Raising Hope not just Funds

This week I want to talk about different ways raising funds for groups or charities can be useful not only for yourself but people on the whole. Everyone knows that feeling you get when you help someone or you do a sponsored event, yes having that nice warm fuzzy feeling inside can be deemed as selfish to some but when you know some greater good is coming out of it it is a totally justified feeling! When we raise funds for charities and causes it isn’t just about the raising of money but the hope it gives people that vital research is being carried out, people can be cared for by specialist nurses or just encouraging people to be social who otherwise wouldn’t be. 

There are many ways we can get this feeling either by taking part in national sponsored events like:

• Colostomy UK’s 50K challenge where you and other participants have a collective goal of achieving 50,000 kilometres between I believe it started in April and finishes in October.
• Crohns and Colitis UK (CCUK) have Walk It challenges all over the country where you can walk with hundreds or even thousands of others to raise money for a cure.
• Cancer Research UK have the Race for Life needs no further explanation as I think everyone has heard of this and the money going to vital research.

But you have the lovely but humble MacMillian coffee and cake mornings which are a great way to get social and again raise funds for cancer research, care and support of cancer sufferers etc.

Every charity in the country can be a nominated charity that you can do something you like or have never done before to raise much needed funds. For instance I wanted to abseil, it is not something I had ever done and I was absolutely terrified of the idea but decided to search for a local one; my search came up with Daisy Chain Project which is a local charity to me who help children with Autism. This struck a chord with me at the time as they were teaching these children coping skills and social interaction as well as giving them independence; I worked with autistic adults at the time and could see how the people I supported could have benefited from this as a child so I raised money for them whilst doing something I had never done before straight from a night shift!! If you have been to Middlesbrough or know the North East of England you will know that the transporter bridge isn’t little! I got a great sense of pride from doing that and knowing I helped a cause that meant a lot to me was worth it even if my pouchitis gave me hell that day!

What about the smaller groups or causes that are local to you? A lot of support groups are actually self funded and often would appreciate money donated to them to keep them social. For instance I’m knitting little bears, penguins and unicorns with or without stomas to raise money for the ostomy support group that I co run with two others. The funds we raise from those little gutsy bears is going towards paying either in full or making a hefty discount for our groups Christmas dinner. When we started our group we had a suggestion box and a lot of the members just wanted a friend or to be a bit more social and as our group is quarterly we need to do things in between so the first we are doing is Christmas lunch out! If you would like more information on the gutsy bears please get in touch.

Do you raise money for charitable causes? What sort of things have you done? If you don’t fancy the things above but want to help maybe look at your GP surgeries notice board there maybe a number of causes that would be over the moon with any contribution.