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A month later than usual but thought we should have a quick poll to see if we are going to do it again this year ....

A4A members charity gift for Christmas

In 2009 we raised £200 for Thrive
In 2010 we raised £630 for Gardening Leave
In 2011 we raised £669 for Greenfingers
And last year we raised just over £450 for Thrive.

Are we able to do another Christmas Gift this year?
Comments and suggestions for other gardening charities welcome.

For the newer members we normally have a vote on which charity to give to after this consultation on suggestions of charities after which a Just Giving page is setup and then we bump the topic away with updates etc.

The original idea was that rather than us doing a "Secret Santa" thing form years before we would give to a gardening charity instead ...Thank Betula

Charities we have included in the voting in the past and would be in the poll this year are

Thrive                  http://www.thrive.org.uk/
Perennial              http://www.perennial.org.uk/
Gardening Leave   http://www.gardeningleave.org/
Greenfingers         http://www.greenfingerscharity.org.uk


Last year we also included Gardening for Disabled Trust which won the poll but as they were  not interested in our efforts after polling we went with Thrive.

I'll join in but I don't mind which charity, I'll go with the flow.

I'm doing all my charity work this year for a 3 yr old boy called Thomas, he has cerebal palsey and needs an operation in America. It's going to cost 50,000 to send him and his parents. It's on justgiving under Jill Cropley. Can't really do anything else this year as he's a wonderful little boy and they're friends of ours 

Quote from: manicscousers on October 25, 2013, 18:06:13
I'm doing all my charity work this year for a 3 yr old boy called Thomas, he has cerebal palsey and needs an operation in America. It's going to cost 50,000 to send him and his parents. It's on justgiving under Jill Cropley. Can't really do anything else this year as he's a wonderful little boy and they're friends of ours 

Well done Manics have just given a little boost to help along the way with that.

Thank you, Davyboi, everything helps. I'll put links on as soon as I get back to my computer, can't work this ipad properly . You're an

I expect everyone on here will hate me, but I think we are lucky to live in this country (which gets a lot of funding) £10.70 to feed a child in school for a year in Kenya (feel a bit ashamed as still smoking 20 a day (£8.40), so I feel that I must do this, as I cannot belive that £10.70 could do so much.  It is Mary's Meals, from my magazine 'My Weekly'.  So many good charities, feel so sorry for the donkeys.  So count me out this year, unless I win the Euro lottery tonight, which I said I would never, ever do.  Also since I retired, I don't mind giving the odd £1/loose change to charity but do not want to get tied to a direct debit account, did it when I was working.

Quote from: Borlotti on October 25, 2013, 19:46:30
I expect everyone on here will hate me,

Not at all we always have said in the past do not give if circumstances do not allow.
There is no sense our members who are struggling with heating bills or other finances to contribute or feel guilty for not being able to.

Maybe we should just send cat food to Betty 

One more day of voting left

Quote from: daveyboi on October 25, 2013, 21:47:42
Maybe we should just send cat food to Betty 

Ahh, that's a really nice thought Daveyboi, but our cats do okay really and I
think a gardening-related charity would be much more worthwhile.

But thanks,

Betty

I'm surprised, and rather disappointed,  at the lack of response to this so far.

I'm in. My choices would be Gardening Leave, Greenfingers or Thrive :)  So really, I'm happy with any of them, LOL 

I don't mind which charity you guy's pick. Erm this might be a silly a question how do we donate?

Clumsy if we go ahead with it this year I'll set up a JustGiving page for whichever charity we choose.
All the details and link will be shown on a separate thread.

Quote from: Flighty on October 27, 2013, 11:57:38
I'm surprised, and rather disappointed,  at the lack of response to this so far.

Yes it has  been a slow response this year but maybe everyone is out battening down the hatches before the storm hits ....

Quote from: daveyboi on October 27, 2013, 19:12:05

Quote from: Flighty on October 27, 2013, 11:57:38
I'm surprised, and rather disappointed,  at the lack of response to this so far.

Yes it has  been a slow response this year but maybe everyone is out battening down the hatches before the storm hits ....

I agree and I've found the site a bit sticky just recently.

Just to add, happy to join in again and although I'm not able to give much I know it will be put to good use.

Quote from: Flighty on October 27, 2013, 16:58:29
Clumsy if we go ahead with it this year I'll set up a JustGiving page for whichever charity we choose.
All the details and link will be shown on a separate thread.

Thank you Flighty 

With only 8 people voting so far, and relatively few comments, it seems that there is a lack of interest in doing it this year.

I'm disappointed, but not that surprised, and feel that it's not worth going ahead with.

Quote from: Flighty on October 28, 2013, 08:05:03
With only 8 people voting so far, and relatively few comments, it seems that there is a lack of interest in doing it this year.

I'm disappointed, but not that surprised, and feel that it's not worth going ahead with.

I didn't comment in particular, not because I don't want to participate, but because I have no strong feelings towards any of the options - they all sound good causes to me and I am happy to leave the decision which one to go for to others.

Do you think there is a lack of interest in giving?  Even if it is a smaller gift in these straightened times, I think it is worth doing nevertheless.  All charities, especially the less well-known ones will have felt the pinch.  Last year we had a way of giving just a pound or two via text message if I remember right.  This might be the way to go and enable a lot more people to chip in.  Many little amounts make a bigger gift in the end.    (for you).