Stephanie, I would tend to agree. I worked at a charitable organization for
many years before starting my career in librarianship, and I can tell you we
dreaded Mondays when cars loaded with junk that people couldn't even sell at
a yard sale for a quarter was donated to us. And then these "donors" had
the nerve to ask us for a receipt for tax purposes. (The absolute worst? The
nickel and dime stickers still on the items.)
At the very least, if you are going to donate books (or anything) to a
charity, donate ALL of them, the best with the lesser. And most ideally...let the
charity choose the books they are sure they can use/sell and take the rest
away for them. And call ahead!
I watched people walk away from our door for 20 years with that smug "aren't
I a good person" look on their face, knowing we would have to send almost
everything to the landfill later in the week (and pay extra for it), but we
weren't allowed to turn anything down because those same people would turn on us
like rabid dogs and put out the word that we wouldn't accept their
"treasures".
The most conscientious donors called ahead; let us choose from their items;
didn't take rejection personally, because their interest was in what they
could do for us, not what we could do for them; and (except for rare cases of a
substantial cash donation) never asked for a receipt for tax purposes.
Bottom line: think carefully before donating to charities. They need help,
not leftovers.
Steve Patnode
Grades 7-12 SLMS
Chazy Central Rural School
Chazy, NY 12921
sun85@aol.com
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