Charity Boxes

Helping those less fortunate is a practice that for some has been neglected. In modern society, people often live in large cities and do not personally know even those who live close to them. In a small town people are more likely to know their neighbors well, even if those neighbors live farther away than the neighbors of city dwellers. The sense of community experienced by people who are close to their neighbors is somewhat of a lost art. In ancient societies, often people took care of those in need, because they felt responsible for them. In those days, there were no government programs to help people. You helped your neighbor, and asked nothing in return, but you knew that if you needed it, they'd be there. Back then people often had more of a sense of dignity and personal integrity, and would sometimes refuse help even when they really needed it.

Today, with the distance that speed of living and modern conveniences such as private cars provides, people often seem to care less about their fellow man. Charity boxes exist to lessen this problem. A charity box is a container that collects either money or goods that will then be given to people who need it. Often organizations such as the Salvation Army will stage collections of goods, and the familiar bell of their coin collectors is a familiar sound outside grocery stores during the holidays.

Many charity boxes are plastic and sit near the cash register of large stores. People with extra change can leave it in the box. This benefits the cause and also frees people from carrying around annoying excess change. The problem with boxes like this is they simply do not collect much funding. More organized efforts such as angel tree charity programs are often more successful.