Shouldn't charity help others?

I had the chance to sponsor someone at work today. I turned them down. well not so much turned them down, I just ignored them.

I was at a different workplace to my usual one, as they were short staffed. But I know everyone who works there. Not as friends, but as colleagues. And the difference? To use a drinking analogy, even tough I'm a sober, recovering alcoholic-a friend is someone who would happily buy a drink in the pub after finishing work. A colleague is someone you work with, & once you finish at the end of the day you don't want to see until you get back to work the next day. Simple!

Anyway, one person came into work for the afternoon & she dumped down a sponsor sheet onto the main desk & stated that everyone was going to sign it before she went home! Hmm... I've no problem with giving money to 'charidee' if I'm asked personally & nicely. You know: " I'm doing this walk to raise money for blahdeblah, would you be interested in sponsoring me.." But some people might just have different standards of communication skills to me, so I could let that go, if it's a charity I support, or just like the sound of.

None of that was explained to me though. There were three of us on, other than her. Our line manager put herself down for a couple of quid, myself & the other bloke ignored it. She wandered past at one stage and said that we hadn't signed it yet! She picked it up not long after, then brought it back later, saying aloud again that we hadn't signed it! Fucking sharp or what! Can't you take a hint love? I'm not bloody well interested!

And why not? A number of reasons actually. From where I'm sitting a sponsored event should be for a deserving cause, usually helping people in need, or supporting a community group. This was actually by her local church, and the proceeds were for improvements to the church steps! that's like you or me having some tiles fall off of our roof then doing a sponsored event asking YOU to pay for something that only BENEFITS me! You really are taking the piss! If you were asking for some money to help, say, a soup run to benefit the local homeless, then maybe I could support that. I say maybe because I don't tend to support religious based charidees just so they can show how caring they are on the one hand, while totally denying equal rights & acceptance of gay people on the other. So no, if it is for a cause like the homeless, then I would support someone fundraising for an non-denominational organisation like Shelter.

Mentioning religious fundraising reminded me of the other week when I was out & about in the Croydon area on a Sunday. On my way from the centre of Croydon to the old airport visitor centre, four teenagers got on my bus. They had labels pinned onto their front & back, similar to numbers in an athletics race meeting, which clearly stated they were doing a sponsored walk for a local mosque. Well walking, apart from the mile or so they were on my bus. they jumped off right in front of a checkpoint & the chap there happily signed their sheets, with no mention of their cheating by taking public transport, just a cheery word, and a wave as they walked down the road, probably only as far as the next bus stop!

The 'doorstep' appeal also failed my 'sponsorship checklist' by the actual event. Now call me old fashioned, but a sponsored event should be something that challenges you, exerts you, makes you earn the money you raise for a good cause. This one was a sponsored walk from the church itself, in Camberwell, to the River Thames! Which is a distance of, wait for it, three miles! And over flat ground! And you have the cheek to call that a sponsored walk? A stroll up the road more like!

She eventually took the form away from the main desk after around two hours or os after she'd originally thrust it in our faces. At least she had the humilty not to ask us why we weren't sponsoring her, I think a bit of an argument with me might have ensued!