far from it. Educational assistance is huge as is back to school and Christmas.
 
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