Charity guerrillas

We've probably all met one of them recently, especially those of us in bigger towns and cities.

Yep, I'm talking about those guys and girls who stop you up in the street looking for charitable donations. ‘Charity Guerrillas', I call them, or ‘Chuggers', as some more normal people call them!

Until recently, these guys used to wear really bright jackets, emblazoned with the logo of their charity, while they stopped people on the streets of Ireland. At least you could see canary yellow jackets ahead, and avoid them accordingly. But now, they've become urban guerrillas, wearing less noticeable clothing, suddenly emerging from the crowd into your path in search of money.

Admittedly, I'm not the best person to approach for money. I don't have much and I hold what I have. But the main reasons they get the usual ‘I'm not interested' response from me are:

One, I don't want to be stopped on the street while going about my business. Apart from it being very rude to physically block someone from moving on, its just more hassle in my daily life, having to listen to a breathless, off-by-heart account of the particular charity, while nodding and smiling. What's even more annoying is that any question I ask about where this money goes is always answered with an exact repeat of what they just said, or occasionally, ‘it's in the leaflet'. No, it's not. That's why I'm asking!

Secondly, just to show that these people have no manners or apparent respect for your request to be left alone, they will follow you in pursuit of your money. On one occasion, a girl collecting for a homeless charity followed me right down Henry Street in Dublin. I told her that I wasn't interested, and that I had no money to spare…at least 10 times! Unperturbed, she was adamant that no one went to Henry Street without money. That's true, I had just enough for my lunch and my train fare home. I informed her of this, and told her that if she didn't stop following me I'd get the cops. It's obvious that there's no lesson on manners or good behaviour during their training.

Thirdly, I really don't feel comfortable handing over my bank account details to a complete stranger working for a charity I've never heard of, whether or not they provide identification. The fact they barely disguise their eagerness to get your bank account number only make it worse. It's unsettling, I always feel like I'm being railroaded into giving, and there's only a vague explanation of where it's all going.

I appeal to any charity representatives reading this to call off this mercenary campaign. The sheer bad manners and pushiness of your representatives out on the street are turning people against charity, giving the impression that your just trying to grab money by any means.

And while I realise that charities rely almost solely on donations, charity is defined as giving, usually out of the goodness of your heart, not being guilt tripped and railroaded into giving by someone on the street. Instead of hiring these people, why not set up website donations, text donation systems, stalls on the streets, or charity events?

Advertise in banks and credit unions telling customers how easy it would be to make a direct payment there and then? Almost anything would be better than being physically stopped against your will, while going about your business, or being followed down the street.

By: Andrew Gibbons

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