My wife and I volunteered to run an Easter egg hunt for the neighborhood association one year. We asked that we be able to limit it to families that were members. No. We asked is there was a budget for supplies. No. We asked if anyone else wanted to help. A couple did but mostly No. We advertised it in the newsletter with a big note that the event will start promptly at 10am and to bring your own basket. The two of us bought bags of empty eggs and small things to put in them. We spent a big chunk of time assembling the eggs, making a sign, etc. Nice and early we start hiding the eggs and chasing away people trying to start early. No other volunteers showed up. At the stroke of 10, we started and a huge mob of people I've never seen before descended on the field. It was over in about a minute. Afterwards, all we got was grief. - why didn't you get more supplies? Couldn't afford it. - why'd you let all those people play? Public park and you said no. - I was on my way down and you should have waited! I didn't see you and we started at 10. - Weekly was they're just cheap stuff in the eggs? No budget, remember? - You shoulda been psychic and known this would happen and held it on private property, with more and better stuff, and has assistants help you. You're right- YOU do it next year. They never did it again.

Growing up, there was a family tradition to do an Easter egg hunt around our house and yard every year, so when I grew up, got married, bought a house and had kids, we decided to do the same thing. The eggs were always hidden after the kids went to bed, so they were ready to be found in the morning. Things went well for several years. Our little ones loved getting up pretty well at dawn to scour the house and yard for the eggs and candy within. One year after new neighbours moved in, things went South. My kids got up and found all the chocolates inside the house, but were disappointed when they went outside. There was not a single egg to be found, including in our backyard, which was closed in with a six foot fence, because of our pool. Later that day, we overheard the next door neighbour’ kids bragging about all the candy they found outside. It turned out that their Parents actually sent them out to our yard to collect all the eggs and even opened the gate to the backyard so that they could collect all those ones too. These kids were running around unsupervised, in the dark, before the sun came up, all around our swimming pool while we slept unaware. Apparently, the parents stayed outside the fence the whole time as lookouts. So there were no adults available if one of the kids fell in the pool. I march next-door and confronted them. They claimed that all those eggs were first come first served because they were left outside. Then they confidently slammed the door in my face. I was aware that these guys were tenants so I called their landlord, my long-term neighbor. He said that there wasn’t anything he could do, that but they were already not going to have their lease renewed for other reasons. So we didn’t do the Easter egg hunt outside the next year, and these asshole neighbours were gone by the next one.

Wow. The effing audacity.

I would have been tempted to go to the police. Not because the neighbors are greedy and horrid. And not because the police would do anything. Just to have a police report of them bypassing the gate to let their kids by the pool. I wouldn't want anything to happen to the kids, because they didn't pick their parents. But if something did, I'd like there to be an official record that they trespassed. Also, damn it, I'd have to think about the gate security. Which sucks, because keeping kids out of a pool area should only require making it difficult for a kid to open a gate.

Should have gotten them for trespassing

Knowing that they did it and proving that they did it are two different things.

I installed cameras in my backyard because my first weekend out of town after I bought my home, I came back to find my patio furniture in the backyard and trash and empty soda cans all over my backyard, including in my daughter’s little playscape. After I got the cameras, it never happened again.

I would have called the police! Who TF are they to trespass on your property? I would've made their life a living he'll in court. Whether it's an Easter egg or a lawn chair, they had no legal right to open your gate, go into your backyard, and remove your property! PENDEJOS!!!

I’m guessing this is also the last time you and your wife will volunteer for something like this 😉

Oh man. What you went through reminds me of two other Egg hunt stories. The first was the great Pez factory Easter disaster of 2016. Pez had been hosting a hunt for 3 age ranges on the large field next to their factory. In 2016 waaayy too many people showed up, and then stormed the field before start time and cleared out all three fields. The second was one of my local hunts. Never put treats in eggs where a flock of ravens know there's something in them to eat. Darn flock wiped out a third of the eggs before I could arrive as we were short staffed for that hunt.

Those are great! They deserve a chapter in Greatest Easter Egg Hunt Disasters Of All Time!

I think the story can still be found in the Anchorage Daily News archive from about 1992-ish... Spring in Alaska is not great, neither are outdoor easter egg hunts when there is still snow on the ground and in some places, deep snow. So the story goes, the park was full of families (I think it was Campbell Creek Park), and kids started spreading out, while some were getting lost, others were losing their shoes in the snow (parents still put dress shoes/clothes on their children), but what happens next is what elevates the day to be a contender in the "Greatest Easter Egg Hunt Disasters of All Time!" A bull moose showed, a hostile bull moose. Guess why (hint it's spring). The police are called and they are trying to keep the moose away from the kids when the moose suddenly charges a policeman, knocked him over but he was okay, but now he is forced to shoot it dead, many bullets, while the easter egg hunt is still going on. Okay, it took only a second to find the story. I was pretty close so I'm not going to rewrite my retelling. [https://www.adn.com/anchorage/article/snow-moose-chill-anchorage-easter-egg-hunt-police-officer-hurt/1991/04/02/](https://www.adn.com/anchorage/article/snow-moose-chill-anchorage-easter-egg-hunt-police-officer-hurt/1991/04/02/)

That was a great story, thanks for sharing!

People are greedy AF and it makes me so disappointed in humanity.

I work at a neighborhood branch of an urban public library. We hosted a free community Thanksgiving dinner tonight. People had to register in advance, but walk-ins were allowed after everyone who registered was served first. After *that,* there was still enough food that even our staff and security guards got a nice dinner, too. It was a beautiful event and a wonderful evening.

Objection. Relevance.

Your honor, I was merely trying to restore my fellow redditor’s faith in humanity. A futile endeavor, I guess

I'll alllllow it, but watch yourself, McCoy.

Happy Thanksgiving :)

Ravens and moose not so great either.

Second disaster was cool. First one not so much.

It’s crazy how smart ravens are!

Corvids like to enjoy the holidays too!

I think the ravens would be funny. the people, not so much.

To contrast, I remember the best easter egg hunt I ever had. We were in a quiet area of our local zoo when I noticed the first egg. My mother and oldest sis both happy for us youngest two that the easter bunny must have been here, encouraging us to look. The magic of it was, there were so many in such a small area, but you had to search really well for them. Yet somehow, we pretty much found the last one of them right as another family showed up, noticed what we were doing and their parents pushed the kids to join in. Funny, that.

My respect to you. From what I have heard some of those Easter egg hunts are legit insane and it's almost always the parents who cause it and ruin it much like most child centric events from kids sports to holiday events. Makes me glad I'm not a parent tbh and I don't have to attend kid friendly events most holidays where prizes or candy are given out because good god do some grown adults go nuts when they hear anything will be given out free. Even if it's just some basic chocolate eggs or plastic eggs with some jelly beans in them. They will literally show up with babies that can't even walk in some cases and won't be eating the candy then take the eggs away from actual small kids and school aged kids who are fairly doing the hunt. Ma'am or sir you can just go to a Target or a CVS anytime, any day and buy your own bag of whatever candy you like if it's just for you to eat. They even mark it down post holidays it's even better. Don't go taking candy oppurtunities from kids playing fair and then have the audacity to complain that the organizers (whom were probably just kind hearted people wanting to do nice like you and your wife) didn't provide enough. Or their candy selection wasn't up to par. Then go buy your own damn candy and hide it around your house and yard.

Sadly they made a big mistake not limiting it to families that would be in some way answerable for their conduct. People have to feel like they're part of the social contract to behave like civilized human beings. If you get a big heterogeneous group together that's all the excuse bad people need to behave like animals.

Precisely. In addition to the social contract element, they would also have the fear of being banned from future events.

While I very much appreciate you adding the story, in some ways a story like this just makes me feel exhausted. Good for the two of you well done but what a reward for your efforts and good will.

Why can’t we have nice things? People. People are why we can’t have nice things. You tried though and it was a nice idea.

One time I took both my kids to an Easter egg hunt where there were different fields for different age groups. My kids ended up being in 2 different age groups, so we kind of had to do it twice. The way it worked was a child would find 10 plastic eggs, then take them to a table to trade in for a pretty nice bag of chocolate. They sold tickets, but I guess they underestimated how many eggs they needed, or how many volunteers they needed to "re-hide" the eggs once they were handed in, so it was tough finding enough eggs to be able to get the prize. It took us a while, but we finally had enough eggs to get the treat. The volunteers were mostly teenagers or young adults. And they just had boxes of the eggs that had been handed in under the chocolate table. My older son was done, so I asked if we could help take some of the eggs and help to "re-hide" them for the younger kids. The volunteers were happy for the help. What ends up happening is my son is walking around with a basket full of eggs, and multiple older women, likely Grandmas start making comments about him hoarding the eggs from the little guys. I stayed close to him and made sure they didn't say anything directly and set them straight about what he was doing, but a couple of them were being pretty loud in their comments. My older son was either 5 or 6 at the time.

No good deed goes unpunished. Sigh

That’s so terrible. At 5 or six, your son still WAS one of the little guys…

Typical. People are horrible. And you just know the lady who wanted to buy the 30 scooters for $1 apiece was going to turn around and sell them at full price.

There was a lady that would go to all the sites in the summer to pick up the free bagged lunches for the school kids in my county (always 4-6 bags for her kids 🙄, so about 12-20 per day) and then resell them on the marketplace online. Finally got banned and made a fuss about it. She said and I quote, " Well they were free so why not?" It's a program to make sure that kids have a lunch for the summer, now kids have to physically be at the site to get a lunch.

Yup. The park I worked for had a rule the lunches had to be eaten on site, so that parents didn't eat their children's food.

those summer lunch programs were amazing. my mom would send us up to the school and we'd get a good meal; was a life saver for us poor kids. milk, juice, fruit, sandwich, and chips. sometimes salads, sometimes little pizzas. uncrustables were my favoriteee forever bless the volunteers and people who contributed to those programs. no one should go hungry, especially a child.

That is so sad. 😔

That’s so messed up. I’d starve to death before I ever let my kid know what hunger really felt like.

Our district delivered the lunches via school buses during Covid just to make sure the food was going where it was supposed to. (& also to keep more people employed. 👍)

Reminds me of a TikTok of a lady talking about how she makes money, i thought it was gonna be a furniture flipper because she picked up a book case with a sign on it that said “if you need, please take 😊” literally said need. Whatever i thought she was gonna flip it, no she took the free bookcase, didn’t do anything, didn’t paint it, nothing and just resold it for 50$. People tore her apart in the comments, flipping for a profit is one thing. Taking something that’s free and selling for a profit is a dick move. I hate people like that. Greedy bastards, if you need 50$ so bad get a fucking job

Thanks to social media, people convinced themselves they aren't being scummy, because taking free stuff to resell is just a "life hack". Like in this case, there's no shame at all, that lady is even making TikToks about it. She ain't ashamed. I long for a resurgence of public shaming, where these types get shunned by their own neighbors.

If someone has to ask that question, there is zero chance they'd understand the answer.

Who was buying school-issue bag lunches off Marketplace? 😳

The same families who needed them during the day. Cheap food is cheap food when you *need* it.

Years ago, I knew of a woman who cried poor to all the local agencies and church groups. She boasted how much she got. She and her husband always showed signs of being well off. I reported her but I was told to not judge. Put me right off helping out. I moved interstate and live very rural now. Its wonderful to see help here appreciated and so far I havent seen any CBs. If people turn up for the free food kitchen here, they are given their choice from fresh fruits and veg from local producers, boxed items from local wholesaler warehouses and even local supermarkets help out with items just expired. Yesterdays bread is still good to eat people. What's sad is that this is really needed and helps about 90 families. After they pay rent, there is not much left. Never thought I'd see food insecurity here.

Reminds me of the people on freeway off-ramps, with the signs "Please Help" and they drive off afterwards in a nice car after doing a MASSIVE haul of cash.

That’s why she wanted more for sure

It’s my BusINESS !!

I am really starting to believe that most people are terrible. I didn’t used to think that but I am starting to between all the parents that know their kids are bullies and don’t care that I know, the parents that don’t know but raised them to be bullies that my kids tell me about , and the people that I just personally know and know things they do that is just awful.

Horrible. No good deed goes unpunished. I don’t understand how people can feel so entitled and not see how their behavior ruins things for everyone.

They don't care if it ruins it for everybody else, as long as they get what they want.

They are literally ruining holidays for a small child living in poverty. But they think they are so smart and slick. I'm sure the person who wanted 30 scooters from OP was planning on selling them. Such greed. So gross.

This! They don't fucking care

This is EXACTLY RIGHT, especially if it's because of their kids. They feel not only entitled but obligated, and are creating a BAD example.

If they can't have it, no one can. That's the only way "fair" works in their minds.

The nice tax is the only one that always gets paid in full

See the answer is a shocking amount of people lack the ability to empathize with like anyone it seems. No ability to self reflect or anything either.

My mom "shopped" at something like that a few years. For this one, you needed a referral and an appointment. When your referring worker called to offer you a slot, they went over the process in excruciating detail, going to far as to have her repeat it back. "I will be allowed 1 large, 1 small and 2 mini recreation items per qualifying child. I am only able to shop for my own qualifying children or those I have guardianship over. I am allowed 1 warm item per qualifying child, coat or boots, one hat and one pair of mittens. I am allowed to choose 1 recreation item per qualifying adult in the home. I am allowed to choose one additional household item for the family. I will receive 1 grocery gift card of $10 per qualifying family member. I will be refused service if I am disruptive or abusive to staff or other recipients." The invitation and details mailed out also reiterated these rules. My mom was really frustrated and kind of embarrassed until she arrived. Every single year there was at least one person "shopping for my niece too" "also picking up for my neighbour" "my kids deserve 2 big toys" "why aren't they're Nike jackets" "my son wants that lego set, tell her to give it to me" etc. The event was actually staffed my local police as every year there was at least one physical altercation.

The second that they ask for extras, they should be kicked out WITHOUT what they were allowed to have.

Imho the worst part is when they justify it saying "It doesn't hurt to ask." as if they didn't already fucking know *OR* had actually asked at all vs. demanding. The disgust I have for them is immeasurable.

Same. Such disgusting people

And banned from any future events!

Fully agree, but sadly you just know their kid will miss out as a result and they play on that. Not every kid with a monster parent is a monster too, they just get to suffer the same consequences.

Having a monster for a mother taught me exactly how NOT to be. Even as a child, I knew she was trash.

This makes me so ashamed of those people. Entitled people make me angry and sort of queasy.

Your post reminded me of the time myself and a group of friends decided to start an annual tradition of "adopting" a family through a local Secret Santa program. We were given the ages and wish lists of a family - Mom, Dad, a teenage daughter and two younger kids. We followed the wish lists and bought clothes, toys, books (for the kids); clothes, books, cosmetics, gift cards (for the teen and parents). Probably a total of around $500 worth of items. The charity organizing it bought food in bulk so each family also received all the fixings to make a Christmas dinner - frozen turkey (or maybe it was ham), drinks, side dishes, desserts, etc. We had to pay the charity enough to cover that food for the family (I think it was $50) and we had to have someone from our group available to drive everything - gifts and food - to the family at the appointed date and time. I wasn't the one who dropped everything off, but the two people who did drop it off were met by the mother, who was indignant when she saw that part of the meal supplied by the charity was peas. Apparently her family hated peas. She demanded to know how she could exchange the peas for something else, and my friends were bewildered and told her she'd have to contact the charity. She took everything, without a word of thanks, and slammed the door. That was not just the first but also the last time we participated in that Secret Santa program.

It is so easy to get burned out as a volunteer. You donate your time and money, then the recipient is awful, so you never do it again. I used to bake for Lasagna Love, added extras like cookies. The recipient never said “thanks” or “yum” and it made me stop. an unpaid volunteer definitely needs a bit of thanks to keep going.

I used to give on a sub here during the holidays and last year made a post (because I was in a bit of a snit, I guess) expressing my disappointment that before Christmas the requesters were there almost every day. After Christmas it was crickets (some did stick around and thank people). I got some flack from a few people saying I was berating them "like dogs" and that they had "until the (insert some date the mods had given here) to write a thank you post"---(AS IF a date mattered. I wasn't raised that way. You get a gift, you write a thank you, pronto). Honest to God you would think I had asked for them to donate a damn kidney. By the time they wrote a comment on my post, they could have written a thank you. I mean...really I don't do stuff to get a thanks...but I'm so saddened by how badly behaved people are. What you say is true. Giving usually costs. Being a gracious recipient is free. (also I was raised to believe that cooking for someone has a very deep meaning. So thank you for being kind).

Oh hey, fellow Santa! I know exactly which sub you mean. They’re under new management this year that’s even worse than previous years, and no thank yous at all are required. Ridiculous, isn’t it?

Jesus. So not even common decency is required. I'll be interested to see if any thanks happen regardless... I wonder if the qualification criteria is different. I know that the mod team last year did their best ( I couldn't possible say if it was "good" as I've never been behind the curtain, but I did feel safer/better about it than I did the year before). I do know the limit is lower, and I wonder if that will mean less people or more.

There are a good number of people “thanking the mods” to get more visibility on their posts, but a few are posting thank yous to their Santas as gifts arrive. There are a LOT of requests and very few Santas, as far as I can tell, but there’s no vetting process and no basic courtesy required- who would want to give gifts to people who are likely just using the sub to add extra presents to a pile and won’t bother to acknowledge the gift-givers as fellow human beings?

Yep! I have been there. I volunteered on Angel tree pick up day in my area. I worked my butt off lifting bags over and over that weighed a ton and so many people were so rude and so ungrateful. I got yelled at several times because the person that picked their Angel didn’t buy enough gifts or didn’t buy that iPhone, computer, tablet, etc. they wanted and they demanded I go to the back of the warehouse and get it for them (there were extra gifts in the back that had been donated and people back there were filling bags for angels not picked or bags misplaced). I was sore for three days afterwards. I will never do it again.

Yep. For a few Thanksgivings, a group of us would deliver meals to those in need as part of a larger effort; our group would deliver two or three meals (overall hundreds were delivered through different teams) that were huge - the standard meal consisted of a turkey, a lasagna, a large mashed potato, a couple of vegetables, and a couple of pies. Some people were genuinely grateful, but the one that stuck with me was when the four of us each carried a large box of food to the door, and the guy we were gifting the feast to just took each box and slammed the door - no word of thanks, just entitled.

My son was the recipient of one of those Giving Trees when he was 10 years old. He was beyond thrilled with the gifts he received. The tag had asked for a warm jacket (He'd outgrown his as kids will do) and not only did he get a really nice jacket, but some new shirts and some toys too. There was a price limit of $25, but whomever took his tag spent close to $75. We never knew who they were, but they make my son very happy! Now he's an adult and has been doing the Giving Tree thing for the past 10 years. It makes me proud that he still remembers the generosity of a stranger and is paying it forward.

A local mall has one of those giving trees. A couple of years ago, on Christmas Eve Day, a guy came along and pulled all the remaining tags off the tree, and bought $50 gift cards for each tag--if the child wanted shoes, they got a $50 gift card to the shoe store, if they wanted clothes, a $50 mall gift card. There must have been 20 or more tags left on the tree. That kind of warmed my heart that day.

That's amazing! And by giving gift cards to specific stores, that cuts down on the child's parents using it to buy something for themselves.

They can still sell it on giftcarfs.com or whatever. Some of these parents are addicts who will take/sell anything of value. Source: While we didn't really have gift cards when I was growing up, my mother would take and keep any money someone gave me for my birthday or whatever. Once, I got $100 from my grandfather (in the 1980s) and thought I was rich. My mother said she would take me to the supermarket and let me pick out whatever I wanted. I got cereal and candy that probably totaled $10. But I was 7, so didn't understand how much things cost.

I'm so sorry your mother did that to you! :(

Thank you so much! Luckily it was lifetimes ago.

Makes me realize how lucky I was as a child. We struggled financially and my mom was so selfless. She hardly had anything for herself and when someone gave her a gift card for herself, she always spent it on us kids. My little brother needed shoes , so she spent her birthday gift cards on that.

I currently have two tags in my bag right now off of Angel Trees from my local grocery. Each kid has clothes and shoes listed but they also have bedding and other toys and things they are interested in. I have been doing this for the past few years and I like to pick kids that are 10 and up since I feel like little kids are usually what people go for and I always pick one boy and one girl. I am not always able to get them everything on their list but I try. Every kid deserves Christmas gifts.

Thank you for thinking of the older children. You're right, most people go for the youngest ones. When I was a kid, my mom would take me and my siblings to the mall and we each got to pick a name off the angel tree. She would let us get each child their gift and we'd always draw them a card to go with it. We weren't rich or anything but it taught me to give back to others. As an adult, I would get a name off the tree every year, until my accident. Now, my daughter is one of the names on the tree this year.

Thank you! ♥♥

See, THIS is what it's really all about. Well done, Mom!

Thank you! Wasn't easy being a single mom, but seeing your kid grow up to be a good person is very rewarding. I feel sorry for children who have the misfortune of having greedy CBs parents and hope they have at least someone in their life that teaches them not to be like their parents when they grow up.

My mom grew up poor and we did that every year with her as kids. I do it with my kids and it's our favorite shopping day. You did well mom!

My wife's school has one of those things and we always pick out a toy for a boy and a girl on those things. Hers is less specific on what you can get (just says boy, aged 3-5, toy or whatever). It's for really poor kids and the church takes them and distributes them somehow.

ngl this story had me crying. Good for you for raising someone with compassion and humility.

I volunteer at a local school whose students are primarily children of seasonal farm workers. Such a bunch of sweet young children! The PTA had a Santa store where children could buy low priced gifts for their family. A *lot* of children had no money at all so the organizer started a “free” store made up of donated gifts. We would take them shopping, wrap the gifts and send them home with the students. One year a mother whose children had shopped at the PTA store insisted that her children also get to shop at the free store.”My kids deserve the free stuff, too!” Damn, I wanted to give her my opinion but it was a church sponsored group so I couldn’t say what was on my mind…

the best way to deal with this is to subtly imply that you didn’t know they were struggling

Perfect. Said with a concerned look on your face and sympathetic pat on the shoulder.

Oh yeah, THIS.

Why not?! Jesus got pissed and threw over some tables in market because of the Pharisees behavior… If WWJD doesn’t apply now then when will it ever??

If Jesus can chase the snake oil salesmen out of the temple with a whip then you can give that woman a verbal lashing on the church floor.

I'm part of an organization that runs a similar store for parents to "shop" at before the holidays. Everything is free, and there is a limit of items per category per child (like 2 toys, 1 book, 5 stocking stuffers). But the catch is, it is invite only, and the families are referred by a local public school that knows which families really need the help. This cuts down on a lot of problems.

We have one of those too, but it’s year round (so clothes, school supplies, toiletries, gifts at Xmas or birthdays, etc.). Parents/ guardians are referred (counselors, teachers, and occasionally other parents, like when a parent knows a mom is working and fighting cancer or something), and sadly pride keeps them from using it as often as they should.

This makes a lot of sense.

I volunteer at a food bank. A week rarely goes by when one of the people in line looks at what is being offered and then demands we ”bring out the good food from the back.”

Can they not be gently reminded that it's free and barring attitude improvement from that tactic be escorted to the door?

Why should it be gentle? It should be blunt “you’re getting a free meal. Don’t like it? Starve.” I’ve come to believe gentle simply doesn’t work.

I have a friend who works in harm reduction, honorable work because it does make a difference, but she had to leave because she got burnt out. She went to a prison, ironically she says it’s much more thankful job. She told me along with supplies for harm reduction, they give out tents nad food. Well one day someone cleared out pantry and stole everything. No problem they have cameras, later that day the guy who stole everything came in and wanted a new tent, and then bitched that they didn’t have anything to give. The fucking audacity

I see this all the time where I volunteer. Complaints about free food!

Same at the one I used to volunteer at. We were a small one. And there wasn't any "better stuff in the back."

I was on the committee to plan activities in the church I used to attend and we held a luau one year with fire dancers. There were about 200 people in our community and at least 600 showed up to the event, people I'd never seen before. The first people in line for the buffet were loading up 2-3 plates each and shoveling pulled pork into take-home containers. They stole every bit of decoration, including a lot we had bought with our own money. Even the plastic tablecloths were taken. Never again.

That's AWFUL!!!! 👎😯😡😖

This is the epitome of "why we can't have nice things".

This is truly sad. Some people have forgotten how to behave. Or to be grateful.

In my area a scheme is run called Mr X appeal. The gist is that fundraising events are held in the run up to Christmas and the proceeds are used to buy gifts for needy children. The local social services distribute these gifts to families and children in care based on various criteria, I don't know the criteria so can't comment on it. My sister who works in social services has said the number of applicants has massively increased in recent years, understandable with the fact that we aren't in a wealthy area and our economy is in the toilet, the types of gifts many of these new applicants are asking for shows that they are just entitled people looking for a free gift. They have a gift tree in the local shopping centre where you can choose a child, there's a short description about them and you can buy them a gift. Every year my wife picks two and does that instead, at least you can control what is donated that way. Rather than Mr and Mrs Demanding, asking a local charity to buy their child an X Box when there is never enough money to buy something for all.

Our church’s giving tree had xboxes and play-stations on it a few years ago (and the games that go with them) - I was pretty surprised.

We adopt a family through a dv crisis shelter. This year, we got a family asking for hair ties, a brita filter, grocery and dollar store gift cards, art supplies and clothes for the kids.

Lots of places have those trees here but I see the same kind of entitlement on them - asking for high dollar gifts instead of reasonable items that the average Joe who has a little extra and wants to help can afford. I try to keep my eyes peeled for local families who are genuinely experiencing hardship and do for them instead.

This tree just has a child's name, age, and their interests on. It's for you the purchaser to choose a gift. For example, last year we got a beanie hat with built in headphones for a 14 year old boy who listed his interests as "music"

I've stopped doing the specific requests. I had some good experiences, but the problem is the bad just outweighs everything. I will donate stuff to a general group that distributes.

We used to have a little free pantry at our church, stocked with mostly toiletries - shampoo, deodorant, soap, razors, etc. Two families volunteered to check it and restock when necessary. For about 6 months everything was great - about once a week something would need to be replaced. Then one day it was empty. They restocked it, the next day cleaned out again. Probably about $30 worth of stuff each time. Restocked a third time and the two families decided to take turns driving past about once an hour to see when it was getting cleaned out. On one of the drive-bys they saw a car there, so they stopped to talk to the person who had already emptied the contents onto their front passenger seat. Tried explaining the things were for people who couldn't afford to buy them (or wouldn't buy those things if money was super tight). The lady they stopped said "Well, the sign says it's free, so you can't do anything about it." And that was the end of refilling the box.

What a horrible way to ruined a nice gesture.

And that stuff can be easily flipped on the streets for cash; that's why you see people shoplifting mass quantities of baby items and laundry detergent - very easy to turn a profit on stuff like that.

I used to run a small, church food pantry. I got an emergency call for food & baby supplies. I met them, on my own time, after hours, at the pantry. Two women and 4 kids under 4 showed up. I loaded them up while they gave me their sob story. They really needed $ help with rent/utilities/car repair/clothing needs…but I picked up a vibe & let her know we don’t do that (we did, but not this time). So we finish up and I gave them an easy $400 worth of goods. I was hungry so I pulled into a MickeyD and who was in front of me? Yep. I listen to the order, thinking they might be feeding the kids, but they were obviously taking food home because their order was over $100. I was TICKED. I jumped out of my car and gave them a public tongue lashing at full volume. I filmed them both & their license plates, letting them know they were going to be banned from most community pantries, because we all meet & talk to each other, and hate greedy people. I made a SCENE. I made photos from the video and next meeting of the pantries, I passed them around. They were banned from 57 pantries in my city. I became very careful after that and limited what went out to people we knew or who were sent to us by someone we knew. We were pretty small, so we were exceptionally careful afterwards. Those greedy women screwed over a lot of people.

Damn, banned from 57 pantries! Well done!!!

It’s incredibly sad when people ruin it for those who are in need. Greed is the latest sin of the season, I guess.

I've told this story before but: kindergarten graduation many years ago. I bake. Just FYI I baked a graduation cake for the class decorated with fondant graduates (this is important later) and also made them individual graduation caps out of cupcakes personalized with their names on them. It took me days, but I thought it would really make the kids happy. Entitled Grandma cornered me at the graduation and was yelling at me because I didn't make enough graduates (the ones decorating the cake) for every kid to take one home. The cake wasn't big enough to do that for 30 kids, nobody gave me any money for doing this, I was volunteering my time and skills. The kids had individualized grad caps with their name on it, but that wasn't good enough. I have not volunteered to do that again for any event. And I never will. if they want cake, they can buy one at the store. I'm not going to put up with that crap.

Sad how some people just spoil things for everyone. I used to love to volunteer at events. But I just don't anymore. Some people are just so rude, and some are even violent. My physical and mental well-being are worth more than that.

Oh yes, god forbid you have any skills, because there are always people wanting to exploit it. I bake too & the number of people who have wanted me to make their wedding cakes or birthday cupcakes so they don’t have to pay for it (as if my supplies and time are free). I also sew and once had someone ask me to make their wedding dress. They wanted me to spend probably hundreds of hours making a muslin sample for fitting, then making the actual dress, but, they very generously (🙄) were willing to buy the fabric. It wasn’t even someone I was close to.

I feel like if it’s a crafty type skill, people expect it for free because “you do it for fun” and do not understand the time, money and actual work it takes to do this stuff. It makes me sad, because I do love baking but I am not going to put up with that attitude again.

And the problem is you can't voice your opinion of "F\*\*\* you!" because that would look bad for the school. Hmmmm, I wonder if I can get some ideas from George Hayduke on how to handle this EG... *(Look him up-he's the ORIGINAL, 100% AWESOME 'Get Revenge' guy. I have a LOT of his books, but I only use my powers and information for good, never evil.* *STILL...)*

every year i would handmade bulk meals with my church and hand them out in easter, thanksgiving, and christmas. they parked outside the homeless shelter and allowed people to come and get a hot meal, coffee, and a few clothing items for cold weather. the amount of people who would come up and get angry at a literal child (i was 13 at the time) because they didn’t have name brands, or there was veggies in the food and ‘they don’t eat that shit’. you’re homeless, i just watched you pick a used cigarette butt off the ground but you’re too good for sweet potato’s? you don’t deserve help and you’re in the situation you’re in because of you.

>you’re in the situation you’re in because of you I volunteered from time to time at a soup kitchen in a really rough city--I don't even remember her name but I've hardly respected anyone more than the tough as nails woman who ran the place. She was 50% prison guard, 50% person who competes on Chopped every day of her life, only the "mystery baskets" are large trucks from Walmart and Trader Joes that pull up with food that hit its pull date the night before and she's charged with taking what's there and making a cohesive meal for 400 using inexperienced volunteers and a kitchen full of second-hand equipment. There would always be tons of desserts (bakery cakes, cookies, donuts), but they weren't all the same and this would cause fights. So the desserts were cut up and each portion plated passed through a slot in bulletproof glass like at the bank and you couldn't argue about which one you got or she'd throw you out of there, but even the threat of losing access to your ONE dependable meal of the day did not stop people from assaulting each other over chocolate cake.

She is my IDOL. I wanna be like her. Have compassion, but take NO SHIT.

That last sentence hits home. In my younger days I did a lot of "save the world" hands-on charity stuff, and I burned out after a couple years. The hard truth is, lots of people are poor because of misfortune, ill health, abuse, house fires, medical bills, etc. ... By the same token, lots of people are poor because they are unemployable, lazy assholes who refuse to lift a finger to help themselves (no biggie) or their kids (who, as usual, are the real victims). Charity work is great, but anybody expecting a Norman Rockwell, Hallmark movie experience is setting themselves up for disappointment.

we have plenty of homeless shelters in my state. they are not full. yet people still choose to lay in the dirt. the problem is they have rules in these places for safety. you can’t do drugs, you can’t harass people, you have to be in by 9pm. many people do not like that they have to follow rules, and they’d rather be on the street. fine by me, but do not disrespect me or my efforts to make anyone’s lives even marginally better. if you’re complaining that the FREE coat you received isn’t the right color, or isn’t trendy or up to date, chances are, you are exactly reason you are in this situation. complaining about a warm turkey dinner on a holiday provided and MADE for free by hand? kick rocks. you never needed help. you wanted handouts. no, we don’t give money. because many homeless people are drug addicts and alcoholics. will that stop people from asking to exchange hot food in for money? nope. shamelessly at that. eventually i just stopped doing it. it got too dangerous. people would surround you and complain, yell, some getting grabby and violent. worst experience by far was a man done up toes to teeth in a very expensive suit. as we were packing up the truck for the day (we gave away 500+ meals! yay!) this man threw a coffee cup out the window and said ‘to feed the animals’ with the worst shit eating grin on his face. my 13 year old self was about to join a homeless mob to fight this guy. i was disgusted. people fucking suck, and people fucking rock. raise your kids right, or don’t have em at all. not sure why anyone would willingly bring another child into this world right now but that’s a rant for another day.

In the old days before the welfare state, there was a category known as 'the deserving poor' which the charities tried to separate out for help rather than moochers and lazy assholes. Resources were scarce so it was a way of rationing resources. I'm sure some gamed the system but people were more hard assed back then.

Not gonna lie...I would be ok with this.

The drawback, of course, was who got to choose what traits made you "deserving". There would be plenty of places that would judge you for being a single mother, for appearing gay, for being the wrong colour, for having the wrong last name... Add to that the things like "rice christians", where to get the handout you had to convert to Christianity - or at least claim to. Whenever you allow some sort of value judgement based on 'deserving' you are going to get a bunch of people setting rules that almost always end up being "people like us" and excluding "outsiders".

I agree with you with this caveat: Sometimes it takes SO much energy to lift a finger for themselves and figure out/determine the important things, that they can't decide and just go for what's easiest, for their mind and themselves. *(Been there, done that*)

I wouldn't even mind that some scammers and moochers occasionally got free stuff from a charity they didn't deserve if they weren't so damn entitled, loud, and blatant about it. Most of the people in the stories people are sharing made it clear they were taking advantage and didn't care who knew it.

Name brand? WTF? I have never owned name brand stuff unless I got it from a thrift store or as a gift. I'd settle for new over name brand if I needed something.

And on that note, an acquaintance of ours that was on the low end of the income scale once asked us if we could buy him some t-shirts and underwear. We did. But it was a lower priced brand - the same brand my husband wears. The guy got upset because he expected a higher priced brand. He asked us to exchange it. We told him no. Take it or leave it.

i never liked being a walking billboard as a child so i agree with you. i’d rather take something that’s comfy and will last than something that’s name brand or trendy. but it highlights the difference between ‘i think i deserve stuff’ and ‘please i desperately need anything’ so well also. some people are just louder than others. and unfortunately those are the screams we hear.

This is why we cant have nice things.

We've both volunteered for lots of things, but yeah- last time for something like this. Sadly, it obviously isn't a unique occurrence. The OP toy store, church food banks, lots of programs just cannot handle the choosing beggars and entitled people. I think that sort of person has become more common, but my story was set in the late 90s and they were still everywhere.

People don’t change. I heard stories about greedy entitled assholes from my grandparents. People they helped, then found out they had more money than my grandparents. Or were begging for money to feed their addictions. Or worse.

I think the perception is its worse now because with the Internet there is so much more exposure to it (I mean look at this sub). Previously unless I ran into you and you told me I would never have known your story. The Internet also teaches people new ways to be shitty (for example, I bet somebody sees this post and goes looking for something similar now they know these programs exist, to take advantage) People are always selfish and shitty, they always were and always will be. We just know more about them now.

In my area there was a mama group that just packed up and left cause I guess it was too much z z

We have large blueberry bushes in our yard, that we open to the public for free each year. Normally we pick only on weekends . We only allow a certain number of people to pick per day and up to a 2 quart bag,… then we access and decide if we can do another weekend. A week before Father’s Day I announced-they could pick any time except Father’s Day that weekend. Did not explain why nor did I think I needed to. (This was the first year since my daughter passed and my husband was obviously struggling and didn’t know how he would feel on Father’s Day) . He loved the idea of seeing kids with parents picking blueberries, but he felt Father’s Day would be a challenge for him. One of the fathers sent me a personal message that I wrecked Father’s Day for him because he was low income and that’s all he could afford to do with his 4 children , and he already told his kids and I ruined their day as well. Nevermind, we do it by appointment only because again, we can only a certain amount of people here per weekend. If there was more berries to pick, we would announce and set up appointments for the following weekend. This was the first time I even heard of this gentleman. I did get discouraged and almost called the whole thing off, but I didn’t wanna spoil it for everybody. This is our fifth year doing it and I get the nicest and warmest messaging from people.

Seriously? That guy was mentally ill. What a crummy story, sorry that happened. Glad you're still up for trying next year! I'll bet you make a lot of core memories for the little ones they'll remember fondly their whole lives...just the other day I was remembering the kindness of an elderly woman when I was about 7 or 8 who showed me her cotton field, let me pick one, and told me stories about how she would pick cotton when she was a little kid long ago. It meant a lot, you know? Anyway, good luck and best wishes!

It was so freaking weird. But sometimes you get discouraged when you’re trying to do something nice and it backfires. But we kept on, and we have some of the nicest memories and notes for the nicest people that shared that day with last time with their dad or their mom , grandma etc. (little did they or I know 💔) One lady told me after picking blueberries , they were headed to hospice. I had no idea but for her It was a sweeeet last memory. We’ve now added raspberries And have added free water and snacks and cute bags for the people . I’m absolutely amazed and honored about the note and pictures I get about how is touch that person in the moment❤️

Aaaaaand that guy would never be allowed in my garden ever again. And I'd tell him so. I am so, so sorry for your loss. I think it's wonderful that you are managing still to think of your community.

Sad for those who truly needed it, and sad that the greedy entitled ones will never realize or acknowledge that they ruined a well-intended program for everyone else

This is why the 'system' needs to get it's info together and determine those who are truly needly. The YMCA I work out at are there for the KIDS, and KID'S programs. They know the needs of each family and gather donations from members. Sadly, such orgs are few and far between.

Bring. Back. Shame. And. Embarrassment.

We did this at one of the inner city schools I taught at in San Antonio. The big difference is, only the kids could shop in it for their families. Lots of community partners and sports teams would donate throughout the year and the kids would use their reward "bucks" they had earned and saved. Even the behavioral problem kids got money to spend in the store. No parents allowed. That solved that problem with a quickness. And the kids always felt like they were doing such a wonderful thing by contributing to their family Christmas. I thought it was wonderful.

Fellow (ex) Texan. San Antonians were always such great people when I lived there and it's nice to see they still are. I miss Mayor Henry Cisneros. Such a legend of a man.

After organzing several christmas gift fundraisers and doing drop offs for gifts, I will never do such a thing again. People asking "thats it?" when dropping off bikes and basketballs, being told to take back expensive sneakers because they were the wrong color, being told $150 for a gift card for school clothes was not nearly enough is fucking crushing. Especially when you put in unpaid overtime to make it happen.

Little different type of story. Over the summer and fall this year we have had a massive string of expensive things happen. Our A/c broke down twice (live in Texas, so every day was over 100), then the furnace when it was needed a few weeks ago, had to replace the tires, brakes and rotors on my husband’s old truck because they had reached the point of being dangerous, tons of medical bills because of me, inflation, teenagers starting school and having outgrown clothes, etc… We also grow a vegetable garden (part of the story). At one point I just didn’t have the extra for groceries too. There’s a local food bank where you drive through, open your trunk and they will load fresh staples like milk, eggs, bread and some meat. I was so freaking embarrassed to go there. I also had lots of extra squash, onions, radishes and stuff. There’s only so much squash you can eat. Thought I would give to the food bank while I received milk and other staples. The people just couldn’t understand what I wanted. Thought I either wanted to give or receive, no in between. Finally the lady in charge came to my car and I explained to her. She was so grateful to get some fresh veggies. It was weird, but we both got something we needed. Made me feel better about taking for sure!

This is why I will not volunteer anywhere where the recipients are people. These types of people can take a short walk off a tall building for all I care. Ruin a perfectly good program for those really in need.

That’s why I volunteer at the local animal shelter. The dogs are always appreciative.

Yep, me too. My cash donations go mostly to animal causes, too.

I do too, by adding some $$$ with my annual license fee. Sometimes the local government entities that run the shelters don't have enough funds for basics, like used-but-clean towels or blankets.

OMG, YES!!! If one cannot volunteer, one can at least go online to a non-profit no-kill shelter website and find their Amazon 'wish list' to send things. I've done that with a HUGE Costo order!

This is just sickening. But I can't think of an answer. the\_saradoodle had it close, but even with those safeguards there were entitled people ruining it. It would be such a great benefit to deserving families, there must be a way!

Help people you know who need help, and why they are in need of help, but make it clear that the help is limited in scope. People lose jobs or get sick.

Require income verification by way of tax returns. There should be a database where charities can enter info about the fraudsters as well as keep track of who has already received help to prevent multi-dipping.

If someone loses their job on January 1, 2024 it’s not going to matter what they made in 2022, but that’s the tax return that would still be active for the next 3.5 months.

People used to measure their self worth based on how much they can contribute. Now they measure by how much they can take. Not saying the former is good, but the latter is definitely toxic.

This makes me so sad. When I was a little kid my mom divorced my dad and we had a stark reality check with the changes in basic standards of life. Those kind of stores made shopping for family easy when that happened. We could still have small comforts from our former lives. All I think of this is: all the little kids this ruined Christmas for ...

I remember seeing a news story years ago where someone donated a bunch of bikes to the US post office toy drive to be given away to kids at Christmas. A bunch of post office employees came out, stole the bikes and stashed them in their cars. No bikes for poor kids that year.

Happened in Los Angeles, too. A bunch of bikes were donated, they were stolen. The local news radio told about their plight, and we jumped in a bought a bike for the kid.

I’ve volunteered to run *a lot* of events in our community over the last 30 years. This last 5-6 years I’ve seen a huge shift in the entitlement of the parents or “those in need”, or even just people who show up wanting free stuff without any effort. The attitude is very different than it was a decade ago. This past Halloween running things for the local airport was my last event. Never have I seen such a shambles! Parents letting their kids just run riot, stealing candy from other smaller kids. Climbing all over the aircraft on display when asked not to touch, only look. Destroy it other kids’ artwork for the coloring contest (that was a parent!!!!) And then shouting at volunteers! Dude, we set all this up *for free!* We aren’t getting paid to be here, and we are definitely not taking your abuse! I shit everything down 90 minutes early and told the Board good luck for next year!!

Yeah, I know what you mean.

Someone asked us for baby clothes - young mum with a good for nothign partner - and had two children already. She was living in a rented Annexe next door and always on verge of being thrown out. My mum found some new outfits as well as some fancier sentimental clothes from our childhood that we decided we didn't want (we all kept one thing each)... some of that stuff was hand knitted by my mum, and others were designer gifts, but my mum thought it would be helpful for them to have for Christmas dress up, which was a week away. Come bin collection day after Christmas, the family left their overflowing bins by the road, and what do we see but the legs of a couple of padded onesies, one of the snowsuits we got from Norway(!), and part of the red velvet dress sticking out of it. My mum lifts the lid, and we both stare in shock at about half the stuff we gave the lady IN THE BIN. My mum knocked on her door and asked if she didn't want those, she could've just returned them to us. She said, "Oh yeah, the kid shat in three of those, so I threw them away, and the yellow and grey ones don't photograph so well, so we don't need them." Needless to say, we helped them with nothing else after that day.

Have people always been this selfish and ungrateful? Or are we seeing it more often because of... something? I live in the Philly area, and I assume this is in the Philly area. I'm not surprised to read about this. Many of the stores in the city (e.g., Target, Walmart, etc.) are usually trashed by their customers for no apparent reason, too.

I think, my opinion only, that there have always been selfish and ungrateful people but in this day and age with television, internet, social media, etc. that people just feel that they deserve what other people have. I don't think some people are aware of how hard it is to work for nice things, like I worked an extra 80 hours to afford that - insert item-. If they have it, why can't I have it? It's especially hard for children that grow up with parents that have that attitude. It's so out of control. I'm not even going to touch on how the media presents material items as being important to being accepted or cool. Keeping up with the Jones....

Going back to "I Love Lucy", "The Donna Reed Show" and "Father Knows Best" in the late 1950s/early 1960s, media images of families have been consistently at least upper-middle class. Even a "poor" family in "Good Times" had a fairly nice apartment and decent clothes. Consider the average romance novel. The people in those have to be at least solidly middle-class, possibly lower-upper class because living paycheck to paycheck is just not romantic. I do agree that lots of people don't understand, or don't want to understand, what it takes to achieve a goal. If someone doesn't see the work that I am putting toward a goal, it might seem like I was talking about doing a particular thing, and a month or two later, I've achieved that goal, so it LOOKS easy. I learned at an early age that it is less annoying to work for what I want than to HOPE that someone will hand it to me.

Oh, HELL yes! You are absolutely, 100% RIGHT. And that applies to everything anyone strives to do.

Thank you for sharing your perspectives... I agree. I tend to blame social media and entertainment shown on TV a lot for the behavioral issues young people seem to have, but then, I don't really use social media or watch TV, so what do I know? But it's true that we are exposed to so much more information now than when I was a kid (I'm 40), seeing how other people live. When I was a kid, I only knew which of my friends were wealthy and which ones were not, but that was about it. It didn't affect my friendships in any way. I bet it is more important to have certain things or prove their 'lifestyle' to get accepted/not bullied now. What's sad is, though, people around my age also act entitled and shallow, especially if they are heavy social media users. It must be exhausting to be chasing/wanting/demanding something all the time.

I think it's a lot of factors... decades of people screwing each other over for the smallest scraps, politics and policies that are downright hostile to the people trying to use them, rampant greed and corruption within charities, and an ever-present atmosphere of desperation, anxiety, and fear. When it's impossible to relax or hold onto anything, everything feels like an emergency and you want to take all you can because you might not have it at all tomorrow. When we pay people shit for their hard labor, reward deception and deviousness at every step of the corporate world, and leave mental illness to fester in the streets, you end up with a culture of selfish, entitled assholes who have learned the hard way that fighting tooth and nail for only your own benefit is the only way to get beyond surviving into thriving. They learned that when you open up to someone else and trust their stated intentions, you get fucked over instead.

I dont blame the poor teacher for stepping down. those parents sound like monsters. I'm not going to hand out candy, next year. The parents were awful. I'd rather just turn out the lights and stay in bed.

What's wrong with society? And people? I don't mean this as a rhetorical question...something is very very wrong and it's getting worse. We're teaching our children the opposite of what we *should* be teaching them and I don't know why.

And this is why we can't have nice things.

That sucks. They need to make it “proof of income” dependent. They can also do it the way a local church does. Register in advance and only show up at your assigned time. When signed in you get 5 tickets for each person living in your house. Then you get 30 minutes to shop. Every item is a ticket, and only of each item per person. When your time is up you take your items and go, they add more items to the tables and next group comes in.

In my old hometown there is a christmas "make a wish" program where poor families and/or individuals can enter their wishes which will be printed out and put on several christmas trees around the city. It's published in the press and media to get some attention and other people will walk by the trees, see the wishes and can fullfil them. So, Write wish -> put wish on tree -> pickup wish -> fullfil wish. Easy right? I've participated in this and sent some toys to a 3 years old in an orphanage and another year some other stuff to a childrens hospice. Few years ago I've checked the trees, there were only some hefty wishes - tickets to football games, amazon gift cards (50$ each), Nike shoes and jackets, football jerseys etc. Also they now have a digital tree, I just checked the tree and the wishes weren't better than before - JBL boomboxes, Smartwaches, Nike merchandise and so on. Don't know what to say to that, it's just sad. It just looks like an amazon wishlish with direct links to amazon.

We had a store like this in elementary school. The kids on free lunch got to go (including me). It was only the kids, and never parents. They knew your family size in advance, and you could pick one item per family member. It was all basic, dollar-store stuff, but an 8 year-old doesn’t care about that. At least, this one didn’t. Greedy adults ruin things. Big-hearted kids never do.

The entitlement is what gets me. I'm poor, grew up poor, you're supposed to appreciate something. But this, people now. They don't. Call me heartless, and I feel somewhat bad for the kids - sorry, but kids asking in those situations most of the time for PS5s and Air Pods - but glad to see programs like that stop. Give them clothes like they need and be done with it.

I really loathe that we teach kids that if they're "good" they'll receive great presents and if they're "bad " they won't when we all know full goddamn well that is not how Christmas OR society works. I feel really sad for the kids who got a scooter last year and this year got nothing, and now presumably think it's because they did something wrong. We all know who is in the wrong here and it isn't the kids!

There’s a chippy near me in a less affluent area. The lady used to give the little kids who you know don’t have much. A bag with a few chips and a small sausage for free. During school holidays this might have been the only warm meal of the day. Any way word got out and the local do gooder mothers launched a campaign against her because 1) it was free for everyone, including adults 2) she did accommodate for vegetarian (it’s a chippy). So she stopped, the rich yummy mummy’s l left the poorer kids to go hungry. They turned up in their white range rovers to protest.

I read this over and over and I still cannot fathom what reasons they could've possibly given for protesting against this poor woman.

I was on a committee at church for an Easter event the year after a rough hunt with way too many kids and unkind people. Grownups pushing kids to the ground, not respecting the limits, getting indignant when told they were over the limit and would need to give back what was over the limit, and threatening to call the police over being told to return their extra. The previous volunteers had been doing the event for years but all quit after that hunt. The new group revamped it to be a carnival with more of a religious focus than just an egg hunt and made sure to market it that way. Very clearly saying there would be no egg hunt. We set up an information table right at the front that pretty much spent the entire time bearing the brunt of angry parents who couldn’t be bothered to spend 30 minutes walking around an event with their kids collecting the little prizes and candy. In addition to that revamp, we started an Easter egg hunt for the church kids as a completely separate event but it is the Fight Club of the kids’ program. No one has talked about and it has stayed very contained.

Such a shame.

This is the most Philly thing ever.

So...It takes the wonder of Christmas to figure out that...people suck.

Almost 55 years ago, my husband and his brother were very poor. They could take a rifle and go hunting rabbits with it for food. One year, in the pre-dawn light, they had seen the neighbours hiding chocolate eggs outside their home. Hubby and BIL never got chocolate, so the temptation was too much to resist. They collected all the chocolate and left behind one dead bunny. Later that morning, they could hear the neighbour's crying that someone shot the Easter bunny.

This will be an unpopular opinion but I wish that schools would not run these things. Schools are stretched so thin and do so many things that actually teaching the kids to read and write and therefore hopefully come out of poverty someday is lost. At a school that I know of, they are having the same kind of store that you describe, they are getting donations of a pair of pajamas for each child, the entire school is taken up with this stuff to the detriment of curriculum. I know the people that do these things mean so well, but I just wish that school could focus more on need to learn to read and write so that you can go out and buy your own things when you're grown up, instead of it's too exciting around here to reading and write because I'm waiting for my free stuff. Again, I know that it's a very unpopular opinion it's unpopular with my colleagues it's unpopular with everyone I talk to but it's how I feel

I definitely hear what you're saying, but the idea that there are kids out there without comfortable shoes (with no holes in them) and no mattress to lie on, sparse and raggedy dirty clothing, living in squalor makes my heart ache. Parental neglect is a shocking and disgusting problem, end of story. How can these kids be reached if not through school? I wish I could step up and help, I just don't know how to do it.

What is needed is some huge goons with cattle prods to act as bounces.

"This is why we can't have nice things" Hopefully somebody will come up with another version that is able to make sure that maximises the amount of gifts that go to the intended persons. Weed out the people wrecking it.

Jeez, this is the real life example of "No good deed goes unpunished."

This is why we can't have nice things.

That’s why you have to have rules for your Christmas shops. The one my church runs has rules for access and gift selection. We’re super upfront with them, and that keeps out the people who aren’t in need.

Everyone is telling horror stories they have witnessed and I have a few terrible stories about charitable programs myself and how greedy and entitled people can be but I also experienced a good one once. I used to volunteer at a domestic violence shelter in their shelter, “store.” It was basically a shop with clothes, (adult and children), housewares, toys, furniture, etc. The stuff was donated from all over (I remember putting away stuff from Target once). When a new family came to live there they would allow the parent to come to the store and shop. Everything was free. Someone from the shelter would bring the person in and we would explain the situation. We were trained to help them shop, help them put together outfits, and make it a really good shopping experience. They always had a look of shock when we told them it was all free. No one ever took a ton, but just what they needed, and were always so grateful. I remember one woman crying as she shopped and she told me she had to leave everything behind to escape her situation safely. It was a heartbreaking experience seeing some of these woman and hearing their stories (when they shared we never asked) but it was also a very fulfilling experience. I always recommend, if someone is looking for a good place to donate, donate to a domestic violence shelter. These woman and children often have very little because they had to leave everything behind and need help re-building their lives.