Troopaid

[hc4361]

I've just had a charity bag through my door asking for donations.
Much as I admire all our service personnel I can't see the need for this charity - it provides injured personnel with basic essentials when they are taken to hospital.

https://troopaid.info

What's your thoughts?

[bednobs]

i also cant really see the need
Thousands of people get admitted to hospital daily without their brush and stuff but people either bring them in or buy them in the hospital shop

[sherrardk]

Presumably the personnel don’t get injured near to where their friends and family live. Saying that, you’d think the military could provide the basic essentials.

[shoota]

As Sher says, it's a stop gap for when they get injured in locations miles from their kit/families.
https://troopaid.info/the-grab-bag/

[Baldric]

Not a Charity I was ever aware of when I was in Service, however it is good to see the charitable attitudes of folk like hc, bednobs and sherrardk, heart warming stuff.

[hc4361]

I donate monthly to the Royal British Legion, SSAFA and Help for Heroes and get involved with fund raising initiatives where I can,
There is only so much money to go round and so many charities.

[aelmpvw]

it's possible you may have received one of these
https://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/11879282.dont-donate-fake-charity-bags-given-out-by-scammers/

[fiction-factory]

We get charity bags pushed through the door weekly and it seems to me most are not legitimate charities and at best will allocate a small proportion to the charity mentioned on the bag. The vans that collect are nearly always unmarked vans.

[ChillDoubt]

Whilst I don’t like to be sceptical about Forces charities it does seem a little odd given that when I served(and I’d hazard a guess that this goes for Baldric’s era too) pretty much all that kit in the ‘grab bag’ was usually kept in the kidney pouches of your CEMO webbing i.e. a full ration pack to sustain you for 24 hours in one pouch and wash/shaving kit/towel/boot brushes & ‘housewife’ in the other.
Soldiers reporting sick at the MRS in my unit had to be in possession of said kidney pouches upon arrival there, in case they were indeed hospitalised.
I doubt HM Forces has changed its policy to any great degree in that respect for the last 50-60 years.

[Mamyalynne]

If Troopaid are doing a fundraising campaign by having bags posted then it is fine, that much needs to be cleared up.

Link above makes it seem unlikely.

[hc4361]

I never put goods outside my home in charity bags even if I know the bag to be legitimate because there has been too many instances of thieving scumbags in vans beating the proper collectors to it and stealing the bags.

[fiction-factory]

After a few reports of scams and some experience of the collections being undertaken by young East Europeans in unmarked vans, and also reports of genuine charity collection bags being stolen by early morning gangs, I now choose my charities and request a large supply of bags and every few months will take bags to my charity or arrange a collection

[bednobs]

i am not uncharitable thanks baldric, I have a monthly donation to help for heroes. I just think that £30 for a bag of "essentials" which probably arent really even needed seems odd. Hospitals have soap, towels, shampoo, jim-jams, toothpaste/brushes and so on. Hospital shops have the rest!

[crapmemory]

I usually check the charity number on the bag. Go to the charity commission website, if it's legit the number and charity will be there.

[fiction-factory]

Some seem to say "supporting XYZ charity" though, crapmemeory, and don't seem to be organisedby the charity itself

[campbellking]

Not sure of the right or wrongs of this charity, but hospital shops do often have a huge mark-up on essentials (ours certainly does)

[hc4361]

crapmemory, those charity numbers can be falsely printed on the bags and marketing materials, as you say they are there on the internet for anyone to find.
The only way to be sure that the bag is genuine is to contact the charity directly (not using the info on the bag) and asking if they are doing bag drops in your postcode.
Even then there is no guarantee that the filled bag won't be stolen.

"Theft of filled bags is a major problem - costing charities £ millions each year. The key problem is the vulnerability of bags - they're on doorsteps, drives or public pavements for several hours, unsupervised, awaiting collection."

http://www.charitybags.org.uk/thefts_of_clothing_collection_bags.shtml

[hc4361]

You're right about the huge mark ups, campbellking. This is largely due to the very high cost of renting the shop space from the NHS or whoever owns the property.
Bring back the WRVS, I say.

"Bosses claimed the costs at hospitals were far higher, with longer opening hours and agreements with hospitals to hand over a percentage of sales, rather than paying ground rent....."

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/whsmith-accused-of-exploiting-vulnerable-patients-over-prices-in-its-hospital-stores-10470036.html

A shocking demand for rent from a charitable organisation here:

"Arrowe Park Hospital’s League of Friends group said it feared for its future if hospital bosses force it to pay rent of up to £80,000 a year.

The charity was founded in 1982 and its shop in the hospital foyer has since raised over £3million for vital medical equipment.

The ECHO understands the shop, which opens seven days a week, has always been allowed to operate rent free."

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/arrowe-park-hospitals-league-friends-13811545

[hc4361]

bednobs, it seems that Baldric has been very quick to jump to the wrong conclusions.

[Prudie]

The last time I put 2 charity bags outside filled with some very decent clothes they sat there for 3 days untaken and I had to bring them in. I now take my stuff directly to charity shops and use the bags as bin bags.