Another Money Grab? WWTPS

How can she be walking around a zoo if she’s on medical leave from a high risk pregnancy?

My guess is she had a zoo pass. For us, a zoo pass is way cheaper than paying each time we go.

I have to know someone well to participate in any of these money requests. Even then, I have a hard time with some of the requests.

Just vote for candidates that will pass a proper universal healthcare system bill. Stop crowdfunding your family's "special" needs and start putting money in the pot for all. I don't have kids nor will I have kids because of a personal choice but I'm happy to help pay for other people's children being born without any kind of social media followership/skin colour/middle class privilege bias.

Don't you love how Margie's sister is enumerating the long list of baby necessities because they can't hold a baby shower? I'm sorry but what? First of all, you were counting on an in-person baby shower (during a pandemic nonetheless) to fund your baby/babies' stuff? Secondly, are all the people you were planning on inviting "off the hook" now so you need to ask strangers on the interwebz to step up instead? This is emotional robbery. How many of those followers for who Starbucks is a rare treat will feel sympathy and throw in a few dollars? It's not fair. It's manipulative as hell.
If the daughter needs help with her medical bills, there are other solutions in the US (although, again, I stand for a system in which people don't go bankrupt or into debt over healthcare) that require vetting the file and checking the financial facts. If they can't afford baby car seats, I suggest Modest Needs, an awesome American charity that will vet their finances and approve an emergency loan to fund these car seats directly (money goes to the vendor/supplier, not the parents/grandparents' Venmo). And it's a TAX DEDUCTIBLE donation for the sponsor.

VENMO. IS. NOT. CHARITY. OR. PROPER. SOCIAL. FUNDING. Stop buying into these heartstring-pulling pleas, people. You are being taken advantage of.

Exactly. One of my former coworkers was out on medical leave for 2 months because he threw his back out at work moving something he shouldn't have been moving by himself. About 2 weeks from the end of his leave, he posted on social media photos of himself in Hawaii hiking and doing all kinds of things something with a back injury shouldn't have been doing. He was sued for fraud and got fired.
Long story short - DON'T POST PHOTOS ON SOCIAL MEDIA WHEN YOU'RE OUT ON MEDICAL LEAVE DOING STRENUOUS THINGS YOU BONEHEADS!

Our zoo has trams, (air and land), wheelchairs, and scooters.  I am not supporting the decision to fund her account, but as an avid zoo goer, I just see there are some options for a pregnant woman to get into and around safely at a zoo.  

I worked with teachers who didn't have sick days at the end of their career before they retired.  They requested other people's leave days when they got pregnant or had an emergency.  I had two maternity leaves, two parents' deaths, and other emergencies in my teaching career and I still ended up with 250 sick days at the end of my career.  I get people have to plan ahead.  I also shake my head at their requests.  

Well looks like she bought a huge bundle of used twin girl clothes.

Her daughter also posted it on her own IG.

I reported the post on instagram as scam/fraud because I'm petty like that.

Obviously I can't speak for everyone who is/was Mormon, but I wouldn't characterize Mormonism as prosperity gospel. I was an active member until my early 20s and now have been inactive for many years. I don't agree with the church on everything (obviously), but one thing I think they do right is preaching financial independence and the importance of saving. We were told that there were only two good reasons to go (willingly) into debt: college/education and a house. You'll notice that cars didn't even make that list, something that most people make payments for at some time in their life. (And to clarify, I don't think the view was that making payments on a modest, practical or used car was bad if you needed one, more that you shouldn't buy a brand new and/or extravagant car you can't afford outright.) In general, I've found that Mormons believe that their reward will be in heaven, not necessarily financial gain in this life.

In my experience, the Mormon community is incredibly giving when people have tough life experiences. For example, in my local ward (congregation), there was a family with 5 kids whose dad got cancer and it wasn't expected that he'd survive. The family wasn't poor but they also didn't have a lot of disposable income. Somehow the ward coordinated the family taking a trip and while the family was gone over a weekend, they went in and remodeled their house (repainted, recarpeted, etc) all on their own dime and with many volunteers from the church. (We had several members of our ward who were general contractors, so it wasn't like these were slapdash jobs either, it was very professionally done. Funnily enough, as I've gotten older, I sometimes think back to that event as an adult and how much I'd hate for someone to come in and change my apartment/home without permission...but that doesn't change the huge generosity of the act.)

However, what I will say is that Mormon culture (not religion) can be very keeping-up-with-the-Joneses in a weird way and I can't even imagine how it's intensified in the age of social media. I think this was especially true for Mormon women because there's an expectation of women being homemakers, beautifying their surroundings and being a perfect mother. In my experience, it was less about having designer brands/big houses and more about how welcoming/pretty you could make the house, even if it's because you're thrifting items and making them over.

So in sum, I can see the experience of the Mormon community being expected to help others + the need for Mormon women to have the "perfect" home and motherhood = these sorts of pleas being seen as normal.

She’s obviously not embarrassed because she posted it on her own IG. So tacky.

I believe this was brought up in the DL thread, too. Without confirmation from the recipients, there's no way to know. However, since everything about these pleas are shady AF, I'd be keeping my mouth shut if I was double dipping.

Several years ago, I had met with the priest at our local church (Catholic). I had talked to him on and off over the years. I mentioned, just as an example, an issue I was having with my insurance and a medicine I have taken for years, (still do), and all of a sudden there would be an issue with them covering it. He told me that the parish could help us. That was what the weekly church envelopes were for, to be able to assist parishioners as and when. I was mortified. I remember stuttering something to the effect of "that's not why I mentioned it. I'm just talking about my problems. I don't want it..." He had dealt with me trying to accept help from my husband of all people years ago and knew my mind. I just couldn't in good conscience. The insurance issue worked itself out. So maybe they are supposed to help. But like say, this was Catholic.

We needed some help with a medical bill we couldn't get a payment plan for. They wanted it now. Our church knew we were struggling, asked dh to come in and offered some help.

No one but the head and financial person knew we were helped.

She made her account private.