The undutiful charity - Writing Wednesday
Hello everybody and welcome back to another blog post,
Unfortunately, on Monday, something rather shocking and outrageous happened to me and my friends whilst we were in school. Me, Maia, and Teresa had all received an email from the manager of Project 21, the charity that supports people with Down's Syndrome, announcing the termination of our employment with them. I don't like to name and shame, or talk badly about anyone, but since I have been referring to Project 21 in my blog posts in the past, as I have been keeping you guys updated on my progress fundraising for Tanzania, I thought that I might as well just be open with who actually fired all three of us from our jobs which we all genuinely loved. I don't like to use the term fired because that would give connotations to us actually doing something egregiously wrong, which we did not do. But I shall use the term fired because it seems as though this charity, which I thought had people's best interest at heart, believed we were in fact doing something wrong.
Basically, last weekend, I was supposed to be going to Project 21 on that Saturday morning but I had to inform the manager a couple days prior that this was not possible. This was because the dance teacher, who could take me, Maia, and Teresa in, could not take us all back as she was having lunch with her parents in Soham that Saturday. The backup plan in situations such as this would have been my dad and to be honest, he would have normally taken me instead of the dance teacher anyway, but on this one occaision he was picking up my mum from Heathrow Airport, after she had returned home from Réunion. I asked my manager if it would be possible to ask the parents of the members who attend the classes, to kindly provide us a lift back but she responded saying that she didn't think it was appropriate to do so, which I thought was fair enough as it was a safeguarding risk. But I decided not to go as I didn't want to ask parents and it was a bit unreasonable to just be expected to hitchhike or get public transport back, especially when Soham is in the middle of nowhere and not close to Cambridge, where me, Maia, and Teresa live. Bottisham, where the charity used to be situated, would have been more reasonable but the charity moved to a more distant destination and didn't make concessions for the one week that there were issues. Against my advice, Maia and Teresa did decide to go as they are good people, that wanted to do their job and they got lifts back by the parents, but the whole time, I remained at home. I had a sleepover with Maia and Teresa the Friday night before our usual shift and the dance teacher came to pick them up, but I got the bus back home instead.
Then on Monday, we all recieve emails from Project 21 saying that despite all our hard work and enthusiasm during our time there, we've been fired because apparently on the whole, we have failed to organise appropriate transport of our own when it has been explicit that this was needed (even though it wasn't), and asking for lifts from clients is wrong. Even though transport was an issue just for this one occaision. Plus on top of that, I was asked by my manager to refund the charity £22, which was money that they accidentally gave to me for the week that I wasn't there. Did I give them the money? No I did not because they should have paid more attention to my attendance and been more careful with the days that I should get paid. Furthermore, for a charity to demand tithes off of the people who have supported them so dearly, despite the difficulties in even making it to work, makes them who are the ones that are egregiously wrong. Do I agree with Maia and Teresa's decision to go against our employer's advice and get lifts with the parents back home? I understand their decision because I can understand wanting to help people with Down's Syndrome. But they should have perhaps stayed at home too because it was a safeguarding issue. Nevertheless, that doesn't mean that they should have gotten fired. Maia is from Italy and Teresa is from Poland, something that everyone at the charity was already aware of. They should have been informed of the rules from the very beginning, especially as they are adjusting to British culture and customs. Were they informed though? I certainly wasn't informed of the rules in the beginning, so I doubt that they were informed either.
To attack three young 17 and 18 year old girls, two of which are foreign nationals, in such a petty, narcissistic, culturally insensitive, and passive aggressive manner, is totally disgusting. Maia and Teresa both were there in person for the class on Saturday. If the charity was going to lay people off, they had the opportunity to do so then in an honest and dutiful way. But instead we were all told via email that everything was finished, without any notice, so the manager chose to hide behind her keyboard instead. Moreover, she copied and pasted the same email, except for the part about the money, and sent it to all of us, acting as though it was the same exact story for everyone. Sorry, but I did not go into a parent's car. I stayed at home because I didn't want to cause any unnecessary trouble, yet somehow trouble still met me at the door. Either way, I did one thing and Maia and Teresa as individuals with sound minds, chose to do the opposite and we were all punished. This suggests to me that there was no way to win anyway and the charity wanted us gone. We are young, my manager knew our ages, so she knew that she could get away with sending such an email.
Last year, during the 2021 UK lockdown, I was volunteering at Project 21 and I was supporting the students in the classes that were taking place online via Microsoft Teams. I wasn't paid because it was a difficult economic time period and to be honest, I just wanted to help out what I thought was a good cause and gain some extra experience. I was promised that when the lockdown was over, I would get paid but even for a month after the lockdown was over, my manager was reluctant to pay me. Thankfully, I did get a good pay afterwards but after seeing how the charity behaved towards me and my friends, I can see how this attitude was present from the very beginning, I just tried my best to ignore it for a year I guess. However, this was another reason why I withheld the refund because I thought that for all the work I have done for the charity, they did not deserve to get their money back. Me, Maia, and Teresa's attendance to the classes has also been impeccable throughout the whole time we worked there, despite all three of us taking an incredibly demanding IB course at sixth form. So yet another reason why the charity didn't deserve the money.
To deal with the situation, my dad sent a formal complaint in the form of a letter to the main manager of the charity, as well as the charity committee, so that any responses to the letter would be seen by a wider body of people. He mentioned everything I have just said and he defended Maia and Teresa, who didn't have their families in the country to defend them. He also mentioned at the end of the email that the £22 will be given to the charity as a farewell donation; he said that it is sitting on his desk in the form of cash for the manager to collect. Will they actually collect it? Of course not because my manager wants to hide behind her keyboard and not face the people she treated so badly.
How is a charity acting in such a way? That is a question I cannot answer. I would have thought a charity would have had its staff's, as well as its client's, best interest at heart but clearly not. This has been an unfortunate situation for my fundraising but I don't want to support an organisation that treats people like this. It's a blessing in disguise that I have been asked to leave really.
Have you ever been in difficult situations at work? Let me know in the comments below and I'll be sure to reply to them. I ♡ hearing from you!
This is wrong on so many levels. You and your friends were not treated fairly. I'm so glad your father wrote to them. And as you said, this may be a blessing in disguise. I hope you find something else to do that is closer and interesting for you.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much! 💜 I'm glad you can see the issues too.
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