Kay Town: Charity Fatigue

Where exactly does charity begin? Or stop, for that matter!

I received the strangest of messages from an old friend on Facebook a few weeks back, inviting me to look at his son doing the ice bucket challenge. The son is 18 and I have known him since he was a babe in arms.

A charming child, and an equally charming young man.

I clicked on his profile and found the link to watch. It was the best I had seen, and, if I had shared it there would be little doubt that it would go viral here in Brighton.

I know that his dad sent it to me for that reason – he said so in his message – so if you want to see it, then ask for a link if you see me.

The whole ice bucket thing has been a real phenomenon and I look forward to seeing what the real financial result has been for the charity or charities involved.

To be honest, when I first heard about it I filled my ice bucket; a rather nice 1950s Bakelite jobby in cream and bright red. Thus armed, I took it and placed it on the table and… wait for it… mixed myself a stiff cocktail using Blackdown gin and Blackdown Vermouth. You see, I had misunderstood the ice bucket challenge completely, and the outcome was certainly ‘dry’ as opposed to wet.

“I had misunderstood the ice bucket challenge completely, and the outcome was certainly ‘dry’ as opposed to wet”

Since then, I have noticed quite a few Facebook whingers bemoaning the number of wet souls that are appearing on the website. How sad is that? I mean, we have a choice: you don’t like it? Switch off! I feel the same to a certain extent about other whingers. I mean I care about pollution and water quality off our coast, and I sympathise with Surfers Against Sewage, but really, if you don’t like it, stop … well you know what you have to stop doing to keep the water clean or not put pressure on our over-stretched waste water system.

I do stuff for charity. I like doing stuff for charity, and I like to know that it does some good. I have personal favourites and ones that I help to support through the work that I do here and with the Brighton and Hove Food and Drink Festival. I do it because it matters.

On the whole, I like to support things that I believe make a difference to people’s lives. I like it less when the monies rasied are used to provide genuine services for real needs, things that I feel should be provided for by local or central government. Of course I may be wrong, but therein lies the truth about charitable giving; it is a personal matter, a choice that you and only you should make.

I don’t want to be accosted on the street by some terribly nice person with a clip-board trying to earn an honest crust by raising a buck for charity. If you see me walking down the street, and you are doing that, then walk on by.

Don’t stop giving, do the right thing and make your own choices. I do, and I will continue to do so.

‘Charity fatigue’ has to be one of the most depressing pairings of words in common usage. The day we really become tired of being made aware of the shortcomings of this world and how we might help make things better is the day we should all simply give up, shoot each other and feed on the spoils of our selfish greed.

Follow me: @latestandrew