Why dumbasses with lots of money should not be philanthropists...

[AFK]

The homeless shelter tangent in the Pics thread reminded me of this story I saw over the weekend:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/12/30/national/main6037922.shtml

There was something special on the menu at a New York soup kitchen Thursday.

Those eating lunch at the Broadway Community Inc. facility in Manhattan got a taste of the luxury life, thanks to a gift of caviar from an anonymous donor.

The caviar was served along with sour cream and egg whites and yolks and chives on cornmeal blinis. About 150 people showed up for lunch.

Chef Michael Ennes of Broadway Community Inc., told CBS News correspondent Kelly Wallace when he heard of the caviar donation, he thought, "'Yeah, right.'"

However, when Ennes realized the donation was for real, he had to ensure everyone got a taste of the delicacy.

...

Though the $1,100 value of the caviar could have covered more meals for the needy, it was the experience that was priceless.

Yeah I know, "at least it's the thought that counts".  I'm sure it was quite an experience for the few people who got to munch on a dab of fish eggs, but come on.  How much food could that $1100 have bought to feed the 150 odd people at that soup kitchen?  Uncle or Auntie Moneybags should have at least kicked in another $1100 and bought some real food with substance that would've actually filled their stomachs to go along with the teaspoon of appetizer.  Stupid people with money should just stick to the basics.  Fill out a check, drop it in the box, and move on.  You fuck it up when you start trying to be clever. 

[Iason Ouabache]

$1000 caviar for the homeless.  BECAUSE THE FREE MARKET DEMANDS IT!!!

[Elder Iptuous]

I find it hillarious.
and i find your reaction equally hillarious.
since it was an anonymous donation, i guess we cant find out the motivation, but perhaps there was a local source with a surplus that had to be moved?
or perhaps someone just wanted to donate in some different way to make a different type of impact.
according to the link you give
...
Michelle Seliem and her 8-year-old daughter -- who have been living in a domestic violence shelter for five years -- loved it.
...
Hosna Seliem told Wallace, "I felt like a princess."

oh well....
can't please everybody.

[Darth Cupcake]

But shelters/soup kitchens aren't there to make people feel like princesses. They're there to help keep people from starving to death and let them use their meager resources to get a better life--get a job, find a home, etc.

It would be GREAT if shelters and soup kitchens had enough that we could all feel warm and fuzzy about a donation of caviar. But honestly, that grand could've made a real difference in the kitchen's bottom line and really helped them serve more people in need.

I'm sure a homeless lady would just LOVE a pair of designer stiletto sandals. And she will continue to love them, even while her toes are falling off from frostbite. Just because something is NICE doesn't make it HELPFUL.

[AFK]

I don't fault whoever donated the caviar for their intentions.  Certainly, the heart was in the right place, but the mind, imo, was not.  Let's also think about the denizens who didn't get any of the caviar.  How could that $1100 have benefited them if spent on more (pardon the pun) pedestrian food stuffs.  What kind of ill-will and negativity might be engendered in the homeless community because some people got to eat some expensive fish eggs while the rest were stuck with the usual.  In the current economy, lots of services like soup kitchens are in jeoapardy.  They need money, not luxuries.   

[Richter]

This donor has just done a nice thing, and caused quite a bit of editorial hoo haa in the process.  That's the kind of troll only $1000 can buy 

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

While I see your point, there's no way of knowing why the donor chose to give caviar, or whether the anonymous donor also gave money for more practical food. For all anyone knows, it could have been left over from a party. They may have just been clearing their cupboards.

On the other hand, being rich does seem to make people retarded.

I really need to tap into the stupid-rich market.

[Triple Zero]

What Richter said, I can't imagine this anonymous person not anticipating this exact reaction, so it kind of makes me wonder whether they did it for the "lulz" of it?

[Elder Iptuous]

Kallisti brand caviar....

...Just because something is NICE doesn't make it HELPFUL.

I disagree.
when in a dejected situation, a luxury can do wonders for the spirit.

following your logic, the shelters should serve nothing but nutritious gruel that has the lowest cost/nutrition, but they don't.  they make some compromises and try to serve decently nutritious food, that also tastes decent.  And on holidays, they will splurge and have a fancier holiday meal.  Why do they do that?  Is that a bad move?

[Richter]

Exactly.  Just because you live on charity doesn't mean you shoudl be sentenced to a life of cheap, flavorless NUTRI-GRUEL.  Not that everyone has RIGHt to get luxury products, but they still deserve to be treated like people.

[AFK]

Of course, there is a continuum between NUTRI-GRUEL and Caviar. 

[Darth Cupcake]

Kallisti brand caviar....

...Just because something is NICE doesn't make it HELPFUL.

I disagree.
when in a dejected situation, a luxury can do wonders for the spirit.

following your logic, the shelters should serve nothing but nutritious gruel that has the lowest cost/nutrition, but they don't.  they make some compromises and try to serve decently nutritious food, that also tastes decent.  And on holidays, they will splurge and have a fancier holiday meal.  Why do they do that?  Is that a bad move?

I concur that a luxury can help boost the spirit. However, need it be of the extremity of caviar? There are degrees of luxuriousness that I am fairly certain can still boost the spirit and be less wasteful.

Lowest-cost-while-still-nutritious gruel isn't used, I would hypothesize, because you start to feel subhuman if you don't have real, normal food. It's good to continue to treat visitors of shelters/soup kitchens like they are actual people.

However, as RWHN observed, soup kitchens and shelters are suffering from budget cuts and funding shortages that place them in danger of ceasing to exist. In that case, need for the regular kind of food they serve is greater than the need for caviar. And I imagine that most people who rely on that soup kitchen for meals would probably agree that they'd rather that the soup kitchen continue to exist than that they have a nibble of caviar.

Again, as RWHN said, the donor's heart was hardly in the wrong place. It's not like he or she did something BAD. It's not WRONG. It's just saddening that we have so many services like soup kitchens and shelters, that are so desperately needed right now, suffering from huge financial woes, and then having a donation that, while very sweet, isn't going to help keep them afloat.

[Elder Iptuous]

Like Nigel said, though, we don't know whether that caviar would have otherwise been thrown out, and we also don't know whether the donor didn't also give cold cash...

[Darth Cupcake]

Like Nigel said, though, we don't know whether that caviar would have otherwise been thrown out, and we also don't know whether the donor didn't also give cold cash...

It's true. The list of things I don't know is goddamn ENORMOUS.

[AFK]

The donation with the $1100 value was going to be a finite experience, obviously.  But when it is Caviar, it's basically limited to a tiny teaspoon serving.  Now, if you spent that $1100 on say on ingredients that could spice-up, or upgrade the already existing menu, that would last a bit longer and give a more sustained experience.  So, maybe instead of having a plain-ole chicken patty on a store-brand hamburger bun, you get to experience chicken parmesan on a whole-wheat roll for a few weeks.  Or maybe the soup kitchen could've used that $1100 to purchase some appliances that would've allowed them to expand their menu. 

Now, maybe it was some caviar supplier who wrote off a can and dropped it off at the soup kitchen.  I'm suspect that is the case as there are very few businesses, in my experience, that will donate anything to any charity and NOT want their name attached.  But even then, the company could've afforded to make the $1100 donation in the form of a check.