At a local charity offering relief to the homeless, I spoke with a man who had lost all his fingers. He told me that he had been losing fingers every year to frostbite, and this year, he finally lost his last finger. Without gloves, this man’s fingers didn’t stand a chance against the cold Alberta winters living on the streets.
The charity puts out calls for donations every year: articles of clothing, socks, gloves, coats, boots, etc.
But this charity also puts out the message that it is preferred to sign up for monthly financial donations. This way we can provide for the homeless year round, presumably purchasing whatever items are needed.
Many thoughtful, kind hearted people respond to these calls, and donate generously. The problem? It’s actually nobody’s job to buy the gloves. The money raised during times of great crisis, or emergency does not go towards procuring for the immediate need as advertised, but towards funding the charity’s main business operations.
No gloves are purchased for the homeless, and now this man has no fingers. But it gets worse. There are in fact boxes upon boxes of gloves, company branded, even. But these are not for the homeless. These are for the donors at an upcoming fundraiser walk/run.
This is not an isolated incident. Last year, during a critical shortage of socks, the staff and volunteers received company branded socks at the christmas party. And during the summer heatwaves, when water bottles were in dire need, despite a record pour in of donations, not a single water bottle was purchased.
Capitalist charity means gloves for the donors, not the homeless.
-Matt W.
