Project 366 / 43 – Cash, coffee and raising money

Money… It’s not easy to come by, we all work so very hard for it (or at least we think we do) but when we’ve got it what do we do? We waste it, we spend it on throw-away stuff, fleeting temporary pleasures and coffee, lots of coffee.

The volume of rubbish that people give you at Christmas takes all this to a whole other level. I’m always pleading people to not buy me anything rather than the mindless tut that they otherwise will. I’d much rather be given a £5 iTunes or Amazon voucher rather than £20 worth of bobble removers and spiralizers. Seriously, if you don’t know me then you shouldn’t be buying me something that you think I might want because I don’t, so please; keep your money.

Aside from Christmas though the amount of money wasted week in, week out totally astounds me. Was Friends really responsible for the international coffee culture explosion? It certainly feels like it.

My wife and I do physical challenges every year (admittedly her more than me) and we do it to raise money for a specific charity – Action Duchenne. The charity is very close to our hearts as sadly our goods friends son was diagnosed with the muscle wasting condition a couple of years ago. The challenges vary, we’ve done half marathons, marathons, Olympic length triathlons, the 3 peaks 24 hour challenge and this year my wife has entered herself into a Miss Fitness bodybuilding competition and is walking the South Downs Way (110 miles) in 3 days sometime in early May.

Each challenge is, well physically challenging. We’re not doing a 3k walk or a sleepathon we’re choosing events that will push us. None of them are easy and the volume of training that literally no-one sees is exhausting.

But do you know what the hardest part of it all is? Trying to raise money.

Those same people who burn through money week in week out are the most reluctant sponsors. We’re not looking for £50 from you. We’re just looking for £5. If all our friends sponsored £5 we’d have raised thousands.

So this weekend, when you’re buying another coffee, another chocolate doughnut or another pint just think of what you could be doing with the same money. These kids are literally dying – please help.

www.virginmoneygiving.com/gemmaspicer