I was raised to believe that there very much is something wrong with accepting charity.

That it should only be a last resort, held for the most desperate times, and if you were in those terrible straights, your life focus should be to get out of it as quickly as possible, and to pay back everything you received and more.

Carus. https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/carus#Adjective

Dear. Beloved. Costly. Expensive. Valued.

Bingo. Look at the history of the concept of the "deserving poor". It's still very much alive and kicking, to the detriment of our societies.