A little charity...

This weekend my son took part in a 24 hour game of badminton to raise money for Comic Relief. The next day he had blisters on his hands and feet, and his body ached so much that he moved like Fearne Cotton with altitude sickness. The £110 he raised for charity proved his tenacity and endurance, and also made his old mum very proud.

Here at Three’s Co we are also supporting a charity initiative called FX4Charity. By registering with FX4Charity every foreign currency transaction generates a gift to your chosen charity: £1 for every transaction and an additional £1 for every £1,000. And it doesn’t cost you a penny.

£1 doesn’t sound like very much but it soon adds up. It got me thinking about what donations could buy. How can we choose the charity?

According to the Charity Commission there were 168,000 charities registered in December 2008. How do we choose which charities to support when they range from delivering aid to the world’s disasters to shelters for battered men?

Anyone watching Comic Relief on Friday will know that a mosquito net costs very little and can protect someone from bites while they sleep, saving on treatment costs and ultimately saving lives. In Africa water and sanitation are big issues and £5 pounds can buy a month’s soap for a whole family in the Congo - vital in stopping diseases spreading within camps.

Closer to home £10 could buy around 300 glass slides for studying tumour samples and various cells in detail under the microscope for Cancer Research or help to fund a trial to investigate whether a national screening programme for ovarian cancer could help save lives.

Rainbow Trust Children's Charity provides practical and emotional support to families who have a child with a life threatening or terminal illness. They support 1,000 families each year. Workers join the family in their own home and are there to provide whatever practical support is needed. They may attend hospital appointments with parents, sit by the bedside of the child to give parents a break or take worried siblings out for the day. £20 allows a family support worker to sit with a sick child in hospital for an hour.

A £10 donation to the RSPCA can feed an abandoned puppy for a fortnight.
Well I say why not have a mixed selection, some general ones, and some much closer to our hearts because of personal or family experience. Whatever you choose, it’s important to do something.

According to a Chinese proverb that I dug up – “Wealth is but dung, useful only when spread”.

Kerry
Financial Director