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Where does charity begin?

Raz

Raz

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Joined
Aug 11, 2002
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In an igloo made of asbestos and chicken-wire.
This is something I've been wondering about...

For those of the bl population who donate or are in some way involved with charities and non-profit organisations, what brought this about?

For example, one of my nephews died of SIDS so I always buy a red nose on red nose day--there's a personal connection there.
As a sexually active gay man, AIDS is something else that is a constant in my life, so I give to HIV charities...

On the other hand, I also donate money to Greenpeace sometimes, and it's not like I love trees so much. I grew up in the inner city, I could probably quite happily exist never seeing the natural environment and it's not like I'm having kids anytime soon, so I'm not doing it for them...but I do think it's important to help preserve the environment, even though I've never had any real personal connection with environmental issues.
Ditto with refugees. I've never had a lot of personal interaction with refugees, but I want to help them because I see it as an important social justice issue.

Hopefully, all of the above makes sense. So, what kind of causes do you support...and is it because of something which has affected you personally in your life, or just generally due to how your principles direct you to act?
 
Hey....
I volunteer my time at the Lions Village Licola, a children's camp that runs every school holidays to give disadvantaged kids in our community a break from their otherwise pretty depressing lives.
I do it because I enjoy it...the people that volunteer up there come from all walks of life, and are truly inspirational in their positive attitudes. We're always looking for volunteers to give up a week of their lives, so if you're interested in coming up in January, email me on [email protected] (thanks Raz for giving me the opportunity to shamelessly plug my cause!!)

I give money to Save The Children and Scope (formerly the Spastic Society)....bout 30 bucks a month each. Originally I did it because I could afford it, and I knew they were doing some great work. Now I really can't afford it, but I figure that it's money I'd be paying in tax to the gov't...and I really don't miss it anymore.

I don't do these things because of personal experience...I've been lucky enough to have sailed through life without any significant hardship, but I think I'm a fairly caring person who doesn't cope well with sitting and doing nothing.

I also volunteered my time for the ALP during the election...but that was for purely selfish reasons (ie. the offer of a job as an electoral officer if a certain candidate had won...which she didn't :(

So yeah kids...come to Licola!!
 
My grandmother - like hundreds australia and world wide died of breast cancer, so i give to cancer foundations and i wear my pink ribbon proudly. i give to amnesty international as well because i don't support war, but i would like to support those affected by it.
i try and give my change when ever i can, just because i know that i'll only spend a few dollars on something trivial like a fanta or some gum - but it's the huge amount of little things that make the big things happen.
i can't say i activly seek out charaties other than breast cancer - but i like to give my money when i can. hell i'll just waste it anyway, maybe my $3.75 will the the test tube that the cure for MS resides in?!
 
My parents always donated to greenpeace, and I've always been big on social issues and the like. I joined up with Oxfam and the wilderness society after I left home and give them a small portion of my income each month.
I donate to Oxfam because I want to help people in developing countries and I don't believe people should have to starve in this day and age. The Wilderness society helps protect the natural environment, of which I am very fond so thats all good. It also helps me fend off their recruiters who seem to be everywhere.
 
I donate to all the kids' charities, mostly because I'd like to think that other people would be donating if my kids ever needed to be a part of them (like the Starlight Foundation and the Children's Hospital).

I donate to the Epilepsy Foundation because my aunt has epilepsy. I donate to SIDS research because it's such a sad thing and it should bugger off.

I donate to breast, ovarian and uterine cancer research. I'm not sure exactly why I feel more inclined to donate to those particular cancers, but I guess it has something to do with women being able to continue to feel like women. And my mum had uterine cancer.

I donate to just about all the animal foundations, just because I love animals and I hate animal abuse.

I usually buy the badges and pens and things at the supermarket for things like juvenile diabetes (those cute little jellybean guys) and Daffodil Day, because it makes me feel better about my day if I spend a few dollars for a cause.

So yeah, "my" charities are kids, women's health and animals, because those are the things that are most important to me :)
 
chairty should not be about donating money or giving items to organised charities...



charity starts at doing good for a fellow person who (in your opinion) has things worse off than you are.... (afterall, who is to say that the guy who lives below the poverty line is less happy than you are... afterall, i know i was a lot happier many years ago when i did not have the worry of a mortgage, bills and general life direction worries..)

charity starts when you help a mate move house cause he cant afford a removalist... charity is minding your sisters kids so she can have a night out with her friends... charity charity is giving to a homeless man...


my personal charity work - i used to do summer camps for kids (leader - check your PMs) and i will always donate to the starlight foundation, cause they made a friends last months on earth pleasurable by creating a bird avery for him...


but the most important thing to remember, is that charity is not always tax deductable.......... (think about it..)
 
I've had 2 very close friends die from cancer so I sometimes donate to that when given the chance. And I donate blood to the red cross when I can to (I think I have donated about 8 times in total). There is no personal reason why I donate the blood, I just do it to help out, good karma.
 
I basically refuse to give money to any charity.

I just figure that I do stuff in my own way and I hold my head up high.

I have always until recently been part of volunteer groups of one sort or another.

But now I basically spend my hard earned helping my mates.

I will however chuck coins into any good buskers basket.......Im a sucker for the didg.

Other than that I dont give a cent.

No prick gave a shit about me when I was down other than the odd mate or two.

So Fuck all of them.

I see people on this board that I would much rather give a helping hand to.
 
I'm pretty passionate about organ donation.... not sure why really... when I worked at a newspaper in Shepparton a good friend of mine decided to start a group called the Goulburn Valley Organ Donors Society, and roped me into being involved. I wasn't that fussed about it at first, but the more I learned about it the more passionate I became. I can't believe not everyone is signed up - it's such a simple thing to do and yet Australia has the lowest rates of organ donation in the world. I would hope if I ever needed a new liver or lungs (which is highly possible ;) ) I would not be left waiting, dying, for five years or more... or worse, die waiting like so many do.

The other cause I regularly donate money to is the Lost Dogs Home. I get $10 direct debited out of my bank account each month. It's not much, but it's something, and I intend to bump it up once all my personal debts are cleared. They sent me a letter with stories about abused little puppy dogs and cats, and how the cause desperately needed help to save them, and well.... I'm a sucker for little furry critters =D
 
Oh I forgot... disadvantaged kids is another area of interest of mine.

Several years ago I spearheaded a project to create a calendar to sell to raise money for our local outreach centre in Shepparton... it was called the 'Smile' project and featured drawings from local primary school kids about "what makes me happy". The drawings were judged at a local fete and the winning twelve were published in the calendar. It didn't raise much money but at least I tried.

And my ex-partner and I set up a youth theatre company called S.K.I.T (Shepparton Kids In Theatre) which encouraged disadvantaged youth to join in in areas like backstage, set design and painting, as well as on stage... we had 100 kids in our production of Labrynith in 1999. We even had disabled kids on stage. The company is still going, 8 years later.

Haven't done anything even vaguely community-orientated for over 4 years now, my focus has kind of changed a bit.... but it was pretty rewarding back then.
 
friends and family..... thats pretty much it..... i know alot of u will say "if everyone helped everyone we would be better off" and that may be true, but its never going to happen, so i try to look after mates and family whenever they need a hand and thats it.... i dont really believe money is spent on who most charities say it will be either, so that probably contributes to my unwillingness to dole out money.... i cant afford that anyway, if i wasnt living at home i would probably be in need of charity

like mazdan, whenever i have a problem, nobody gives a shit except my family and my close friends, so i try to help them when they are in need
 
i'll ALWAYS donate even a little bit to animal charities.

i'm not so much interested in those that are set up to help cancer patients etc. not because i dont care, but because i believe animal foundations get fewer donations.

i've donated to RaveSafe cos i am a strong believer in their cause (arent we all here on BL?).
but thats as far as my empty pocket can go right now.

a distant dream (and not quite serious) would be to set up a retirement home for kitties, where i can look after them if their owners have died or dont want them anymore.
:D :D
 
muzby said:
but the most important thing to remember, is that charity is not always tax deductable.......... (think about it..)
Click to expand...

good point muz...a lot of places wouldn't exist if it weren't for volunteers and a lot of people wouldn't be able to be helped by just throwing some cash at them; I guess I was focusing on one aspect of helping charities, but it's certainly not the most important.

Interesting answers peeps, keep em comin :)
 
Being a fairly rough city with a huge unemployment rate, not a lot of people from where I live actually go on to do anything worthwile in life. For this reason myself and a mate hold an after school boxing class 2 days a week for 10-16 year olds at our local gym.

The main aim is to encourage the boys to develop mentally/physically and learn to defend themselves whilst having fun in a group environment.

The gym in turn sponsors promising fighters (who maintain 95% attendance at school) with yearly membership and competetion entry etc :)
 
MazDan said:


No prick gave a shit about me when I was down other than the odd mate or two.

So Fuck all of them.
Click to expand...

what a lovely attitude 8)

Mainly give to environmental groups. No people on a dead planet.
Although my priorities may change depending on what affects me at the time, ie, illness, crisis appeals etc.

ps, who gives a rats if it's not tax deductible??!! That's not the point at all.
 
ValeTudo said:
Being a fairly rough city with a huge unemployment rate, not a lot of people from where I live actually go on to do anything worthwile in life. For this reason myself and a mate hold an after school boxing class 2 days a week for 10-16 year olds at our local gym.

The main aim is to encourage the boys to develop mentally/physically and learn to defend themselves whilst having fun in a group environment.

The gym in turn sponsors promising fighters (who maintain 95% attendance at school) with yearly membership and competetion entry etc :)
Click to expand...


Now this is what I call quality.

Top stuff bro.
 
When I was 12 I planned to be a millionaire before I was 30 - BUT by the time I was 16 I had decided that hierarchy creates injustice and making money is a waste of time. It took a while to figure out how to get this into practice - it wasn't until I hit 25 that I decided to go back to uni and get a Dip Ed - being a maths teacher would help the crusade for social justice! Unfortunately I was only partly right (??!!?) - but I did resolve to only do work for money if it served some social purpose. Since then I've worked with people with intellectual disabilities and acquired brain injuries, and done volly work with food coops and free food groups. I eventually crossed over into NSP (that's needle exchange for the acronymically understated) - probably because a few of my friends drifted into unfortunate heroin episodes over the years - fortunately only 1 dead :(

I had a stint as a "professional muso" but found the lack of community work depressing - I'd much rather rock for the love of it and keep earning the ATPs' dollar doing NSP
 
I work as a volunteer lifesaver at my surfclub. I donate to cancer research monthly (my nana died of cancer) and a few other charities here and there. I keep saying I will get off my arse and do something more - but excuses, excuses, excuses :\

If I'm here this Christmas, I'd like to do some volunteer work at a homeless shelter or something similar.

I'd also love to go o/s and do some aid work once uni is done.
 
Barney Gumnut said:
ps, who gives a rats if it's not tax deductible??!! That's not the point at all.
Click to expand...

I think that kind of was the point. I got the idea he was saying that giving financial donations is all well and good and hey, you get it all back at the end of the year, but sometimes it's better to help in a more immediate way where you won't see tangible results.

Reminds me of when I used to work in Oxfam, got an angry call from a donor who realised that she was donating to our Campaign Partners program, which isn't tax deductible. She'd been donating for about 5 or 6 months, and only just realised she wasn't going to get anything back at tax time. "What's the point in donating," she said, "if it's not going to come back in tax?"

Kinda sad really.... :\
 
I pretty much try and help out when I can, eg.. putting money in the ronald mcdonald house charity when in mcdonalds, redcross, salvo's, any childrens foundations when ever I have the chance I try and do my bit, I wouldnt care if I didnt get it back in tax really as long as I know I have contribuate to something worth while...
 
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