Has anyone donated items to the school supply donation boxes?

[bobbolink]

I'm asking because there only seems to be one now in this town, and it's at Walmart.

When I took in a few things, the woman at the door was very pleased.... she said people had only been using it for trash, and I was the first one to actually donate anything.

WHA??????????

I thought this was one thing that people usually donate "liberally" to...?

Have I been mistaken?

In the interest of full disclosure, I have mixed feelings about these..... CHILDREN AND SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS SHOULD HAVE ALL THE SCHOOL SUPPLIES THEY NEED WITHOUT DEPENDING ON CHARITY!

However, since that is not the case, the rest of us need to see to it that the supplies are there.

So, I'm curious.....

[grannie4peace]

1. i agree with you on that

its like giving someone a boat with a big hole in the middle...

[Hannah Bell]

2. yes, they should. & the donation thing adds to walmart's profits.

thereby supporting a corp which pays wages inadequate to support a family....

which is the root of problem...

vicious circle...

[grilled onions]

3. Part Of The Revolving Door

A person may give business to the very stores who donate and vote in the ones who cause this hardship in the first place by laying off people,sending jobs overseas,under employing and keeping wages just above starvation level, in some cases.
One the one hand you want to donate to help those who simply cannot afford to supply their kids with what they need. On the other hand every time we donate the idiots who cause this see that once again others are taking care of needs that THEY should be contribute to and they take that money earmarked for schools,supplies etc and spend it on war,other projects to benefit them and or their pockets.

[abbeyco]

4. I refused to donate at the Wal Mart, instead

I bought 5 backpacks and filled each with all of the basics - pens, pencils, crayons, spiral binders, folders, paper, hand sanitizer, etc. and donated them to the local Safehouse where there's a distinct need for the kids there to have school supplies.

If you wish to bypass WM, find a local group that helps kids - Boys & Girls Clubs or something and make your donation that way.

Good luck!

[bobbolink]

8. Actually, I wasn't asking for advice.

I simply asked if other people in other places were donating, or if this is something that has ceased.

If I could change or delete the thread now, I would.

I'm beginning to think twice about posting ANYTHING at all about poverty at DU. It just seems to either get ignored or a knee-jerk response.

I'm homeless myself, so I know that people need help for their children. And, for what it's worth to you, there is NO SHELTER in this area. I should have to be explaining that in a thread where I asked a question having to do with what others are donating. Really.

[CrispyQ]

5. bumper sticker from years ago:

It will be a great day when our schools get all the money they need and the air force has to hold a bake sale to buy a bomber.

[bobbolink]

6. Ah, yes, I remember that well!

Thanks for the reminder of some saner days!

:hi:

[bobbolink]

7. I should have realized that DU would turn this into a thread against WalMart.

I shouldn't have even NAMED the one store. My DU mistake.

The point is.... is anyone else donating stuff?

Is this something else that has gone by the wayside?

[CrispyQ]

9. I didn't know they had school supply donation boxes.

Maybe because I don't shop at Walmart? Ack! }( I've never seen them in this area, but, admittedly, I don't get out much.

I worked as an admin in the executive suite for many years & it was a known fact that if the company didn't have a secure way of dispensing office supplies for employees, come Aug/Sept, office supply inventory would be depleted - almost entirely - without fail, at every company I ever worked for. At the companies I worked for, many of the office supply tracking policies were put into place because of the first of the school year.

I don't have kids, so I don't know what what schools require children have in terms of school supplies. I do know that my friend, who has three children, is hit with all sorts of fees that I know my parents never paid for -- things that back in the 50-60s were considered part of the expense of public education, not billed out to the parents. And, our text books were replaced with new versions every 3-4 years, especially science!

Of all the things the repubs have been successful at, their most successuf has been to convince the average American to fear & hate taxes, to be miserly in their sense of community & not want to support anything that benefits the entire community, only themselves.

What a fucking bunch of selfish, sefl absorbed assholes are running our country.

The adults are in charge, indeed. :puke:

:cry:

[bobbolink]

10. So, how does your area collect supplies for children who can't afford them?

Or, is all the "progressives" there do is to complain about the RW, and let the children fend for themselves?

[patriotvoice]

11. Primarily by major over-the-air radio promotions and collections at parties held downtown

They usually pull in truck loads of supplies. This approach not only nets supplies, but also makes many people aware of how absolutely inadequate our public schooling system is.

[CrispyQ]

12. I'll have to look into it.

I've never heard of or seen the school donation program. The local news stations did do something the year of Katrina, but I haven't seen anything since.

I'll check it out. I could probably fill a couple of backpacks just from some of the office supplies in my basement.

[Obamanaut]

13. There are some classrooms, and I don't know if the entire school

does it, where all the supplies (crayons, pencils, erasers, etc.) are put into a general coffer, and removed as needed - given to everyone for whatever project or work in progress - regardless of who brought what.

And no, I don't have a link, this is from chats I've had with other parents/grandparents who have children in the public school system.

[bobbolink]

14. Ohmy..... what a "socialistic" classroom or school.

:)

That sounds so reasonable, that I can't imagine that many schools would be willing to do it. :evilgrin:

Thanks for reporting this.... it should be the model!

As I said early on, before this thread became one more rant against Walmart instead of dealing with the issue, school supplies should NOT be a matter of charity!

[Obamanaut]

15. I think it would be "reasonable" if it were requested that kids bring

things in for donations to the common coffer. At nearly every school, there is an opportunity to meet with the teachers prior to classes beginning - an open house, if you will. This would be the time for teacher to address contributions to that common coffer

As it is in the cases where I've talked with parents/grandparents over the last couple of years, the authority figure (teacher) confiscates the stuff from the "haves", teaching them that what they have is not necessarily theirs. For this reason, throughout my own children's school years, we always donated a bunch of supplies to the teachers for them to do with what they wished.

[bobbolink]

18. Your school system is unusual. I've never heard of that sort of system.

Usually, the teachers themselves pay for supplies out of their own pockets.

Reprehensible in such a rich country.

[Obamanaut]

19. Odd. Post 14 suggested it should be the model. Now it is

reprehensible?

I do think it is very wrong to have little Jenny or Johnny come to class all excited with their new pencil box filled with shiny new supplies, only to discover they are to be seized for later distribution to the "less fortunate." Never mind that Jenny or Johnny's parents had to fore-go a tooth extraction, or go without lunch at work for a week, or some other deprivation in order to provide that pencil box. The authority figure says it must be confiscated, so confiscate it is.

Perhaps it could be considered training to accept some form of eminent domain action later on in life.

[Naturyl]

16. Indeed...

"CHILDREN AND SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS SHOULD HAVE ALL THE SCHOOL SUPPLIES THEY NEED WITHOUT DEPENDING ON CHARITY!"

Exactly. Why do the schools and even the fire and police departments call me on the phone asking for donations? It's not that I'd mind giving (if I were able), but why do they even have to ask in the world's richest nation? We reduce our most valuable public servants to beggars while lavishing tax cut handout after handout on the rich and nobody sees a problem?

[bobbolink]

17. "but why do they even have to ask in the world's richest nation? "

AND, why oh why do we keep puttting up with it?

In the end, we are also complicit by not raising Cain over this!

"while lavishing tax cut handout after handout on the rich and nobody sees a problem? "

Exactly! Welfare for the rich, yet where is that language in our esteemed party?

Where do you hear that in any of the debates?

Where are the news stories comparing the welfare for poor folk, and welfare for corporations and rich people?

AND, as I said, why do we keep putting up with it? Where is the outrage?

When I was doing a lot of research about homelessness, I found that there is at least

FIVE

times as much given to affluent people in terms of housing as there is to poor people!

YET, where is the DU activism about that?

Where are the marches about that?

Yet, just this week, I got ripped by a "progressive" here on DU because I reasonably question the concern of "progressives".

meh.