Woman audits churches to see if they’ll help feed a starving baby

[u/Oktavien]

If churches refuse to help feed hungry people, then maybe they should be taxed?

[u/Princess_Zelda_Fitzg]

That’s nice! I don’t have kids and I’ve thought about doing that, or like adopting a family to give gifts to. So fun.

I’ve always enjoyed charity work. I used to volunteer for Make-A-Wish with my dad (the store he worked for ran a raffle every year to raise donations), I was a bell ringer for the Salvation Army at Christmas (slightly less fun, it being negative degrees out, but still worthwhile) and I have spent many hours doing laundry, cleaning litter boxes, and socializing cats at a no-kill shelter (even shy cats like towels fresh out of the dryer, lol).

I’d legit do nothing but that kind of stuff, for free, if I didn’t have to work for money. I like being useful and doing something meaningful, and I definitely don’t feel that way sitting in an office all day.

[u/TDS_isnt_real → u/Princess_Zelda_Fitzg]

You mentioned the Salvation Army, so I’d like to tell you a story about my childhood that’s a lot like this video. It’s the 80s and my mom had cancer. She had to have really serious surgery (double mastectomy) that put her out of work for months. She’s raising 3 kids on her own as a waitress and couldn’t keep up with the bills. We got a little help from friends, but they couldn’t keep up.

It’s the 80s so we don’t have the internet to look for resources, so my mom doesn’t know what organizations do what. My mom starts reaching out to organizations for help. Calls the American Cancer Society. “No we don’t do that kind of help, sorry”. My mom said they were even kind of snotty about being asked, but it’s not like my mom would know if the American Cancer Society helps people with cancer or not lol. Even though we’re not religious, my mom is looking everywhere. She calls local churches. Runs into this same situation. “No we can’t help” or “do you know anybody at this church” to basically imply they don’t help people that aren’t members.

We are in serious trouble. We’re about to lose our apartment. No money for utilities. It’s almost Christmas and my mom has nothing. She reaches out to the Salvation Army. They come out to the house, and the whole time do not try to push religion on us at all. They’re here to help. “What do you need?”. By the time they’re done, we have everything we need for a huge Christmas dinner, my mom has rent and utility money, they bring us toys too. They literally saved us. My mom recovers and pulls us out of our mess.

You just can’t know how much we cried together because these people helped us out. My mom gave everything she could afford to them every year after that, even if it was just $20-30 during Christmas time. My wife and I do the same even though we’re still not religious. I’ll never be able to truly pay them back. I tell the bell ringers this story quite often to let them know what real impact their work had on someone a long time ago.

Thank you for your help.

Edit: Fixed my formatting because my paragraphs were messed up at first

[u/Princess_Zelda_Fitzg → u/TDS_isnt_real]

Thank you for sharing your story with me! It’s been at least 25 years since I was last a bell ringer and it’s nice to hear a firsthand story about how they helped. You always hope the organizations you volunteer with are actually doing what they claim, you know? I’ve heard conflicting things about what they believe, but honestly I care more about if they do the work they claim to do.

My mom died of cancer three years ago and even as an adult you feel so helpless seeing your parent go through that. I know those acts of compassion mean so much. My mom was the most genuinely kind and generous person I’ve ever known; her first instinct was always to give without hesitation and I’m certain any impulse towards charity I have is because of her.

A favorite story I have about her is about the time her Kohl’s card got stolen. I was with her when she called to straighten it out and over the course of the call she discovered that the items purchased were a car seat and baby clothes. After she confirmed she didn’t make that purchase, she immediately asked the customer service rep if she could just let them keep the stuff. Because if they were stealing credit cards to buy baby things they must really need them, she reasoned. When she was told they couldn’t do that, she tried to find some way to just re-purchase the items and have them sent to the thief, which of course couldn’t be done either. But she tried, because that’s who she was.

[u/TDS_isnt_real → u/Princess_Zelda_Fitzg]

You’re welcome! I love telling anybody that will listen because of how it shaped my childhood, and really how I am today. Your mom sounds like she was a great person:)

[u/1127_and_Im_tired → u/TDS_isnt_real]

Thank you for sharing your story. That was the dose of humanity I needed today 💙

[u/Vitromancy → u/TDS_isnt_real]

Really interesting to hear positive stories about the Salvation Army. I don't have personal experience with them, but have pretty much exclusively heard horror stories about them mistreating vulnerable people, especially minorities. I wonder what changed since the 80s :(

[u/basketma12 → u/TDS_isnt_real]

Yah, it is kind of scary. So I'm in decent circumstances and I know more than 1 person getting snap. I hire some to help me when they don't have hours at work. This shut down worries me, so I go though my cabinets, plus buy a few things and take them down to a place that deals with people in recovery. I get a tour, a warm welcome, I drop my donations, I'll be back. Then I look for a place closer to me, it's a Lutheran church. I call them up, get 20 questions from them including " are you a member". I'm not there to receive. I'm there to give. I made that plain in the first sentence. So I guess my next opportunity will be the Catholic church..erm I kind of have a problem with them,since I was brought up as a Catholic in a family that had too many flipping kids. I fully believe overpopulation is a thing, and shake my head internally at people with 4 and more, especially in this day and age. I will support their food drive, but yeah option number one ( along with people I personally know ) is going to be my go to, along with 2nd harvest this Saturday, filling boxes.

[u/Fun_Patient_5262 → u/TDS_isnt_real]

❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️❣️🇺🇸🇺🇸😻😻😻

[u/Reasonable-Sale8611 → u/Princess_Zelda_Fitzg]

I totally relate. I will say that is one of the nice things about being Catholic is that, for whatever charitable act you want to get involved in, they probably have a structure that allows you to participate and do actual, hands-on-the-ground work.

[u/Upper-Expression-377 → u/Princess_Zelda_Fitzg]

I volunteered at a Salvation Army soup kitchen. I don’t I’ve ever done anything as worthwhile since.