Private charity provides a safety net, not a way of life. Private charities are much more likely than government programs to offer individual counseling and monitoring rather than simply cut a check. Finally, and perhaps most important, private charity requires a different attitude on the part of both recipients and donors. Recipients learn that private charity is not an entitlement but a gift carrying reciprocal obligations. Donors learn that private charity demands they become directly involved.
True compassion depends on personal involvement.
Thus private charity is ennobling for everyone involved, both those who give and those who receive. Government welfare ennobles no one.