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Nope. Never.
I donate to Doctors without Borders and Mercy Corps.
I donate to a local food bank in my name and for all of my friend's gifts throughout the year.
I donate to a women's shelter.
There are numerous non-religious organizations that perform good acts without the cost of forcing people to listen to them preach.
Salvation Army is not giving to give, they're giving with the cost of preaching.
I think you're right, chielgirl. I donate mostly to the Humane Society, both the national one and the Dallas and Fort Worth branches. The Salvation Army does good things, but there is always that asterisk beside it.
When I have money, I donate to localized charities where I know EXACTLY to whom the money is going. Similarly, I only donate clothes to local charities. The one non-local I go to is sending my old textbooks that it wouldn't make sense to sell (most of my "textbooks" are really just 5-6 paperbacks per class) to a charity in NYC that puts teenagers to work and teaches them work ethic through selling donated books.
As a poor college student, most of what I donate is time.
I would rather donate locally to small organizations that are really feeling the bite of the economy than to large organizations with questionable morals.
I do not donate any money to religious organizations. There is always some portion of your money that goes to religious proselytism, down to the listen-to-a-prayer before you get your dinner.
I have never had anyone in the Salvation Army express any interest in the state of my Salvation. They are quite busy enough fixing all the meals they serve every day to those in genuine need of their services. I do donate to the Salvation Army, it has nothing to do with religion, but rather a function of their good works.
Wow, I had no idea Salvation Army was a religious organization. Learn something new everyday I guess.
I have the need to declutter my home on a constant basis getting rid of old clothes, house stuff etc. Whatever charity is closest to me and makes it easiest for me to get rid of my stuff wins. On numerous occasions that has been the Salvation Army, I didn't realize at the time that they were religious but to be honest if I had to donate some stuff tomorrow and they made it easy for me I'd still give it to them even with this new knowledge.
Money on the other hand I'm not a big fan of giving out, id rather give time or goods than cash. Same with a homeless person, i'd rather go buy them a meal than give them $5 to do it themselves.
Like Dusty, I have never witnessed Salvation Army folks "witnessing" and have only seen them mainly doing good deeds for people who need help. I suppose it doesn't mean they don't, but I have never seen it. I have no problem dropping a few spare dollars in the red pot at Christmas. I don't give to them at any other time, but that is simply because my regular giving only goes to organizations that aid Native Americans exclusively.
I've actually donated quite a bit of usable stuff that I no longer needed and I'm embarrassed to admit that I have never even known about their official position on various issues. I've never observed them do anything except go about the business of trying to help people in a very practical way so I'd be very hesitant to criticize them.
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