Giving To Charity

As a badge-wearing volunteer collector over several years for a well-known Charity operating under the auspices of a small local church, I am sometimes challenged by church-goers and non-churchgoers alike, as to the ethics of systematic, house-to-house collection of donations from the general public. No-one, in my experience, has reacted angrily to my knock on their door. At most, those uncomfortable with being asked if they wish to donate respond either with a silent shake of the head, or an explanation that they donate regularly elsewhere. In private, they might fall into the category of those who consider it a violation of privacy to be faced with such a question. They may have a point. Or else simply do not wish to donate and feel a certain discomfort about having to say so. I prefer to attribute their reservations to a possible sense of unease at having that point of view at all, but this may well just arise from my own attitude on the subject. Whatever the case, I have experienced nothing approaching aggression nor any outright rudeness at all.

Our method is to drop a plastic carry-bag printed with the name of the Charity through the door of individual houses, together with a polite note to the effect that we will be calling again in a week to collect any donation the receiver would like to make. When we call for the second time, a glance at the badge we wear to denote our particular organisation is usually enough to evoke the response - the silent head-shake, a bewildered expression of ignorance, often followed by a delving in the pocket for a donation anyway, or in the worst case, a silent, expressionless shutting of the door.

Others respond not with the bag, but with a regretful half-smile at a small donation, invested, though they might not know it, with all the glory of the widow's mite mentioned in scripture.

Then there are those who cheerfully produce our bag, with the donation enclosed.

Smiles all round, on our part, at almost every transaction. From myself, on behalf of those who will benefit, a grateful thanks. A modest smile from the donor. Everyone happy.

Is this, as some would have it, the palliative devised by fortunate 'haves' to quieten their conscience regarding the less fortunate 'have nots'? I would say, without hesitation, a definite "No!". The Church for whom we few collectors operate is not in what would be considered a wealthy part of town. No-one appears to suffer from any obvious effects of poverty, but neither does anyone vaunt the visual attributes of wealth. Some of those who open the doors are discomfited by being unable to give. A small minority shook their heads, a few in embarrassed disapproval, most of them apologetically. The great majority contribute willingly, with a smile, even if their carry-bag contains just a token of their sympathetic willingness. It is a moment of shared humanity. Warm with the truth of something far deeper than the economics of circumstance. The Bible expresses it clearly: "It is more blessed to give than to receive."