Antonio Greer
 
I received a cold call the other night from a gentleman who was trying to get me to give money to charities. Although I do give I did not on this occasion and made my excuses to get off the phone, something he said really got me thinking. Wouldn't you like to make a differnce?

Now I'm fully aware that individually my few pounds a month would not make any difference to anyone however it made me think: 'How many times had I made a real difference to someone else's life without getting anything from it myself?'

And i must stress giving someone a lift to the shops without them buying you something or anything like that does not count!

I thought back to when I was at Uni and was part of a group of students that held a fantastic event for disabled children throughout Yorkshire, but quickly realised we did this event as it was a module at Uni. I therefore gained from it!!!!

I have been thinking for a few days now and I am quite ashamed to say that apart from giving to charity, I cannot think back, in recent time, to a point when I helped out a person who needed it just because it was a good thing to do. Sure I give to charity, but in reality that does not put you out because if it did most people (i'm probably included in this) would not give.

Although i'm not normally one for New Years Resolutions I think this may be one life change I want to make in 2010. Jackie Cameron correctly states that most New Years Resolutions fail "often because they are just too big". The general consensus seems to be that making small changes to certain aspects of my life will be the way to really change.

I have began thinking of ways to go about this and have a few ideas that I will look to explore more over the coming months. If anyone has any experiences or suggestions on how I could do this I would very much appreciate it if you would share them with me.
12/1/2010 01:35:41 am

Well Antonio - here you are - your first blog post and great new website! Brilliant!

And thank you for the name check :-)

Here is a link to an article I read recently in the Times which I think you might like...

http://thekindnessoffensive.com/sunday-times-the-feel-good-factor

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12/1/2010 01:43:58 am

Hi
This is inspirational stuff - ilove the idea of doing something just to 'do it'. I'm going to think of something to do myself.

Look forward to more blogs

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12/1/2010 02:18:38 am

Hi Antonio

Welcome to the world of blogging, and giving - this is one way you can give to others, for sure.

Funnily, I wasn't expecting you to reflect on giving after the (presumably) unsolicited marketing call from a charity. I was expecting you to have a mini-rant at the way charities 'hawk' for donations.

But I think your reflection was a much better one. I reckon giving by Direct Debit, no matter how financially inconvenient it might be, is much easier than working in a charity shop, say, 2 days a week, or donating your time in some other way.

I've actually resolved to donate my time in some way, during the year. And apart from helping to promote a friend's website this month, I'm not sure how else I'm going to be able to achieve this.

Anyway, cheers for your thoughts and good luck with your volunteering efforts this year,

Steve

PS I'm a Huddersfield man too, wouldn't you know! Brr, it's cold here right now!

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12/1/2010 07:47:14 pm

A very thoughtful post there Antonio, one which has made me think about the concept of giving.

I try and give – and whilst I do not have much money to give away, I do give up my time to try and make a difference with charitable causes. Recently, I’ve been involved with the Family Holiday Association having been paired via the Media Trust (incidentally – I would recommend looking at their website).

Whilst, the FHA does benefit directly from this arrangement – I feel it is mutually beneficial as I gain more work experience, networking opportunities, as well as feeling good by giving something back. In my view these sorts of mutually beneficial arrangements should be encouraged.

I would recommend any recent graduate to try and get involved in this sort of arrangement. The Media Trust and Bright One Communications are two good places to start.

Back to the question – I think there are very few genuine examples of people giving without getting something back in reward (new skills, feeling good about themselves, experience etc).

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