Leave the giving tree alone!!!

[LillFilly]

Near our mall office we have a xmas tree with tags listing the gender and age of a needy child. You take a tag, say for a 3yo girl, get an appropriate gift, and bring it to the office along with the matching tag. No tag, no gift for that child.

Some people have just been taking the tags off the tree for no reason. I don't know if they don't understand what it is (big sign next to it), or their kids are playing with them, but it's not cool. I found abandoned tags on my rounds and put them back on the tree.

I don't know how they keep track of things, but I sure hope that if there's 100 tags, and 90 get returned with gifts, and 10 go missing, that those 10 kids are not screwed out of gifts!

[going gaga]

Best of luck with it , I hope the tags show up, could people have taken the tags out to get a gift at a later date?

Maybe you could change the system and give out paper tags from the mall office and only the staff take the tree tags off , might save you some hassle.

[EvilEmpryss]

My family does the angel tree gift-giving thing every year, one tag for each of my children. Part of the fun is being able to look over the tags and find one that you'll like shopping for. My heart goes out to the ones that only ask for clothing or jackets or shoes, since you know they're the ones who are really hurting for the essentials.

The ones asking for an X-Box or Wii come across as greedy, even if it may just be wishful thinking.

I wouldn't like it if I had to clear my choices with some staff member, or make them read through all the tags to find just the right ones for me.

But I agree, people who mess with the tags and don't intend to come through for the kids are scumbags worse than Scrooge.

[Sliceanddice]

i helped the salvation army angle program one year i dont know what htye do about missing toys but i do know that kids who only ask for one thing and only get that one thing thend to get extra donated toys and clothing as well and if they dont get everything they ask for if they have in their extra donations the kids get it.

[LillFilly]

could people have taken the tags out to get a gift at a later date?

That's what you do; you take the tag and go shopping, then bring the gift back with the tag. But these tags were just scattered. People pull the leaves off our potted plants all the time, so I guess the tree tags are just a step up!

[NateTheChops]

The ones asking for an X-Box or Wii come across as greedy, even if it may just be wishful thinking.

I could forgive it if it was a little kid making the wish. With a kid sometimes that perfect toy is more important than anything else, even when there are things they need more. It was always hard for me growing up and watching kids whose parents had the money to get them their nintendos and gameboys and the million or so other toys I wanted so badly.

So needless to say most of my X-mas lists were filled with videogame titles.

[EvilEmpryss]

The ones asking for the high-priced toys are the older kids. I know it's harder to shop for them, but to go straight for the jugular with a $300 gift is just too much for me. We've given bikes, musical instuments, and tons of sports equipments and the like, but if I can't afford a Wii for my own kids, I certainly can't afford one to give away. Those kids that only ask for the necessities, though, they get those *and* a box full of toys appropriate for their age.

I only wish they'd let me donate the laptops and desktops I like to refurbish. There's absolutely nothing wrong with them, but because they're not new, they won't take them.

[Andara Bledin]

My heart goes out to the ones that only ask for clothing or jackets or shoes, since you know they're the ones who are really hurting for the essentials.

Not necessarily.

My brother loved getting clothes as gifts. He went through phases where he was notably more vain than usual, and the more clothes he had to wear, the happier he was.

^-.-^

[jackfaire]

I always feel bad this time of year at work cuz everyone is donating and helping out and asking me to as well I make as much money as a lot of them but I have a lot more debt too.

[MadMike]

The ones asking for the high-priced toys are the older kids. I know it's harder to shop for them, but to go straight for the jugular with a $300 gift is just too much for me.

We have an "Angel Tree" at my job as well, and I've also seen this. I don't think I've ever seen a year where there were tags left on the tree, so apparently someone's getting them something.

I usually went with something easy, like a remote controlled car. This year, they did something a little different. If you hate shopping like I do, instead of buying a gift, you can pay money to dress casual (not that "business casual" oxymoron BS, I get to wear jeans, T-shirt, and sneakers like I normally do.) I don't have to dress up again for the rest of the year.

[Imogene]

but because they're not new, they won't take them.

Who knows what kind of dirty stuff you could have laced those laptops with? Porn, viruses, backdoors...

Anyway, Dad's group at work picked up an angel tree, and Dad was flipping through the requested presents, and found a list of Wii games. He got pissed. He thought, "If you have the money to buy a Wii, you're not poor..." Or something to that effect, and returned that particular tree, to get a different one, if I remember the story correctly.

[EvilEmpryss]

Who knows what kind of dirty stuff you could have laced those laptops with? Porn, viruses, backdoors...

Yup, you caught me. I live to spread naughtiness to all the children of the world.

Fortunately, I found that the teachers at my children's school are much more reasonable. They know which students are hard up for cash and would appreciate a basic computer to work on. I can't give them internet access or a printer, but at least I can make sure it's a basic system that won't crash too often.

[BeeMused]

Fortunately, I found that the teachers at my children's school are much more reasonable. They know which students are hard up for cash and would appreciate a basic computer to work on. I can't give them internet access or a printer, but at least I can make sure it's a basic system that won't crash too often.

One of the teachers of a local school is running a great project for his students. Earlier this year we gave them our oldish computers and monitors, all 40 of them. They combined them, so each participating student could take home a computer (incl. monitor and XP Home licence - we had them and didn't need them anyway) s/he had build him/herself, the rest was used to set up a computer lab. We found a spare printer, a switch, and some cabling for them too. The students are fiercely proud of their acomplishment.
In the end everyone was happy, we got rid of the old equipment, students who couldn't afford a computer got one, the school got a computer lab and the students got some computer building skills.
I already hooked up the teacher with another company, so the next year other students will have the same opportunity.