Is this morally wrong?

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My SIL is in a bad situation. She’s on welfare, has a 5 month old baby and just found out she’s 5 weeks pregnant. After buying the baby’s formula she has no money left for groceries. She is signing up for free formula samples over the internet. Would it be wrong for me to sign up for free samples too, then give them to her? I have a baby too, but mine is breastfed.
I feel that it would be wrong to take a product I don’t need from the company, but on the other hand, I don’t want my pregnant SIL to go hungry…
(we’re working on getting her into low income housing, but it will take 1-3 months)
 
I do not wish to sound judgmental…so please do not consider anything I say as being said in that manner…OK? 🙂

It could be viewed that what you might do would be fraudulent. Whether or not anyone might pursue the issue remains to be seen, however, there are some other avenues of approach:

Has she looked into and applied for the WIC Program? Here is a link to it and information regarding it:

fns.usda.gov/wic/

If she is in poor financial condition and strapped for funds to purchase groceries for herself and her child there are other resources available. Possibly a local Catholic Parish has a Saint Vincent DePaul Society Chapter with a foodbank or can help her with some funds. I know that my Parish does, and the help is given without regard to a persons denomination. Additionally, some of the service clubs, like the Elks have ways of helping as well.

In these economic times, hardship is all too common, but there are people that can help her out. The WIC Program is not generally a one-time thing…it covers a period of time an will help her out for quite a while to guarantee that her baby gets nutritious foods and it will help alleviate her shortage of funds.

I hope that helps.

I’m sorry…I just noticed you are in Canada…does the Canadian government or the Province she lives in have any kind of program similar to the US WIC Program?
 
tapiocapudding said:
I feel that it would be wrong to take a product I don’t need from the company, but on the other hand, I don’t want my pregnant SIL to go hungry…
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It doesn’t seem to me that there would be anything wrong on the face of it. The free samples are, as far as I know, usually offered irrespective of the intended use. Usually there is only one stipulation: “One per household.” But, I think this only applies to the requester (in other words, one household shouldn’t request more than one). Once you make your one request, I don’t think there is anything prevent you from giving it away to your SIL, or to a charity for that matter.

But perhaps I am missing something?
 
Personally, I see nothing wrong with it. But I am not trained in apologetics. If I were faced with the same situation, I would do it. I am sorry your sister isn’t getting more help from the government. I know how little government assistance is. I hope she doesn’t have to go to the food bank. God Bless her and her children. She has my prayers.
 
She should speak with her ped about formula, switching between brands seems like a bad idea.

She should contact WIC, DHS and the local Saint Vincent de Paul.
 
I don’t see anything wrong with it. Just today, when I went to the store to buy lunch, I saw a homeless man outside a grocery store. So when I went in I bought two fruit bowls instead of one and gave the other one to him. I certainly didn’t need the fruit bowl, but he did.
But I suppose if your talking about welfare programs, that’s a different ball game. I would still not consider it morally wrong though. These goverment programs are not perfect, and it is the duty of good people like yourself to find ways to remedy or work around that to help those in need.

Is it morally wrong?

From a legal perspective, I wouldn’t know.

From a moral perspective, definately not.
 
apromisemade said:
I don’t see anything wrong with it. Just today, when I went to the store to buy lunch, I saw a homeless man outside a grocery store. So when I went in I bought two fruit bowls instead of one and gave the other one to him. I certainly didn’t need the fruit bowl, but he did.

From a moral perspective, definately not.
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What a very kind thing to do :).

And to tapiocapudding, no it’s not wrong. People request free samples all the time.
 
Thank you everyone.
For some more background info we would only be signing up for a free sample and coupons for the kind of formula her son takes so don’t worry about switching! Also, she frequents the food bank regularly but they only can afford to give people enough food for 4 days, once a month.
And unfortunately Canada has no program like WIC. We do get a year of paid mat leave but she was in highschool when she got pregnant.
Right now she lives with her boyfriend… they’re on again off again. If she were single she could stay at a home for unwed teen mothers for a while but she wants to try and salvage their relationship for the sake of the babies and I can totally understand that.
I’m trying to send her what I can for food but DH and I are pretty hard up right now too.
Hopefully things will improve for her and the babies soon. Prayers are of course appreciated!
 
If I lived in your area I’d like to come over with some groceries… :hug3:

Are there churches in your area where you could go for help? Or some charities that give out food boxes?

Kathrin
 
If the company is giving them out for free, I don’t see what’s wrong with it. If they have something saying “you must be the one that uses these free samples” then it might be wrong. But aside from that free is free, you aren’t stealing from them.
 
You could even call the company and ask them if it was ok, I would think they’d say yes…
 
tapiocapudding said:
My SIL is in a bad situation. She’s on welfare, has a 5 month old baby and just found out she’s 5 weeks pregnant. After buying the baby’s formula she has no money left for groceries. She is signing up for free formula samples over the internet. Would it be wrong for me to sign up for free samples too, then give them to her? I have a baby too, but mine is breastfed.
I feel that it would be wrong to take a product I don’t need from the company, but on the other hand, I don’t want my pregnant SIL to go hungry…
(we’re working on getting her into low income housing, but it will take 1-3 months)
Click to expand...
can she breastfeed?
 
tapiocapudding said:
My SIL is in a bad situation. She’s on welfare, has a 5 month old baby and just found out she’s 5 weeks pregnant. After buying the baby’s formula she has no money left for groceries. She is signing up for free formula samples over the internet. Would it be wrong for me to sign up for free samples too, then give them to her? I have a baby too, but mine is breastfed.
I feel that it would be wrong to take a product I don’t need from the company, but on the other hand, I don’t want my pregnant SIL to go hungry…
(we’re working on getting her into low income housing, but it will take 1-3 months)
Click to expand...
Yes, sign up to get the samples. They’re free anyway- so it’s not like you are stealing. If the company cares so much about who their free samples go to, they would want to see some evidence that the person sending for the formula uses it on their own dependent child. Besides, the company is not going to suffer financially because of this- if they were, they would stop offering the free samples in a second. Help your friend out…go ahead and sign up for the free samples.
 
Given that your SIL is pregnant again, relactating probably wouldn’t work out. However, please please please get her in touch with local breastfeeding resource people–La Leche League, Allaitement (sp?) Canada, somebody, because breastfeeding is really the only way to provide food security to an infant, and she needs to be prepared for when #2 is born.

I remember the horror and sadness I felt a few years ago in the formula aisle. I was recording prices for part of a national survey, and there came a very young mom, with a very young baby, and she had only two dollars to feed her baby that day. It’s tough to be hungry, but even tougher when you’re a baby and your brain development depends on getting enough calories.

That said, you as a nursing mom are a prime target for formula marketing. Moms who only bottlefeed statistically switch to whole milk at one year or even earlier. Moms who breastfeed, however, are much more likely to switch to formula when they wean, and to stay on it longer, spending more money on it in the long run. So you are likely to be the “lucky” recipient of a whole case of whatever.
 
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