FORUM

There was a collecte last weekend at my local supermarket: I guess that they are starting to gear up for Xmas. It’s strange how much more difficult it is to shop for complete strangers than it is for yourself.

If you’re a woman, think to buy personal hygiene products for women. Apparently men never think of them (obviously), and even women find them embarrassing. But they are needed as much as rice or pasta. My sister has been fingered to buy them (very discreetly) by the collectors, because she seems sympathetic and not shockable. More would probably help.

There was another collecte last week. They now put “produits d’hygeine feminineâ€￾ on the wanted list they give you going in. I bumped into one of their collectors while searching for disposable razors to donate (MCP as I am).

She helped me with that, and promptly confiscated a big bag of nappies from my caddy, saying that they already had enough. So I said “tell me about produits d’hygeine feminineâ€￾. It was hilarious. She took me to the gamme, and asked if they were for my partner. I said no, they’re for your clients. She still showed me a succession of possibilities: you could get those, or those, or those.... Eventually I said “c’est vous l’expertâ€￾, which could have been an awful gaffe, but we parted friends. And my selection seemed to meet with approval when I handed it in.

There is a serious point. If you are minded to give at all, think in a contrarian way. Lots of people give rice or pasta, and deserve unreserved gratitude. But few people buy little tins of sauce to eat with it, and even fewer buy bars of soap to use before and after. Second, ask the collectors what they need. They may be reluctant: they don’t want to dampen anyone’s enthusiasm. But if you buy some routine stuff, and then ask “what else do you need?â€￾ they are likely to open up.
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I am conscious that this may seem like (and be) “virtue signallingâ€￾. So be it, even if I regret that it’s necessary.

I think we get so few chances to give spontaneously to charity round here compared to the UK (collection boxes in supermarkets, banks, on the streets....) that when I come across a ‘collecte’ I always give cos I miss the satisfaction of handing over my copper or pièces jaunes. It’s such a small gesture tha5 can do so much good. I’ve never really understood why France is so règlemented where charitable giving is concerned.

I am involved every year with a collection for the Banque Alimentaire, admirably helped out the last time by Martyn and his sister.

Some years ago, I looked to see what were the most donated items. I was surprised to see it was a packet of powdered mashed potato, followed some way behind by a box of sugar cubes.

Recently, the Banque Alimentaire switched to handing out carrier bags which shoppers put purchased items into. This increased the number of items donated significantly.

Nowadays, pasta, rice and tinned cassoulet head the list.

Kate wrote:I think we get so few chances to give spontaneously to charity round here compared to the UK (collection boxes in supermarkets, banks, on the streets....) that when I come across a ‘collecte’ I always give cos I miss the satisfaction of handing over my copper or pièces jaunes. It’s such a small gesture tha5 can do so much good. I’ve never really understood why France is so règlemented where charitable giving is concerned.

It has been mentioned in the UK press recently that they were considering scrapping 1p and 2p coins because most were only used once and then put into piggy banks or thrown away.

The plan was ditched when it was pointed out that charities would lose out considerably.

I hardly ever use coins, and then only in the bakery or for buying newspapers.

I would love to be able to put the small change in a charity box, it is just a nuisance having to carry coins of so little worth.

Allan wrote:

Kate wrote:I think we get so few chances to give spontaneously to charity round here compared to the UK (collection boxes in supermarkets, banks, on the streets....) that when I come across a ‘collecte’ I always give cos I miss the satisfaction of handing over my copper or pièces jaunes. It’s such a small gesture tha5 can do so much good. I’ve never really understood why France is so règlemented where charitable giving is concerned.

It has been mentioned in the UK press recently that they were considering scrapping 1p and 2p coins because most were only used once and then put into piggy banks or thrown away.

The plan was ditched when it was pointed out that charities would lose out considerably.

I hardly ever use coins, and then only in the bakery or for buying newspapers.

I would love to be able to put the small change in a charity box, it is just a nuisance having to carry coins of so little worth.

I always wonder whether my former colleagues put stuff like that in the speech just to seem nice when they pull it 24 hours later. I never did anything like that, but then my heart was pure. And I wasn’t clever enough.

martyn94 wrote:

Allan wrote:

Kate wrote:I think we get so few chances to give spontaneously to charity round here compared to the UK (collection boxes in supermarkets, banks, on the streets....) that when I come across a ‘collecte’ I always give cos I miss the satisfaction of handing over my copper or pièces jaunes. It’s such a small gesture tha5 can do so much good. I’ve never really understood why France is so règlemented where charitable giving is concerned.

It has been mentioned in the UK press recently that they were considering scrapping 1p and 2p coins because most were only used once and then put into piggy banks or thrown away.

The plan was ditched when it was pointed out that charities would lose out considerably.

I hardly ever use coins, and then only in the bakery or for buying newspapers.

I would love to be able to put the small change in a charity box, it is just a nuisance having to carry coins of so little worth.

I always wonder whether my former colleagues put stuff like that in the speech just to seem nice when they pull it 24 hours later. I never did anything like that, but then my heart was pure. And I wasn’t clever enough.

And of course to soften us up for the idea that copper will disappear anyway when its use has diminished even further, even as gifts to charity. In, say, 2020 - the year they first thought of