Part of comfy self-excuse for sure. And then burn the money on junk food, legal or illegal drugs or worse.

Why should somebody donate to somebody else's luxuries if they could spend it on their own luxuries?

Anyway, yes, direct donation is always better, be it to some random guy down on his luck in the street (unless they have just missed their bus and need ticket money for the next one and so for 3 years in the same bus station) or to some trusted person/group who actually does deliver the stuff to the area. Way too many random NGOs have popped up in Europe promising to do good things, just transfer money to their bank account and they will take care of it all for you.