Parting with your hard earned cash (or lack there of) is hard...bloody hard....and convincing people that they should part with it is even bloody harder, and at times, more than a bit uncomfortable. How do I know this? Because I am raising money (or at least trying to) for two Postnatal Depression charities (Acacia Family Support and Dads Matter UK) by running my knackered mummy ass off for my first ever charity event. However, any original and naive thoughts that all I would need to do was set up a fundraising page and make a few social media posts to reach my fundraising target are long gone and instead replaced with the knowledge that no mater how I dress it up or try and convince myself otherwise, fundraising is at best tricky and at worst nigh on impossible.
It's got me to thinking as to why? And more interestingly it has me questioning myself and the last time I felt moved enough to stick my own hand in my own pocket and part with my own money. I'll be honest with you...I can't remember the last time I was.
What is wrong with me? You may ask (I did), how can I not have been moved enough by the sight of desperate families fleeing for their lives for their war torn countries or images of fragile and desperately sick children in Africa, to make that call and pledge some much needed funds to the charities trying to help these people?
The truth of the matter is, that I was desperately moved by these stories, I cried at the sight of that poor little boy on the beach and feel outraged at the un just world that means sick children are not able to receive, what we in the Western word know as our basic rights, of food, water and medicine. However, I still haven't made a donation and I wanted to know why? I realised that it's because I felt I couldn't afford to make a donation of an amount that I felt would actually make a difference.
I now realise, after going through the process of organising a charity event and trying to raise funds and awareness for two amazing charities I feel strongly about, that I was wrong. Any amount, and I quite literally mean ANY amount makes a difference. For some reason, maybe because we live in a world where we feel only the grandiose gestures and big scale generosity make the headlines or receive the most recognition that we feel that anything less than this is just not enough.
I am here to say that ANY amount is ENOUGH and that is why I have started a campaign called #pledgeapenny4pnd which means that whatever you want to pledge, whatever the amount of pennies you are able to part with, that you are making a difference and that your pledge and the thought and generosity behind it are more than ENOUGH!
Most importantly what I've come to realise through this whole process, is that running a charity event is not just about the money we raise for the charities close to our hearts but the fact that every fundraising event organised, every person who reads about it in the press, every social media post made and shared is yes, one step closer to potentially raising more money for the charities but more importantly is ten steps towards raising more awareness which, is in itself worth its weight in Gold.
Anyone, wanting to #pledgeapenny4pnd and show that you don't have to pledge huge amounts to have a huge impact can do so here