Charity

Last weekend the Melanie Jewson Foundation was formally launched to honour the life of Melanie Jewson, a Geelong teenager who died tragically in a car accident in 2004. She was about to turn 19.

Melanie was a remarkable person who had a zest for life. She was a regular at the Geelong Performing Arts Centre where she loved to perform. She danced and sang like an angel. She had the respect and love of her peers being elected the school captain of Western Heights College in 2003.

She had a gift for communication: in movement, in voice and with the written word. On her tribute website melaniejewson.com there is a short piece of her writing which tells the story of a particular performance, of her passion for music and of her love for her father. It is simply impossible to read it with a dry eye.

Continue reading "A heroic young Aussie whose spirit lives on in the Pacific" »

It seems that churches and religion in general are everyone’s favourite punching bag this week.

Peter Costello takes exception to Church leaders holding our banks and miners to account. 76 per cent of Q & A watchers who took part in a poll think that religious belief does not make the world a better place.

I’m sure there are a few Church people out there wondering, “Why have you forsaken me?”

Continue reading "Love thy neighbour? The church still does" »

The massive YouTube viewing of Invisible Children’s film “Kony 2012” is nothing short of phenomenal. People are engaged, outraged and quite rightly calling on the International community to do something - in this case, arrest, charge and try Kony in the Hague. People have found their voice against one of the world’s cruelest, most evil men and his regime of hate and terror.

The call for justice is both reasoned and reasonable. I go to Uganda almost every year and see firsthand the impact of Kony’s violence and terror. He should be brought to justice and it should be now.

People quite rightly are asking what Africa is doing about it. Uganda’s inaction against Kony should be seen through the lens of lack of capability not will, though the inaction of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is a lack of will not capability. Kony has a following and a degree of Government protection within the DRC and the country’s civil war with estimates of some 6 million killed simply makes Kony another part of the nation’s woes. It is a tragic part of the world where human life is often cheap. However, it doesn’t have to be this way.

Continue reading "Kony 2012: Just DO something. Anything." »

Welcome to this week’s I Call Bullshit. Today we’re looking at the super-viral Kony 2012 campaign by Invisible Children, a group dedicated to stopping African warlord Joseph Kony.

Doesn’t it feel good, battling evil African terrorists with your Facebook, your Twitter, maybe even your credit card? The Kony story is such a good yarn. It has the perfect villain, who eats small children for breakfast. Then with all the trappings of modern-day warfare – that is, a viral video and social media campaign – we can all be keyboard heroes marching to save the poor kids.

Millions of people have now seen the Kony 2012 film by NGO Invisible Children. When I started writing this piece it was around 7.3 million, right now it’s almost at 10 million. And that’s just on YouTube. It’s on Vimeo and a bunch of other sites as well.

Continue reading "ICB: Playing heroes and villains with Kony 2012" »

Charities have moved from a modest Mary MacKillop model to a flashy, superficial Angelina Jolie one. Many are more mega mall than soup kitchen, they’re black tie, red carpet, all big bash and flash.

Australia has hundreds - maybe thousands - of charities, and clusters of them compete against each other for the same money, for the same aims. It’s only natural they are trying to find a competitive edge – but at the same time we expect them to be entirely ethical and any suggestion they are preying on the vulnerable is enough to make many put their cash back in their pocket.

News Ltd investigations have revealed that fundraisers for major charities are being told to target the rich, the “vulnerable, elderly and dying” and to avoid the ‘POYSN’ – the “poor, old, young, stupid and non-English speakers”. Marketing companies employed by charities tell doorknockers they can earn up to $3000 and become rich.

Continue reading "When hard sell charities make it hard to give" »

When Australian skipper Michael Clarke raised his bat to celebrate his historic triple century at the SCG it showed a man becoming aware of his stature in the game.

Instead of pointing to a bat sponsor - a deal which can be valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars - he gestured towards the McGrath Foundation sticker placed there earlier that day.

Clarke’s manager James Erskine later explained the skipper had split with Slazenger and he is still mid-negotiation with two or three companies to finalise a deal.

Continue reading "Hey Pup, keep your bat clean and your image squeaky" »

In 10 days I’m going to get on a plane and go to Kenya. I’ve packed my clothes, my sunscreen, my wide-brimmed hat and my mosquito net. I’ve also packed the $7,000 dollars I raised to fund the building of an orphanage in Mangu – the project I’ll be working on.

I’ve also packed another $1,000 of my own money to spend at the local market on gifts, books, schoolbags, pens and paper for the kids. So with this in mind, you can imagine my surprise when this bold opinion piece was emailed to me: “Hands-on help can be harmful”.

There are always rotten apples in the barrel and clearly there are some overseas volunteer projects that are not set up with the best of intentions. And I agree that for many overseas projects there should be formal checks on those working with children.

Continue reading "What could be better than hands-on experience?" »

Dead cats don’t belong in charity bins. Same goes for sex toys, dirty nappies, sharp knives, broken furniture and the leftovers from your Christmas dinner. But try telling that to the people who’ve dumped hundreds of tonnes of crap in the charity bins of suburban Sydney and Melbourne this past week.

According to news reports in both the Daily Telegraph and the Herald Sun, people in our eastern states’ most “affluent” suburbs decided the local Salvos, Smith Family or St Vincent de Paul charity bin was a more convenient way of getting rid of unwanted Christmas detritus than paying a visit to their local tip. The measly $12 entrance fee to most local council tips clearly proving far too expensive for their “affluent” tastes.

Dumping broken furniture, dirty clothing or unusable bric-a-brac is not charity. And our suburbs have not been suddenly overcome by an urgency to give to others. Stuffing your local goodwill bin full of unwanted stuff (some living) helps no one. It’s just thoughtless, lazy and selfish.

Continue reading "Only the selfish dump their crap in charity bins" »

Dick Smith, the former electronics giant, is a household name, an Australian icon. A former Australian of the Year, he was awarded an Order of Australia in 1999 “as a benefactor to charitable organisations”.

By any measure, he has earned the right to vent his opinion in public. His recent argument in favour of naming and shaming Australia’s mega-rich who do not give philanthropy garnered headlines nationwide and would have raised eyebrows – and probably voices – at the top end of town.

But we should be grateful for his candour. Few people have such courage, fortitude and leadership. And whether you loved or loathed his comments, he has done an important service in kick-starting a critically important conversation.

Continue reading "Dick Smith’s guilt trip for the mega rich" »

Giving to help others is a beautiful thing. But is anyone finding the increased aggression of “chuggers” is destroying a lot of that goodwill?

There are a lot of Australians doing it tough through no fault of their own and it’s our duty to help as a payback for the privilege of being part of the community.

Welfare groups are also suffering from the big squeeze. Donations are drying up because of the tough economic times and the demand for their services is increasing for the same reason.

Continue reading "Charities should mind their manners" »

Asking people to do anything is tough. Asking them to give you money is even harder. Yet that’s what charity and social cause organisations have to do every day. Nearly all of their advertising focuses on one of two ways to unlock peoples’ wallets to raise money.

It’s either:

1) A rational message: Providing statistics that show how important the charity is, and how large the task at hand is. For example, how many lives are at risk, how many people have died, how many degrees the earth has warmed up and so on.

Continue reading "Hair’s how to raise more money" »

This is an edited extract of a moving and deeply personal speech a man called Ian gave at the launch of the St Vincent de Paul Society’s CEO Sleepout. The actual event is tonight. Visit the website if you want to help out.

You’ve never met me, you don’t know me.  My name is Ian and I was an addict for 15 years. I started when I was 15 when a dealer dropped a packet of heroin in front of me and my mate. Three days later we were injecting. The dealer looked after us.  He gave us a job which was to carry his little wraps of tinfoil for him - it was my first job.

He and his dealer mates were my role models at the time. My dad was alcoholic and had left early on and my mum struggled to raise me and my three sisters. All but one sister became drug addicts too. 

Continue reading "I was a homeless drug addict. Then I hit rock bottom." »

A couple of Sundays ago in Port Moresby, Stephanie Copus-Campbell – the head of AusAID’s program in PNG – invited me and a colleague to accompany her on a regular Sunday activity.

Every Sunday, Stephanie goes to the local supermarket and buys $70 worth of oranges which she then takes to the AIDS ward at the Port Moresby hospital.

HIV infection rates are high in PNG and while antiretroviral drugs are available, people still come to this place to die.

Continue reading "Touched by the angel of the PNG AIDS ward" »

I am about to go on holiday… scrub that. Start again. Myself and a group of my well-remunerated stockbroker buddies are about to undertake a gruelling 800km ride from Adelaide to Melbourne.

20 years ago we would have gone on a golf trip, sucked piss for five days and told off-colour jokes. The times they are a-changing hey?

What’s also new… well not so new now, is that my holiday is now an opportunity for you to lighten your wallet.

Continue reading "Cough up, ‘cos we’re all going on a fundraising holiday" »

Sue O’Reilly, who has guest written today’s column on The Angry Cripple is a freelance journalist and the mother of a 21-year-old son with cerebral palsy. She co-founded Australians Mad as Hell last year with Fiona Porter to campaign for an NDIS and established a charity called Fighting Chance to help people with disabilities pay for essential therapy services.

The president of South Australia’s Council on Intellectual Disabilities recently stated that all people with disabilities have “a right to live in an ordinary home in an ordinary street”.

But what if some people with disabilities don’t want to live in “an ordinary house in an ordinary street”?

What if they want to live in something like the manicured villages that have sprung up everywhere for people over 55, or an apartment complex with 24/7 care facilities?

Continue reading "Disability advocates ignoring what’s best for disabled" »

Most Australian media like to run the “Crippled Orphan Boy overcomes Headlessness to Swim the Murray for Charity” or “Wheelchair Bound (yuck) Woman Speaks to Schoolkids about Dangers of Drunk Driving” kinds of stories.

They are not often actually inspiring to me. Mostly, they make me feel as though people with disabilities are to be routinely pitied, and awarded if they do anything more than get out of bed in the morning.

There was, however, one guy doing the rounds last week who was a little different. Nick Vujicic, a 28-year-old Brisbane bloke who is a Minister and motivational speaker, and he’s got no arms or legs, just a kind of a foot that sticks out from one hip. This guy’s ‘can do’ attitude is almost sickening.

Continue reading "The Angry Cripple goes out on a limb" »

We need to cut our foreign aid budget to help for the reconstruction of Queensland and to help Queenslanders get back on their feet.

There are three main reasons why we should look for savings within the aid budget.

First, the aid budget is set to undergo a massive increase in the next few years and there is room for cuts. Currently, according AusAID, the agency that hands out our foreign aid, our aid budget is about $4.3 billion. According to AusAID projections, this will increase to $4.84 billion in 2011-12; $5.53 billion in 2012-13; $6.44 billion in 2013-14; $7.42 billion in 2014-15; and $8.49 billion in 2015-16.

Continue reading "Charity should begin at home" »

If there were an award for the most insensitive and idiotic attempt at commercial gain from the goodwill generated by the Queensland floods, it would surely go to white goods company Fisher&Paykel.

The company has been claiming Red Cross like status for dryer sales in the wake of the Queensland floods. In this article/press release headlined “F&P dryer sales soar in wake of devastating floods”.

Bizarrely Fisher&Paykel have attempted not only to link the increase of dryer sales in Queensland last year with the recent disaster, but sought to score points as some kind of socially responsible corporation in the floods’ wake.

Continue reading "F&P award for worst attempt to link company with floods" »

Legendary philanthropists are often also legendary tight-arses.

Oil man John Paul Getty, whose now multi-billion dollar trust and art collection underpin the J. Paul Getty Museums in California, had a payphone installed in his London mansion Sutton Place.

“The guests won’t mind paying for their calls,” he said, “and as for the deadbeats, I couldn’t care less.”

Continue reading "Research finds super rich also super tight" »

Tonight I’m going to pour myself a generous glass of red made from biodynamically grown grapes, turn the ABC up loud, and take down the Christmas tree.

I’ll lovingly pack away the angels made from old tin cans by poor kids in South Africa.

Then the hand-painted Christmas balls, lovingly painted by Hazara women, will go back in the box.

Continue reading "Giving the gift that keeps on giving" »

Note: While technically this piece qualifies as nepotism I am sick of writing about the election and Uncle Ken is a top bloke who has done a great thing.

Furniture is not commonly associated with politics. Bob Geldof did not try to feed the world with a chair.

My Uncle Ken Pfitzner is a gifted Adelaide cabinetmaker who spent a life-changing year of his adolescence travelling through Africa where, among other things, he was memorably attacked by a baboon.

Since then he has led a quieter life creating and restoring amazing pieces of furniture from his shambolic workshop in Edwardstown.

Continue reading "My uncle’s tribute in timber to the people of Africa" »

So who will be first to support the international ‘Robin Hood Tax’ – Kevin Rudd or Tony Abbott?

We can leave Mr Rudd to Gordon Brown to persuade. The question is whether a modern day Friar Tuck could tap into Mr Abbott’s policy pragmatism (or idealism, depending on your point of view) to persuade him to commit the Coalition to this great idea. Or perhaps Angela Merkel’s conservative lead on the proposal would be enough.

Continue reading "Who’ll move first to support the Robin Hood tax?" »

I like Bowral’s Bong Bong Street as much as the next person who appreciates nice food, beautiful furniture and pretty gift shops. And that’s especially in the cooler months when even though you’re only 90 minutes from Sydney you’d be forgiven for thinking it was much further.

But as relaxing and escapist as that can feel it doesn’t mean that I don’t expect real life to exist there too. Or that many of the people working and living in the area don’t all live in a beautiful bubble of Southern Highland’s privilege everyday of their lives.

Continue reading "Bowral needs to get real" »

Editor’s note: This week on Twitter Rhiannon pledged to donate $10 each day to a different charity. And she’d welcome your suggestions on charities worth donating to. You’ll find her blog and Twitter name at the bottom of her piece.

Here’s my confession: I’ve done a few bad things in my life. 

When I was seven I stole some stickers from my teacher. As Julia Roberts would say, big mistake. Huge.

Even now I still turn nauseous now at the thought of banana-scented scratch-and-sniff.

Continue reading "How to be good on $10 a day" »

For a politician who prides himself on his relationship with Australian voters, Barnaby Joyce’s comments this week on foreign aid are, frankly, un-Australian.

Senator Joyce used a speech at the National Press Club yesterday to suggest that $50 million in aid that will help people with little or no food in poor countries deal with rising food prices should instead be spent on lowering food prices in Australia.

This year Australia’s foreign aid spending will total just $3.8 billion – or only about 0.35 per cent of our gross national income. That’s 35 cents in every $100. In the context of the Australian Government’s overall budget, we’re talking about a very small amount. Our Government has enough money to fund this, while also spending on essential services here.

Continue reading "Barnaby’s on his own with comments on foreign aid" »

Five years ago, Oxfam started the Unwrapped giving program, giving Australians the chance to buy their friends and family a different kind of present – one that also contributes to our work helping people out of poverty around the world.

It’s a concept that many charities use in one form or another. It’s proved to be popular, and we hope it will become even more so.

It works like this - you chose a present, maybe a goat, maybe a pile of poo. You get a fun gift card to give as the present and Oxfam gets money to continue our work. That might not necessarily mean that we use the money to buy a goat for a poor family overseas, (a goat might not always be the solution), but we will use it for an agriculture related program that helps people grow food to be able to feed their family, and maybe make some money to send their children to school. How your money will be used is explained on our Unwrapped website when you buy your gift.

Continue reading "Why buying a goat does make a difference" »

For sale: One cute animal that will help you save the world… or will it just make you feel better?

Charity gift packages that offer you the chance to buy a friend a goat, some chickens or even a pile of poo for a poverty-stricken family in the developing world might make us feel warm and fuzzy, but they can also be misleading.

On the plus side, they offer a tangible way of giving someone the gift of charity donation for a present. Buying a “goat” might come with an e-card, a receipt and a funny picture of the creature packed with his suitcase and ready to go. In short, a relatable image of what you may have contributed to.

Continue reading "The ethics of buying a goat" »

A second miracle has been confirmed for Mary MacKillop, and she is now on her way to becoming Australia’s first saint in 2010.

But who was she?

Mary MacKillop’s was a life of struggle and passion that was underpinned by integrity.

Continue reading "Let 2010 be the year of Mary MacKillop" »

This week I was struck by the story of an 18-year-old Victorian student who was among 48, 594 young people to receive their Year 12 results and find out that they’d completed their Victorian Certificate of Education, or VCE.

Jack was by all accounts a model student in his senior years at school: he loved the subjects he was studying, and even stepped up to the role of house captain.

But in his early years at secondary school, it was a totally different story. Jack didn’t want to be at school, had no interest in his class work and didn’t feel like he fit in with classmates at all.

Continue reading "Successful schooling begins at home" »

You can’t go anywhere without hearing about climate change. There’s no denying that it’s a critical issue for many of us when thinking about the future. Today as I walked to work I noticed a young man wearing a T-shirt with an image of Earth and text that said ‘Defend Tomorrow’ and it was clear what his views were.

It’s great to see this sort of passion, but it made me think about the thousands of volunteers who contribute to The Smith Family’s work, because their social conscience is undoubtedly just as strong as this man’s, just perhaps less overt.

Although many Australians are continuing to feel the effects of the global financial crisis, The Smith Family has been inundated with requests from members of the public to offer their services as volunteers over the Christmas period.

Continue reading "Why giving your time is the best Chrissy gift of all" »

It is always heartening when Australia bands together around an issue with such cohesion and gusto as we have seen over the past fortnight with the separation of the conjoined twins, Krishna and Trishna.

I feel I should, out of journalistic integrity, (not that I’m a journalist) mention that I have had some dealing with the twins. In 2007 and 2008 I would spend my weekends volunteering at their orphanage in Bangladesh and was struck at the time by the girls’ strength and resilience.

Andrew Bolt’s piece in Friday’s Herald Sun focused on the debate (largely in our oh-so-balanced talk back arena) about whether or not the Australian Government should have foot the bill for the operation to separate the twins.

Whilst I wholeheartedly support Danielle, Moira Kelly, Atom Rahman and the wonderful team who have supported the girls, I must - and believe me I never thought I’d utter these words - agree with Andrew Bolt in saying that the Australian Government and associated departments made the right decision in not paying for the procedure.

Continue reading "You don’t have to be brain surgeon to rejuvenate a life" »

The Kimberley is spectacular and spiritual. However, it’s not a place to get a flat tyre or have any other mechanical failure. I know, I had a flat there in July. Believe me, finding a working jack, an inflated spare and the manual can take on real meaning. 

In the course of the next hour, four cars came down this rutted and dusty road.  Despite being covered in red dust, oil, blackened by the tyre remains and wielding a large tyre lever, not one of those drivers assumed I was Ivan Milat or Bradley Murdoch. Each pulled up to offer assistance. All courageously took the risk to make sure I was safe. I wondered if we would do this closer to home?

A good friend once told me the story of running out of petrol and being given a full can of petrol by a stranger, whose only request was “refill the can, keep it in your boot and pass it on to someone else.”

Continue reading "Charter For Compassion – let’s pass the can around" »

At the heart of the Australian ‘fair go’ is the belief that our society provides every individual with the opportunity to make the most of their lives, regardless of their parental or family background.

A commendable ethic indeed, but how real is it in practice?

Are we really giving our children the chance to grow up masters of their own destiny, or are we (unintentionally or not) confining them to tread the same footprints as their parents?

Continue reading "Cycle of disadvantage is getting worse each generation" »

“What about the children starving in Africa?”

I’d get that a lot when growing up if I didn’t finish the food on offer.  I suppose I am not alone in that memory.  But, like the food itself, it was a throwaway line.

For my generation, who have since become parents themselves, was it an effective call to act?  While over-ordering takeaway, because we are consumed by watching Masterchef - a show that taunts and rejects food - the same day that 25,000 children die from poverty-related causes - I think not.

Continue reading "The volunteer gene is facing extinction" »

World Vision is a signed-up member of the ever-growing ‘I Love Frankston’ fan club, applauding the generosity and compassion of local residents whose good deeds often go unnoticed by the media.

Results from a recent World Vision survey into child sponsorship found that the so-called ‘bogans’ of Australia often beat out the bourgeoisie and blue-bloods when it comes to making a difference in the fight against global poverty.
 
According to the survey findings, Frankston residents are among Australia’s biggest givers to children living in poverty, regardless of a weekly median income of $880, which is significantly lower than the national median household income of $1,139. Despite child sponsors accounting for less than two per cent of the total population of Victoria, more than 1,000 Frankston residents currently sponsor a child through World Vision.

Continue reading "Bogans are the most generous givers" »

…..but the body is not.

And I am in a whole world of pain.

And no, seeing as you ask, I am not about talking politics (or at least not on this occasion). Rather, I mean the physical pain of preparing to climb, just four weeks from now, Africa’s Mt Kilimanjaro – “Killy”, to its friends.

Continue reading "5895m above sea level and the oxygen is thinning…" »