Click to Donate!

Since my son was born a few years ago, I have been signed up to a good number of "cashback sites", which give you a share of the advertising revenue when you make purchases online through their links. In addition, on most of these sites there are a small number of daily cashback clicks, where you can earn a few pence, in some cases just by clicking on the links.

As per the ongoing theme of this blog, since March of this year, I've decided to donate all of those earnings to charity. Following a bit of research, I've discovered that there are a number of legimate charity websites out there offering "click-to-donate" links where users can click a button (generally only once per day) to generate a donation for a charity or cause.

The two that I'm going to highlight here today are the most well established, so please be assured that these are genuine links.

1) the hungersite http://www.hungersite.com/  

From the website:

"The Hunger Site was founded to focus the power of the Internet on a specific humanitarian need; the eradication of world hunger. Since its launch in June 1999, the site has established itself as a leader in online activism, helping to feed the world's hungry and food insecure. On average, over 220,000 individuals from around the world visit the site each day to click the yellow "Click Here to Give - it's FREE" button.....Since its inception, visitors at The Hunger Site and shoppers at The Hunger Site store have given more than 671 million cups of food."

Martin Lewis at http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/ writes

"3.6 - just a number? You may suspect an interest rate or price, yet it's much more important than that. Every three point six seconds someone in the world dies of hunger, and three quarters of the 24,000 daily deaths are children under five years old. Yet there's a way to feed them which won't cost you a penny; it's called The Hunger Site."


The site has set up a number of sister sites to help support breast cancer treatment, child health, literacy, the rainforests and animal rescue. All of these sites can be accessed by selecting the individual coloured tabs.

2) Freerice  http://www.freerice.com/

This is another amazing web site. This time it's not just a simple click through - this is a very clever website that seeks to pass on a little knowledge, as each visitor answers some straight-forward multi-choice questions in order to earn grains of rice.

According to wikipedia " As of May 2009, FreeRice has donated more than 60 billion grains of rice (roughly 1,700 metric tons or 3.75 million pounds". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FreeRice



And last but by no means least I want to share with you a truly remarkable campaign which you can become a part of , right here and now.

Whilst on our recent cruise holiday, on a day trip in Rome, having been lucky enough to have just enjoyed one of the most memorable meals I've ever had, sampling the very finest of Italian pizza , pasta and ice-cream, we were on our coach heading back to the ship. I happened to see a poster which really made me stop and think.

It was for this campaign http://www.1billionhungry.org/magicdarts/  Please, please take a look and if you use my link with the magicdarts on the end I get to be able to track anyone who signs up as a result of this.

The words speak for themselves - 1 billion people hungry - I'm mad as hell - Watch the video clip by renowned British Actor Jeremy Irons.

Its a global petition that will be presented to the United Nations in October 2010. As of tonight there are already 199,237 signed up from across the globe - please be the next one. 
 
You really can make a difference.

June's donations

Once again apologies for the less frequent blogs these days -it's a tough balancing act at the moment with family and work commitments but I'm certainly not about to start walking away from what I've set out to do.

This is always my favourite part of the month where I get to share the details on my latest round of donations of my on-line earnings. This month, I've managed to collect in another £30 via payouts from surveys and quidco cashback, and I'm very close to reaching a couple of other thresholds.

I've decided to split the donations 2 ways between these 2 extremely good causes

1) British Heart Foundation

Another good friend from the dooyoo review sites Tim Webb has just followed in the footsteps of Ivor's epic journey from London to Brighton, this time using pedal power. 55 miles cycling in a single day is some going though ( I did a 40 mile ride for BHF a few years ago and even though the finish line was less than half a mile from my house I had to be taken home in a car!) so congratulations to all involved in the Stamford Lions group and I hope they can achieve the target of £5000

Please take a look at

http://original.justgiving.com/thestamfordlions

About the charity:

The British Heart Foundation is the nation's heart charity.

Every day they save lives, through pioneering research, providing vital information to help people reduce their own heart health risks, campaigning for change and supporting and caring for heart patients.


Charity Registration No 225971

Smiles that can change our world!

No matter what kind of day I've had, there's one thing that's always guaranteed to bring on instant happiness.

Every time I see my little boy's face light up with wonder, beaming a huge smile back at me, suddenly all the troubles of the world just melt away.

So continuing on that theme here's three very special charities which I would like to bring to your attention

1) Miles of smiles http://miles-of-smiles.org.uk/

You may well have seen the link on the right hand side of this blog as I first featured this charity a month or so ago after a fellow writer on dooyoo told me all about it as it provides much needed care for her grandson.


Kent Kids Miles of Smiles was founded in March 1993, with the sole aim of spreading some sunshine into the lives of sick and disabled children. It's a small regional British charity that has really struggled for funding during the recession, so I'm more than happy to give it any extra promotion that I can.



The lady in question kindly gave me her permission to publish an extract from the deeply moving message she wrote to me - I think you'll agree it's much more powerful and personal than anything I could write here myself

"I just wanted to mention a charity very close to my heart, Kent Kids, Miles of Smiles. They are a Kent based children's charity, who have supported my young grandson, Miles Griffiths, for over 18 months. Miles was born with spastic quadriplegia, he is 8 this year but cannot sit, mobilise, speak or even swallow due to his condition.

He is fed via a jejunostomy tube into his bowel (as his stomach does not work) and his care needs are so great that my daughter was unable to continue caring for him at home. She has two other children and was becoming ill with the sheer hard work involved after 6 years care giving with little or no help.

We try to do our bit for the charity and support their fundraising ventures, but as you can imagine the current recession has hit the charity's donations very hard. If you would consider highlighting Kent Kids on your blog, I would be very grateful."

2) A smile for a child

http://www.asmileforachild.org/index.html

The second charity I want to highlight today is another very small UK charity which supports disabled and disadvantaged children to get into sporting activities in their communities. I'm a great believer in the benefits of sport and making all sports universally accessible, so although I've only just found out about them it really is a cause close to my heart and I'll certainly be looking to get actively involved with them in the coming weeks, months and years.

Be part of a very special delivery service!

It's always great when you can connect up previous blog entries and themes, and I’m pleased to say that today’s post is a prime example of that.

A couple of weeks back, I wrote about the tireless campaigning being done by Serena Low to raise awareness globally about epilepsy as well as much needed research funds.

If you get chance, please take a look at her blog and if you are on twitter please click on the pink ribbon on the right hand side of this page to show your support.

http://www.epilepsylegacy.blogspot.com/

So while I was on her site, I took a look at the links to see if there was an epilepsy charity that I could support in the UK. I clicked on some of the links and in the process discovered that one of my absolute favourite comedians Russell Howard, was about to run the London marathon along with his sister and his younger brother Daniel who has epilepsy, in support of the National Society for Epilepsy.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Russell-Howard/6532933343?ref=mf


Pleased to report that Russell finished the course in a very impressive four hours and 20 minutes, and is more than half way to achieving his £10,000 fundraising target – see link below

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=russellhowardsrunning&isTeam=true

And now to the third link in this particular chain of positivity.

Russell also happens to host his own weekly topical comedy show called Good News. Having seen the marathon footage, it reminded me that I had one of his shows recorded on Sky plus to catch up on.

As the title suggests, one of the key elements is the show, is that every week, in the middle of all the gags and topical stuff, Russell always takes time out to share inspirational stories.

I have to say that this particular feature really captured my imagination.

He told the story of an incredible young lady called Vikki, who for the past 7 years as been essentially bed bound suffering with severe Myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), also known as chronic fatigue syndrome.

Rather than dwelling on her own condition, she drew inspiration from all the cards and post she was sent to cheer her up and how much they meant to her and came up with the idea of Postpals.

http://www.postpals.co.uk/

Basically, all the sick and seriously ill children registered with her site get post and gifts sent to them from all over the world.

In her words “When I first became bedbound I was sent so many cards it wasn’t long before my walls and ceiling were covered, it became my reason to wake up each day. 
It was this that gave me the idea for Post Pals, although I hoped it would "catch on" I didn't dream it would touch as many lives as it has, both families with seriously ill children and of the volunteers around the world. I'm so very proud of it! I do the running of Post Pals from bed with a laptop, and my room (and I confess a big chunk of my parents house) looks like a cross between a mail room and a toy shop!"

Please , please take a look at the site - if this doesn't move you I really don't know what will. 

Everyone of us can play a part, as well as post, people can send emails, donate to support the service. What could possibly be more rewarding than knowing that a few minutes of your day could mean so much to a poorly little one.

Thanks for reading

Following a dream : Makomberero Zimbabwe - a truly inspiring vision

Tonight, it’s my absolute privilege to help spread the word about a very special educational charity initiative.

One of my old University friends recently got in touch to tell me about the bold and visionary project called Makombero (meaning blessings) that is now finally getting close to becoming a reality for Mark and Laura Albertyn. 

They are native Zimbabweans, who have spent the last few years working in the UK, but have always with the dream to set up an A-level school back in Zimbabwe. It has taken some time to get the funds together but now finally they are heading back to Zimbabwe this summer.

Please, please, please take a look at the charity's website http://www.makombero.info and also their blog at  http://albertynzim.blogspot.com/, it tells the story much better than I ever could. There you will find details of how you can get involved, support, volunteer, donate and become a part of this community adventure. 

Here's a few pictures taken from a recent presentation about the project

Before:

After:

           

An assembly in progress:

As soon as I heard about their remarkable plans it really struck a chord with me. 

Back in 1981, my Dad took up a job at a steelworks in Zimbabwe, and we all moved out there to live for a few years until 1984. As you can imagine for a young lad of 10 or 11 who had barely ventured out of his home village let alone overseas, it was an incredible experience for me. At the time, there was such a positive feeling of hope for the future in newly independent Zimbabwe, and that was most noticeable for me when attending the local secondary school. For so many of the pupils there with me who had previously been denied access simply because of the colour of their skin, it was a huge deal, and they were really motivated to learn. I will never forget the spirit of learning of my fellow classmates. I was one of only a couple of white kids in the class, but it was absolutely never an issue, it was all about working hard to achieve that much prized education.

Whatever your views on the politics involved, as has become so painfully apparent in recent years, the people of Zimbabwe have suffered terribly with the horrendous effects of famine, disease and economic hardship. Two people, two proud Zimbabweans are determined to make a difference

And I applaud them for that, from the bottom of my heart.

Thanks for reading

Epilepsy awareness - please support Serene's fantastic blog!

One of the key aims of this blog is to highlight the brilliant work being done by others in the blogging community to support the causes that mean the most to them.

Today I want to bring your attention to the fantastic work being done by Serene Low over in Malaysia, who has worked tirelessly for nearly a decade to promote the awareness of epilepsy around the world.

http://www.epilepsylegacy.blogspot.com/


In her words:


"I have been an epilepsy activist for 9 years. It is extremely difficult and challenging for an individual to promote epilepsy awareness single handedly but it is not totally impossible. Through epilepsy awareness work I had come to know of some wonderful and inspiring people whom I look up to and who had opened doors for me to reach out to the public.

Roughly 50 million people worldwide have epilepsy. Epilepsy is 3 times more common than multiple sclerosis and more than 3 times as common as Parkinson's disease and cerebral palsy. One person in 50 will develop epilepsy at some time in their life. One in 20 will have a single epileptic seizure."

Making a difference - my first donations!

Once again a warm welcome to all my new and existing followers!.

Since joining up with Blog catalog a week or two back I've been lucky enough to make some fantastic contacts within the online blogging community, spread wide across the world.

So I think it's high time that I provided a recap on what I'm trying to achieve here, as well as an update on how things are going so far

What's it all about?

For the benefit of those newcomers, here's a quick bit of background on this blog. Like most of us out there, I lead a very busy life, juggling precious family time with demanding work commitments. I've always had a major passion for writing, and over the last two years in particular through online review sites and the like, I've dedicated a lot of my spare time to dipping my toes in the murky freelance earning waters.

After coming through a serious health scare in the last few months, I've been able to make a lot of positive changes to my work / family life balance, have changed long standing poor dietary habits and rediscovered a balanced exercise routine, which has made a huge difference to me in so many ways.

In simple statistical terms to date I've lost just over 30 pounds since December but the real impact in terms of rediscovering my energy and passion for life is immeasurable.

As for my writing, I had always had this dream of just packing in the IT day job, and throwing all my efforts into a rewarding freelance career. As soon as I'd made it big, then I could really give something back, support all those charities and causes that have meant so much to me over the years.

Guess what? 

In a sudden wave of inspiration it hit me.

 Right now I get to write about whatever means something to me.

If I go down the all freelance route, being realistic the chances are very high that I would have to prioritise finding ways to scrap and scrape a living , writing about things that really don't interest me, just to get by.
What do I love best about writing online - the feedback, the sense of community, the freedom to write what and when I like  - it's certainly not the financial reward!

So I dusted down my original entirely purposeless blog, and came up with a theme that I could really believe in.

In March 2010 , Make a difference was born. Sharing positive, inspiring stories, highlighting amazing charities and fundraising initiatives.

And my own personal commitment.

Every single penny that I earn online, whether that be from existing review sites, spare time surveys, adsense revenues, cash back shopping etc. - I will give directly to charities.

Donations update

So I've gone through a number of my existing online earnings sources which had reached payout threshold levels and as a result these are the donations I've been able to give so far.

The grand total so far is (drumroll......) £81.40!

Becoming masters of our own destiny

I have to confess that I am a huge fan of sports in general. I just love the rush of excitement, the waves of emotion, sharing those experiences with hundreds, thousands maybe even millions of other people out there, who just like me are caught in the moment.

Last night I watched the final few hours of the US masters, one of the four major tournaments of the world golf calendar. Now I realise an awful lot of folk out there don't share my passion for the sport of golf or any kind for that matter, but before you reach for the proverbial remote control of blogs and click elsewhere - please stay with me on this.

Especially with the very public downfall of a certain Mr Woods in recent times, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the beautifully controlled and ordered bubble that is the immaculately presented Augusta National golf course is the very last place in which you'd find inspirational TV viewing on a Sunday night. The return of "grouchy Tiger hidden passions" was very much a circus side show compared with the real story out there.

Phil Mickelson, a genuine fans favourite, who plays with a true spirit of adventure and personality, emerged triumphant in the last few holes, recording his 3rd victory in this most prestigious of tournaments.

But beneath these bare record book facts lies a very human and deeply moving personal story.

His wife Amy was diagnosed with Breast Cancer aged just 37. In a further cruel twist of fate, only a short while later Phil's mother Mary was also diagnosed with Breast Cancer.

After a short time away from the game, Phil resumed playing on the demanding world golf tour. For the last 11 months, his wife and three children have been unable to follow him. Even this week, though they had travelled to Augusta, she had been too weak to make it on to the course to watch as she continues her battle against an agressive form of the disease.

As he walked up to the 18th green, unbeknown to him, Amy was there waiting with the children. Watching the two of them embrace, as she clutched her hands in front of her face shaking with emotion, seeing Phil wrap his arms round her and hold her so tightly as a little tear rolled down his face, no one watching could fail to be anything other than deeply moved.

Maundy Thursday magicdarts style - with Miles of Smiles

Every year in the UK on the last Thursday before Easter also known as Maundy Thursday, there is a long established tradition, whereby the Queen of England hands out money to people who work for good causes. As it happens , she's not too far from me here in the East Midlands, as she's in Derby today.

Anyway it has given me a very timely reminder that it's time I went through my various online survey and cashback sites to see what existing funds there are ready for cash out so I can get the donations rolling.

I've also found in interesting to see which of these sites allow you to donate your funds directly from their website to charities. The long established cashback co-operatives are very good for this - take for example Quidco , they have links available to donate to pretty much any of the UK registered charities, plus if the charity you want to support is not listed, you can email them to ask for it to be added.

Unfortunately with some sites, you do have to get to the minimum cash out threshold first before you can make donations, and in some cases the only option you have is to request the money first, and then pay out once it's cleared in your funds, but in the end I figure however gradually it comes in, it will all make a difference.

Another one of my fellow writers from dooyoo has been in touch this morning about a brilliant charity that supports children with disabilities called "miles for smiles" link : http://miles-of-smiles.org.uk/ which provides much needed care for her little grandson. It's a small regional charity that has really struggled for funding during the recession, so I'm more than happy to give it any extra promotion that I can.
 
The lady in question has kindly given me her permission to publish an extract from the deeply moving message she wrote to me - I think you'll agree it's much more powerful and personal than anything I could write here

"I just wanted to mention a charity very close to my heart, Kent Kids, Miles of Smiles. They are a Kent based children's charity, who have supported my young grandson, Miles Griffiths, for over 18 months. Miles was born with spastic quadriplegia, he is 8 this year but cannot sit, mobilise, speak or even swallow due to his condition. 


He is fed via a jejunostomy tube into his bowel (as his stomach does not work) and his care needs are so great that my daughter was unable to continue caring for him at home. She has two other children and was becoming ill with the sheer hard work involved after 6 years care giving with little or no help. 


It was heart-breaking for us all as I am sure you can imagine. Kent Kids stepped in and took Miles into 'Footprints' their residential centre, they supported him financially until Social Services decided to fund him...another story altogether!

We try to do our bit for the charity and support their fundraising ventures, but as you can imagine the current recession has hit the charity's donations very hard. If you would consider highlighting Kent Kids on your blog, I would be very grateful."


Once again, I appeal to anyone out there , particularly those of you with personal links to UK registered charities to get in touch. I promise to do whatever I can to highlight them on this blog - it's what it is here for.