Raising money for diabetes charities

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    • #5994
      Tim
      Keymaster

      I don’t raise any money for diabetes charities. This is mainly because I can’t be bothered and I’m tightfisted. Am I wrong, or entirely justified in my stinginess?

    • #7738
      Stephen
      Participant

      I don’t give money to any charities – just the way I roll.

    • #7748
      Hairy Gnome
      Participant

      @Tim – It’s entirely because you’re a tight Scots git! :D

      No, I didn’t really mean that Tim, you may not raise money for charity, but you do give your time to administering this blog which is just as valuable. Contributions to society can’t be measured entirely in monetary terms, far more important in my book is an open heart and an open mind. Mind you, I do contribute to charities in small ways, as a man of limited means I try to use money that I have to spend to benefit a cause of some sort, like buying a reusable shopping bag from the local Air Ambulance charity stall, or buying a pink ribbon from the Breast Cancer charity (actually wearing the badge shows my support and may persuade others to contribute).

      I don’t think they’re ever going to find a cure for diabetes, but improved methods of treatment have to be good, so diabetes charities have their place, but I wouldn’t favour them above others. Whether you’re wrong or justifiably stingy @Tim is down to you and how you feel, it’s absolutely nothing to do with anyone else, despite my opening statement! ;)

    • #7751
      Tim
      Keymaster

      I’m English, damn you Terry! ;-)

    • #7761
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      I don;t either, and I think it’s partly because I almost feel a little selfish as I am diabetic. Although thinking that is in itself, selfish, as it’s ignoring the thousands of others that would benefit from the money! Would definitely encourage others to donate though, and am considering some form of sponsored bike ride/race in the distant future possibly…

      I find charities in general a troublesome proposition, I’ve heard too many stories of silly wastage of funds and misplaced ‘help’… Means I feel I have to do lots of research before picking a charity!

    • #7768
      Alison
      Keymaster

      I rarely give money to charity, normally only if a friend is doing an impressive challenge like climbing Everest and I want to support them in their charity fundraising. I don’t give to people doing sponsored walks unless they couldn’t previously walk – if you could already walk it isn’t really a great challenge is it?

      I’ve given a lot of time to diabetes charities over the years and still do. I prefer to give my time because I can manage how it is spent. I like to support events for the pancreatically challenged because they made a real difference to me as a child. Also, I do some campaigning – I was involved in getting plastic syringes, blood test strips and pen needles available free on prescription. I don’t fundraise or get involved in research for a cure – I feel a cure is simply a marketing ploy to raise hope and money rather than a realistic possibility. I will sometimes support research into treatment.

      It doesn’t look like the ShootUp charity of the year campaign is a goer then Tim ;-)

    • #7769
      Tim
      Keymaster

      @alison – He he he! I like your angry point about charity walks :-)

      In general terms, I do actually like supporting hospices – one in particular gave a lot of support to my aunt a few years back and gave her dignity and comfort in her final few months. This is why I plugged my friend Stephan’s John O’Groats to Lands End bike ride earlier in the year – as that was for a hospice too.

    • #7770
      Alison
      Keymaster

      @Tim Cycling the length of the UK is an impressive achievement, if I knew them I’d give to that. I object to sponsoring a healthy adult to do a 3 mile walk though :-)

    • #7771
      Hairy Gnome
      Participant

      I’ve never considered it like that @Alison, but I totally agree with you. The difficulty nowadays is deciding which charity to support when every other shop in the metaphorical High Street is a charity shop. Again I use a pragmatic approach and both give to, and buy from, my local hospice charity shop. Every little helps!

    • #7784
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      I would agree on the charity walks too – it’s got to be some minimum level of effort, like my sister walking from Exeter to Winchester with a friend. If you would conceivably do it for fun, I don’t see why I should sponsor you to do it!

      That said, a group of cyclists at work did a sponsored ride from Bristol to London for the Pakistan flood appeal this year. At least one of them had been previously heard to say something along the lines of ‘they bloody deserve it’. D: He just wanted an excuse for a day off work on his bike.

    • #7792
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Ive been waxed for charity – seriously though it was so painful and i bled so much next time the poor blighters can starve.

    • #8379
      Dave
      Participant

      I promise to stop browsing the boards soon. However ……….

      For a few years I had a very small DD to one long-running diabetic charity that used to share it’s initials with some dentists, diatetics and deaf peeps. However one issue of Balance tipped me over the edge and I switched my tiny funds (and subsequent charity sponsorship) to the JDRF. I’m quite happy to state this is purely for selfish reasons in that if I’m funding a cure I want it to be one that’s useful to me :-)

      (Dave now runs for cover while the T2s swear in his general direction)

    • #8381
      Tim
      Keymaster

      @seasiderdave – browsing the boards is what they is for! Feel free to breath life into long neglected threads! :-)

      Ahha – the old type one / type two bias argument! I still subscribe to Balance – mainly for research for the blog more than anything; but I do enjoy the fact that no matter what DUK do someone, somewhere will take exception! ;-)

    • #8384
      Dave
      Participant

      T,im It’s not an umbridge or sulk, I’ve just found over the years that they have shifted focus slowly over time and it is less relevant to me now – although I’m not sure it ever was that specific to me.

      On the plus side I’m fortunate that my parents got a tip from a decent doctor (not sure they had diabetic nurses back then), to get a lifetime membership to the BDA which came with Balance chucked in for free. Over the years the diabetic camps were fantastic for me and I’ll never forget the lines (the physical not the carb counting type) of 7 year olds queueing up to weigh their cornflakes and measure the milk :)

    • #8385
      Tim
      Keymaster

      Sorry Dave – I wasn’t saying *you* were taking umbridge, just that people seemed to delight in doing so! ;-)

      I know loads of people have great memories of the camps – being diagnosed at 28 they wouldn’t let me go :-(

    • #8386
      Dave
      Participant

      No worries.

      Ah, Suffolk, my first proper snog in the woods……. <


      Not the same camp as above. Obviously!

    • #8388
      Alison
      Keymaster

      Ooo diabetic camp, I loved them, I think they’re probably the most valuable thing DUK does. It was a bit freaky when you took a step back and realised there were 30 seven year olds queuing up to inject themselves, that is a bit weird when you think about it!

    • #8393
      Dave
      Participant

      Nowadays I think they’d call it respite care for the parents!

      A significant memory is tearful parents waving off kids onto buses from 10 Queen Anne St even though for my parents it would probably have been much easier to take me to camp directly.

    • #8397
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      The kids camps sound wonderful, but I really can’t support a charity that posts recipes as suitable for diabetics that include “Cherry Meringue” as a suitable dessert! It should see most T2s off! On the other hand, like Alison and Tim I give time.

    • #8398
      lizz
      Participant

      Sigh, I so wanted to go to camp but my mum and dad wouldn’t let me go.

      I have never raised money, probably as I would feel as if it was too personal, it would be like raising money for me. I have raised money for Lola’s charity to train dogs to alert for low blood sugar – maybe because we have taken none of their money (only time money) and paid for everything ourselves. I feel as if I’m raising money for the charity as I know the people who run it so well! (And if anyone here knows where i can find laptops or a year old desk computer they so dearly need I’d be very happy!).

      My dad made me a life member as a child, and I feel as if that was enough! Wrong I know. I should do better. I feel guilty now. I tend to give to charities that make me cry, like Red Nose Day and Comic Relief. Whilst I’m sobbing I throw money at them.

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