The one who gave her money to charity didn't just give to the first charity she found. She first made sure the charity was doing a good job of fixing the problem. Every so often we must review programs that are supposed to fix problems to see if they're really helping, and get rid of them if they're not. Most of us are pretty much alike. We generally care about the same things.
Some people like to think they care more just because they favor government solutions to problems.
But you're smarter than that. Just because someone believes government isn't the best solution to a problem doesn't mean they care any less about the problem. They may have a better solution that doesn't require the government, or a government solution that will work better for less money. They might even believe that a government program will do more harm than good. Listen to their arguments.