You may already be a winner

August 10, 2011 8:32 AM

So I won the Irish sweepstakes...

An Irish theater group asked to use one of my short pieces. I said yes, and asked as payment a lottery ticket. I received one, the scratch-off kind. I won 5 Euros.
Since I live in Puerto Rico I'm not going to head to Ireland to cash this in. In fact, even if I sent it by registered mail there and received a check for 5 Euros, it would be marginally worth the trouble.
I thought about sending it to a charity in Ireland, but it would be like sending cash in the mail. Nothing to be certain the person opening the envelope wouldn't take it.
Any options?

posted by dances_with_sneetches to work & money (6 answers total)

My experience with most charities would suggest that the people working there are not terribly likely to steal donor mail.
posted by Jairus at 8:35 AM on August 10, 2011

You won 5 Euros? Five? As in, well under $10 US? Put it in your scrapbook and file it away as a neat memory. This is one of those quirky stories your great grand kids will enjoy coming across when they go through your things after you die.
posted by phunniemee at 8:40 AM on August 10, 2011 [3 favorites]

Nothing to be certain the person opening the envelope wouldn't take it.

Well, considering the tiny amount, that is still technically donating to the charity. You'd just be doing it directly into the overhead costs.
posted by griphus at 8:43 AM on August 10, 2011

Any suggestion of Irish charities? I think they have to be located in Ireland to make cashing the ticket easy.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 8:49 AM on August 10, 2011

One good Irish charity, Concern, operates worldwide, and I've noticed they're often first in when there's some kind of famine. (Which makes total sense, if you think about it.)

And the small amount would also be strangely poetic -- a little-known event from the days of the Irish Famine concerns a donation that the Choctaw Nation made to Irish Famine relief. The dollar amount on that donation only came a few hundred bucks, but when you consider that they had just walked The Trail Of Tears a few years before, it was pretty amazing. Many Irish were profoundly touched, and during the 150th anniversary observances of the Famine a few years back, some Irish chose to honor that donation by walking the Trail of Tears in tribute. Ireland's president also paid a visit of thanks.

If you think about it, I bet that money was made up of a lot of individual donations of about five bucks or less. I think Concern would be perfect (although, I'd throw in a little more money just because).
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:10 AM on August 10, 2011 [15 favorites]

I am in Ireland. If you send it to me I will give it to a charity. Or give cash equivalent to a charity. OR you can keep it as a memento and I will just give 5 euro to the charity of your choice?

But I don't see how a charity envelope opener is more likely to take it than, say, any other kind of donation. My friend did this work and his whole job was opening envelopes of things he could steal all day. But it was his job, and he was there to help the charity, so he didn't.

Concern, definitely. Good choice.
posted by distorte at 3:13 AM on August 11, 2011