Glad-rags hide underlying problems

Thousands of people gathered for Christmas dinner provided by the Auckland City Mission. Photo / Greg Bowker

Should charity be extended to people who own valuable possessions - nice clothes, a car or even a house?

The sight of seemingly well-off guests arriving for a free Christmas lunch sparked criticism about such charity, including from a passerby, but Herald readers on low incomes say there is a lot more to their plight than surface appearances.

Ngaire, who asked that her surname be withheld to avoid embarrassment for her family, said she attended the Auckland City Mission Christmas Dinner for the first time on an invitation from the Auckland Single Parents Trust.

"I'm eligible because of low income, but even so I still phoned the Mission and asked if I was going to be taking a place from someone who needed it more and they assured me I wouldn't," she said.

"I turned up in a decent car (not late model, but one my father has financed for me) and wore my best clothes (not label, but dressy) and nice jewellery as that's what I've been taught to do on special occasions."

She had bought the clothes and jewellery before her daughter was born, when she was still earning a wage.

"I behaved well, chatted to strangers and was very grateful indeed for all that was done. I saw a lot of gratitude from other people too," she said.

"I'm not homeless, desperate, loveless or ungrateful but please, Random Passerby, don't judge the attendees by appearance as you just don't know their story."

If she could have spent the day with her family she would have, she said. "And I hope that if I ever attend this event again it'll be as a volunteer."

Anne Johnstone, 59, said she had a house, a good car and nice clothes in her wardrobe, but she still struggled financially because of poor health.

"Because of the low benefit rate I have to juggle everything; going out socially is no longer an option because I simply cannot afford it.

"I own my own home and have thought of selling it, but what would that achieve? Nothing - you still have to live somewhere, and paying someone else's mortgage is not an option for me. I am 59 and my health problems are here to stay.

"So clothes and chattels do not tell the full story of someone's plight."

Media commentator Brian Edwards said he was a volunteer at the lunch and saw guests going out of their way to express their appreciation.

"[The original complainant] seems to think that poor or lonely people should identify themselves by dressing like tramps; they should take no pride in their appearance, not even when they are invited out to lunch on Christmas Day. How sad," Dr Edwards and his wife Judy Callingham wrote in a letter to the Herald.

St Matthew-in-the-City priest associate Clay Nelson said he was distressed by people who judged the poor as if they were cursed or had moral failings to blame for their lot.

"Their lives are made smaller and more resentful by holding those attitudes. They are the ones I feel bad for - I'm glad I'm not in their skin because I wouldn't want to walk out there in their world."