Blog Action Day – Poverty
October 15th is Blog Action Day 2008 and the topic is poverty. Given the current situation in the UK it’s easy to forget that other people are still worse off than ourselves. As a skilled engineer there’s several ways you can help.
Organisations such as VSO are looking for a few good people to volunteer their skills. Even if you don’t have time or funds to spare you might have a few tools that you can donate to Tools for Self Reliance. Did you buy and extra screw driver, saw or hammer only to discover you already had one in the tool kit? Do you have old tools you can refurbish? It’s worth having a look at the site as there’s some tips on how to refurbish hammers and saws, perhaps they also need help with writing more instructions? Please bear in mind they are only looking for good quality tools so don’t think you can use them to get rid of your junk or scrap metal!
To find poverty you don’t have to travel too far from home, there are people who have no homes and people who can’t afford clothes or heating. Help the aged is looking for people to recycle their old printer cartriges and mobile phones so you can help the environment as well as help other people. Oxfam GB are also looking for old phones and electronics. Shelter and Centre Point help people who are homeless and have shops and gift catalogues you can buy from. Thinking longer term, perhaps you could donate something in your will to a charity of your choice. If you are a member of a club, perhaps you could donate the proceeds of an engine running day to a charity?
Many of these charities and other good causes can be sponsored when you make ebay sales. Why not donate a percentage of the sale to help someone less fortunate.
Overseas
VSO – http://www.vso.org.uk
Tools for Self Reliance – http://www.tfsr.org
UK
Shelter – http://www.shelter.org.uk
Oxfam GB – http://www.oxfam.org.uk/resources/ukpoverty/
Centre Point – http://www.centrepoint.org.uk
Help the Aged – http://www.helptheaged.org.uk
Ebay for Charity – http://www.ebay.co.uk/ebayforcharity over 3000 charities
Blog Action Day – http://blogactionday.org
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Tags: BlogActionDay, Poverty
Metal sculpture in brass, mounted on an 1800s French Coin
