The lock on a donation box protects generosity from someone else’s immediate need.

Generosity intended for one purpose has to be protected from another. The lock exists because someone in genuine need might take what was meant for a different need, and the situation has no villain in it, only two claims with no way to negotiate. Care requires structure precisely because need is real.

Which is worth remembering before judging any arrangement that looks harsh. Ask what the rule is protecting and from what. And ask, occasionally, whether the immediate need standing outside the box is one you could meet directly, since the person in front of you is a claim that no policy answers.