Donations from a business. Any thoughts?

[janedoe]

Five months or so ago, a group called Food Donation Connection contacted the shelter I buy food for and asked if they wanted unused food from a restaurant which is part of a chain. The way it works is that the restaurant itemizes the donated food with Food Donation Connection for tax deduction purposes and Food Donation Connection takes part of that for their fee which offsets the cost of their efforts. I know for a fact that the tax deduction can be significant, depending on where your business tax bracket lands.

I offered to pick up the food. It was too far out for a lot of the people at the shelter and initially, the volunteer coordinator said no. But I negotiated a time with the restaurant (between breakfast and lunch - basically the dead time) and came by within that time frame.

At first, everyone was very nice and respectful. I was offered free drinks which I never took them up on. People helped me to the car. Everyone was helpful. We all said please and thank you. It's relevant to say that this is a notoriously faith based chain whose founder has published books on the importance of helping others. The atmosphere is so sanitized that the music is generic in an extreme effort to be unoffensive.

Then one of their higher up employees came over to me while I was waiting in a very public space and asked for help connecting with the shelter because she wasn't being paid enough to keep her apartment with her kids. I gave her the name of the placement contact.

The situation has deteriorated since. A couple of visits ago, someone pointed out to another employee that his mom used to work at the shelter and it was not a polite moment. The last time I went to pick up, the situation verged on hostile. I was completely ignored for about fifteen minutes. A woman on break who was playing games on her phone finally said to me, "I'm counting the minutes to see how long it takes for someone to help you." I said that they were busy and she said of one of the managers, "He's not. He's cleaning trays." Then there was a weird exchange between the two of them which ended in her saying to the manager, "You like me. I'm loyal."

Not sure what to do. Clearly, there's a bit of a war going on here. I strongly believe that the two events are connected. If I tell the volunteer coordinator, she'll tell me to ditch them. She is very concerned about my comfort level. And there are other restaurants to get food from. Olive Garden, for instance. Great for leftovers.

To be frank, it's free food (on the verge of expiration but still) but I'm not sure that it's worth it.

What would you do? Keep with it or move on?

[voodoo]

when it benefits others on the receiving end I never complained honestly...but every situation is different...go with your gut.

[labsnewfy]

I would get the Olive Garden donations into place and contact the management of the place your going to now letting them know you will no longer be able to pick up their food. They are getting the tax break, plus you are doing the work picking up the food at your expense not theirs. Would also think that management would like to know their employees need to learn a little humility and manners on their part as well, which is the reason for leaving.

[janedoe]

I ended up contacting the shelter. Apparently this is a fairly common occurrence either because people don't think that food should be donated or because they don't want to do the work to get the food packaged or prepared. Blaming the homeless for being homeless doesn't sit well when their coworker is involved either. I'm giving the restaurant one more shot. The shelter already has something set up with a pizza place.

[labsnewfy]

It is very sad the way some people think about those less fortunate.