Comic Relief
 

what are your opinions on charity? do you give? do you think its greed (not that i do)? do you not pay any attention to it? do you walk funny when going past a charity worker in the street to keep the change in your pocket still? and do you watch comic relief or buy red noses?

If I feel like giving some money and I see a place where I can on my way to do something, I give some money. If I pass by it without wanting to give or I have to go out of my way, I dont.

I don't give to charity because I can't afford to give to charity. And yes, I do walk funny past volunteers but only because I feel uncomfortable with their judgmental eyes all over me.

I say sorry whenever I walk past a beggar and self hate for a few seconds.

Then I cheer myself up by buying jellybeans and a milkshake.

I don't give to charity often. But if there is a sponsored event I tend to take part

We had a Round for a Pound thing at my school today. There were people in funny costumes...

In college today I went into the library to find 3 people dressed as the ape's from Planet Of The Apes. Frightened the life out of me

There was a guy in a dress and a guy in complete blue, you couldn't even see his face!

Does giving money to those Arabs handing out copies of Free Issue outside shopping centers count as charity?

If so, no. Never.

I think the premise of this thread is broken. Are we talking about giving to registered charities or to beggars on the street?

If it's the former, yes, but mainly groups like the Red Cross when they're dealing with a specific tragedy. I just don't have the income to support regular donationing.

If it's the latter, I do often give money to beggars. As a rule, I give gold coins rather than silver, because I think it's a fairly dick move to use a beggar only as a chance to get rid of annoying small change and then tell yourself that you're a good person.

"Reheehee, I finally have enough money to buy Frosty Jacks."

This is what happens when beggars beg me for money. Gave one a couple of quid and he went straight to the off-license to purchase some cheap-ass onion cider, so I refuse point blank to give anyone on the streets money.

And I just remembered that I was suckered into joining a charity through Pay as you Earn. I joined some charity to do with spinal injuries and every month out of my wages they would take a bit of money.
I didn't want to join one in the first place but the spokesperson was extremely talented in guilt-tripping.

I gave money to an orphan kids charity until I didn't have enough money to support it anymore.

They still send me 'Thank you' cards at christmas. It's heartbreaking.

There's one charity that I swear has spent more money on postage (telling me what good they do in the world and can they please have more money) than I ever gave them.

I gave money to the Aspinall Foundation for gorillas until they had all of it. They sent me a stuffed baby gorilla as thanks.


Not the most effective way to conserve gorillas, I thought, but presumably their breeding program makes it feasible.

Eh, not really, but mostly because I lack money to give. If I have a spare loonie or toonie*, yeah. But I don't go out of my way to donate, unless I had a loved one sick from an illness that the charity was going towards.

*loonies and toonies are dollar/two-dollar coins, for you non-Canadian motherfuckers.

My school's bad bigband (the one I'm in) was playing in our quadrangle yesterday to raise money for Japan. Our ensembles tend to do lots of fund-raisers for the school or charities.

I always give money to charities if there are people collecting in shopping centres and I have excess coins on me.

I'm with the people who can't really afford to give money to charity (and I really mean it, I have a tiny income and live without many creature comforts just to stay afloat - The internet and PC games are the only 2 "luxuries" I have) - But then I'd rather give money to the people who are important to me anyway, selfish as it is.

The idea of homeless people selling off magazines and getting half of the money from each sale to support them is a good one, but why does the Big Issue suck so badly? I'd probably consider buying it if it didn't.

i dont really, see i know it sounds horrible, but id rather give to animals than etheopia (i think i spelt that right?) and stuff, only cuz when you give to an african charity, it doesnt really do anything, i mean, yeah max it could save a couple of lives which is really good, but then they just keep having more and more babies all the time, and theyre gonna keep dying, so you have to give and give and give and give... where as i like to spend my money on the godfather at KFC. i know it sounds mean but...

I had half of a friends cupcake that she bought from a Comic Relief thing, so I technically helped.

Which is why you should give to non-religious charities, so they teach birth control in addition to other life-saving measures. Or just give to any charity that places a priority on educating people, given that there is a strong correlation between educated citizenry (especially females) and lower birth rates.

i always give a generous amount when i can to any Help For Heroes collections. those people have done and sacrificed so much. one of my mates had his wife die due to MS and he's always doing charity walks, runs and all sorts to raise money for the MS Trust/Society. he always comes to us first in the pub and we all put a good amount down. he's a fucking top bloke.

the only other charity i give to, which is sort of inadvertently, is an air ambulance charity pot on the bar at my local. like Nate said, i feel like a dick if i just use it to get rid of loose change, and i don't feel like i'm a 'good person' for doing it because i don't see it as enough, but i'd rather it go there than in the jar at home.

i don't have a good enough income at the moment to actually sign up to any charities, but when i do i'm probably gonna sign up (to donate) to the RSPCA and The Brooke. i love animals and have a soft spot for bovine/equine.

I used to give to Amnesty.

Then I started needing that money, so i stopped.

I generally tend not to trust charity companies. There's been stories where for example, we collected 71 mill danish krones for Tusnami victims I think. Either 71 or 21. I don't remember.

Either way... after a year, it was shown in the newspapers that these money hadn't even been used at all yet. I actually dunno what happened.

I also don't like the fact that 50% goes into the pockets of wealthy people.
So I decided it's just best to keep my money untill I'm standing better myself and find maybe better ways to help... Maybe even start my own fund.

But it's all just dreams I suppose.

I gave a few pounds to Comic Relief yesterday. Its one of the only charities I give money too.

anyone else see Radio 1's Longest show Ever that rased over £2Million? it was great.

i didnt see it, i heard it, well, i didnt even do that.

good idea. but i still think id rather have a KFC.

anyway, yesterday at school to raise money some kid had his legs waxed in fromt of the entire school, and it FUCKING HURT.

If I have a few pence left after a small purchase, I'll always pop it in any charity box that's available.

I do give money to beggars. I know it's not going to make any difference to the situation, but if they're going to live out a slow and lonely life they may as well be stinking drunk when they do it.

Comic Relief is good, and the lack of response is apalling. I mean seriously, anyone who has enough money to watch it on TV has enough money to give £5 a year. And it's going to save lives.* What are you going to spend the money on otherwise? A couple of pints? If someone showed you two kids and two pints and said 'You can have the beer, but if you take it I kill these children', which would you pick?

The people collecting on the street are a no-no, however. A lot of them just pocket half of the money themselves. After they've finished their guilt trip speech, ask them what their comission is, and watch them suddenly go very quiet.

*I'm aware that in a lot of charities the money gets lost in administration fees, taxes and wages, but I really believe Comic Relief is an exception.

A lot of charities spend much of your money converting people to their religion.