Trouble on your doorstep (From East London and West Essex Guardian Series)

Trouble on your doorstep

5:05pm Tuesday 2nd December 2008

• Print
• Email
• Comments(2)

By Janet Wright »

There's a new doorstep-collection scam operating, and it's a bit smarter than the usual ones. I've just had a leaflet through my door requesting bags of clothes and bedding for the "Children's Welfare Foundation". This organization claims to “provide help and support for terminally ill babies and their families”. Brings tears to your eyes, doesn’t it? I would love to bring tears to their eyes, as this is a cynical con-trick.

We’re probably all used to leaflets asking for donations to Eastern European clothing companies, worded to look like a charity collection. Those are bad enough, as they’re simply businesses run by people who hate to see charity wasted on, er, charities, and have found a way of diverting some of it to themselves.

It’s a mistake to think it doesn’t matter who takes the bags you put out. Charities are noticing a serious drop in their income, due to bogus doorstep collections. Instead of helping people who need a hand, you’re supporting the people who rip them off. The scammers often arrange their collections for the same day as a genuine charity’s, so they can make a bit extra by picking up bags left for the real charity too. And because organized crime has its fingers in so many pies, you never know -- you may be even be helping to fund the crimes you hate most.

The organisers of the latest rip-off have the nerve to state "Not all collectors are charities! We are a registered charity." And they did indeed set up a “charity”. But there’s no evidence that the Children's Welfare Foundation has ever given any money to children. It was struck off the Charity Commission register in October 2008. It has been exposed several times, including in the national Guardian and the Daily Mirror. See http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/investigations/2008/01/dodgy-good-cause-childrens-wel.html or http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2007/aug/04/moneysupplement3 Everything that a conmen collects is stuff that could have gone to a genuine good cause. So please put your generosity to better use! The many charity shops in the High Street welcome donations. During opening hours only, please, because anything left outside the shops will be either stolen or scattered around, adding to the litter problem on our rarely swept streets.

Come to think of it, I’ve cleaned a lot of rubbish off the pavement outside my door since the council cut the street-cleaning services. Instead of dumping it in the bin, I’m tempted to leave it neatly bagged up for a bogus charity collector. In fact, the council’s latest mad idea is to do away with the dog-poo bins. No, no, don’t even think of it … When it comes to “the lowest of the low”, it takes a lot to displace councillors who close a community’s library (saving £70,000) while voting themselves a massive pay rise (£230,000).

But I think taking donations intended for dying children slips in just that little bit lower. "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead.

http://stjamesstlibrary.wordpress.com, www.keepourmuseumsopen.org.uk, www.antiscrap.co.uk/