On this coming Sunday, it will be a year to the day, since my beloved Grandad passed away.
Just a short while before his passing, him and Nanny gave me £5 “Easter money” (as an older grandchild, I was too old for a chocolate egg, so instead I received money). When Grandad passed, I became very sentimental about this £5 note, it seems silly now, but it was the last gift I ever received from my Grandad and I wanted to hang onto it. For a time, I went to great lengths not to spend or part with this particular £5 note until K finally clocked-on to its importance and gave me an idea. She suggested I put that particular note in with the money I was planning to donate to the hospital in his memory.
You see, when Grandad passed, he was in the middle of radiotherapy treatment for Cancer, it was Nanny’s wish that instead of buying flowers, friends and family were to give a donation in Grandad’s name and memory to the department of the hospital that treated Grandad (to contribute towards the cost of purchasing/maintaining the radiotherapy equipment). K said that by doing this, I was doing some good with the money and it would forever be associated with Grandad and his memory, without me karting ’round a scruffy fiver for the rest of my existence.
I thought that Grandad would be pleased with the gesture, if he knew and so added the £5 note to what I had planned to donate. Overall, just through close friends and family, we raised around £700 for the Oncology Department of that hospital, which according to the personal letter Nanny received, was gratefully acknowledged by the kind staff there.
In a coincidental twist of fate a year later, another cause has come to light, also for the benefit of Cancer sufferers. Maurice, the father of a fellow blogger, Amelie, is running 4 km in a sponsored effort to raise money for the Prostate Cancer Charity on the 9th April. In a fitting tribute to Grandad, I have donated a now symbolic £5 towards his efforts.
I wish Maurice the very best of luck with his upcoming run and hope that others contribute to his sponsorship so that he may raise as much money as possible for his chosen charity.
If you would like to find out more about Maurice and his cause, you can read Maurice’s story here and sponsor him, if you wish.
A full-time wheelchair user since 1998, Claire lives in an adapted bungalow in England with her Partner of 10 years and their two dogs: 
I feel a little less guilty about “twisting your arm” into donating now I know that there’s a reason behind it. That’s quite sweet, really, and I know Amelie will be really grateful.
32 if you don’t count the three I left.
In a way, I am in no position to rant, because I haven’t been able to donate. I have 22p in my bank account until I get paid (which probably won’t be for another month). On the other hand, it’s disgusting that people would rather suck up to some fake bimbo (not talking about anyone in particular) on the Internet than help someone raise money for a good cause.
Ah, there was no twisting involved anyways… Just wanted to help and happened to have a bit of a story to my reasoning behind it.
But you were right in what you said before, people would readily oblige if it was to get someone a poxy pink ipod or something… You mention charity and people scarper, I mean take a look at your comment level — 8 for the post on Maurice and 35 for the one about a cheap T-Shirt!!
Thanks for the pluggage (and the donation!), Claire.
I will be plugging people who have plugged me/donated/plugged the cause when I can be bothered to blog again (i.e. when I have a topic to write about…).
Totally agreed with Jem above. When you say “ooh, charity!” people go “ummm… look at the time! Must be off! Ahem…” though when you say “PLZ gET m3 BaBEeeE g1fTzZz!!1″ people come running. ¬_¬ People are weird.
Ditto everyone else. Seems charity’s low on the ground when it’s for real causes, but I guess it’s hard for anyone to wish to sponsor someone if they’ve never met them and have no tangible link, no matter how worthy the cause.
V xx
I agree with what you’re saying about sponsoring people you don’t know (after all, I don’t know Amelie and Maurice), but 9 times out of the proverbial 10, those that do ipod referals/buy things from wishlists etc have never met the recipient in question, either…