Cancelling Christmas

[kneeshooter]

Last year, as the three or four avid readers I have will remember, I cancelled Christmas and instead made some donations to various charities etc.

Of course this isn't totally altruistic - as it saves me the bother of shopping - but at the same time I think it's about giving something to worthy causes rather than embrace the commerciality of the season which I often find distasteful or even offensive.

So, in a repeat of last year... I'd like opinions on what Charities to include in the list. Last year it was:

• Amnesty International


• Dr. Hadwen Trust


• Friends of the Earth


• Medicin Sans Frontiers


• NCDL


• Sumatran Tiger Trust


• Shelter

Any comments on additions/removals before I do a poll beginning of next week?

Comments

[mr-flay.livejournal.com]

I already give money to Amnesty International monthly, and think they're one of the most important charities operating. I will add Medecin Sans Frontieres to my little list upon receiving a pay rise.

Action Aid is a worthy one, as is Sense, if you're looking for new ideas.

Did you know that Shelter started as a direct result of a BBC Play For Today?

[kneeshooter]

I'll have a look at those to - thanks.

And yes - wasn't it "Cathy Come Home"?

[mr-flay.livejournal.com]

Indeed it was.

[ephraim.livejournal.com]

How about the DEC?
http://www.dec.org.uk/

[gaius-octavian.livejournal.com]

I vote for the tigers again :-)

[kneeshooter]

You vote later. This is the pre-poll not-poll :-P

[mr-h-r-hughes.livejournal.com]

Could I just say that Tigers, Pandas and their ilk get all the charity love but that less exciting and, dare I say it, less pretty animals need saving too. I have no specific charity suggestion but think that perhaps another 'nature charity' that is dealing with a less well-known but no less deserving species might appreciate some support.

I might get looking on the net.

[ophelia-complex.livejournal.com]

do you parents/friends go for this? How do you present this to them as a real alternative?

[kneeshooter]

It's a bit of a mixed bag. I've not tried to sell it to the parents, but most of "my" friends seem to cope reasonably well. I'm just blunt about it.

Mind you, I don't really give them any choice - and if they wish to see me as ungrateful and ungenerous then that's their problem.

Suggestion...

[maleghast.livejournal.com]

The Terrence Higgins Trust ?

Re: Suggestion...

[kneeshooter]

Thanks.

[5threplicant.livejournal.com]

Well, one charity [very] close to my heart is http://www.nspku.org.

I myself was diagnosed with PKU [Phenylketonuria] as a baby and came out as one of the lucky ones. I now no longer follow the strict diet [although I have just looked at the website and notice they say that is a bad idea - oh, well..... ;)]

Not exactly a high-profile popular charity by any stretch, but I give to it occasionally.

[pauln.livejournal.com]

There's the one Penny works for - Tree Aid.

They deal in sustainable and enabling forestry-based project in sub-saharan west Africa (Burkina Fasa and Mali, mostly). It's helping people to help themselves stuff.

[robcee.livejournal.com]

the Multiple Scelrosis Society?

[kneeshooter]

I'm always very wary of medical charities because of my (fast and loose) ethics on animal testing. What's the MS society's position on that?

[robcee.livejournal.com]

No idea - and it doesnt seem to say on their site. However they do support a lot of biomedical testing, so its a fair guess that they may well support animal testing.

Still, they are on my list...

[kneeshooter]

Absolutely. Like with so many other things in life - "Vive la difference!".

[steve-c.livejournal.com]

The MS Society do fund animal experiments: http://navs.org.uk/publications/reports/gcg/m.htm

[diffrentcolours]

I give money to the Liberal Democrats and Electronic Frontier Foundation; if I had a job, I'd probably add Free Software Foundation Europe and Liberty to that list.

[(Anonymous)]

Hope you don't mind folks who don't know you commenting! I work in a school and for harvest this year we bought goats for Africa. Go to alternativegifts.com or Oxfam. You can buy gifts but you get to send a certificate to the person you didn't get a personal present for saying what you got "them".
Just a thought?

[kneeshooter]

Not at all. If I didn't want people to read/comment then I wouldn't post public etc.

[purplewizard.livejournal.com]

My nominated charity would be the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association.

[nyarbaggytep.livejournal.com]

Friends of the Earth is still my favourite, can I also put in a small word for a local one - St Basils (www.stbasils.org.uk) who do good work with young people in Brum who are homeless or at risk thereof.

They also employ me. Which is great.

[laurah1893.livejournal.com]

Do they have the ASPCA there? Or the Humane society?

[kneeshooter]

We have the RSPCA.

[laurah1893.livejournal.com]

Ok I vote for that then.

[ikkleblacktruck.livejournal.com]

The ILPH (http://www.ilph.org/) is still my favourite.

[quondam.livejournal.com]

BUAV?

NCDL = Dogs Trust, these days.

[scary-lady.livejournal.com]

I donate to http://www.spinal-foundation.org as they help people with back injuries that conventional surgery writes off as a waste of time. I was one of them, and without them I would, by now, be unable to work or larp or dance or do much of anything I enjoy. Because they operate on the fringes of medicine and are universally sneered at by conventional spinal surgeons, they teeter perpetually on the brink of financial ruin.