Charity Starts in the Wardrobe!

When  I went grocery shopping a few weeks ago, a lovely lady near the exit door gave me a leaflet about Home Start's Ultimate New and Pre-Loved Bag Sale. Home Start is Arun's family charity that provides help for parents during tough times including post-natal illness, children's behavioral problems, bereavement, single parenting and more.

To raise money for the charity they are holding this bag-a-bag event where you can come along and browse the handbags - perhaps make a few purchases too - and support the charity. You can also donate bags to the event - to find out more info on how to do this, visit the charity's Facebook Page. Anyone that knows me realizes that I adore bags but they go out of fashion so quickly so keeping a reasonable turnover of bags is always a good thing. I think this idea is fabulous - I know that I own some bags which I'll probably never use again but are nice and that other people would use everyday. So if you are in a similar position, perhaps you could donate a few of your handbags!

The event is being held at The Body Shop Trading Post in Littlehampton on Saturday March 24th from 11am-3pm. If you live in West Sussex, this event might be for you! I'll definately be attending and hope to see you there.

Charity Giving

Giving to charity is really important to me and I try to do as much as I can, wherever possible, to help good causes. This weekend, I cleared out my wardrobe and found I had lots of clothes that no longer fitted or that I would likely never wear. So I've folded them up, sorted them into groups and bagged them up ready to be taken to our local charity clothing collection point. Rather than throwing clothes that are perfectly wearable away, this is a great alternative and now I've got a freshly sorted wardrobe full of pieces that I didn't even realise I owned.

If you want to donate some clothes for good causes, you can do this by taking them to your local charity shop, put them in the charity bags that are delivered to your homes, deliver them to your collection point or by putting them in the designated containers that are scattered throughout the country.

Project For Awesome: Girlguiding UK

The Project For Awesome is an annual event held over a weekend in December on YouTube which aims to promote charities and encourage visitors to give their time and money to these great causes.

I am a Rainbow Leader for GirlGuiding UK. Each week, I plan, organise and run sessions with 20 local girls aged between 5 and 7 years old. We craft, we play games, we sing, we cook, we earn badges and just generally have fun for an hour. The girls are from a huge mixture of backgrounds (some have a more privilaged upbringing, whilst others may be from a single parent household or be carers for disabled relatives) and seeing them all come together and share their own stories and experiences is a real eye-opener. I fit it in with working a part time job and going to university full time but it is the highlight of my week spending those few hours having fun and letting the girls have a release - seeing the smiles on their faces when they arrive brings absolute joy to the heart.

And it's good for you too - it will give your CV a boost, help develop your communication skills with children and adults alike, enable you to learn first aid and bookkeeping - and you'll have LOADS of fun whilst you're at it! It feels so good to know that you're giving back to your community.

So why not get involved? You could help run a unit, share you passions with the girls by running a one-off activity or even contribute through the 12 Hour Challenge. Visit the Girlguiding UK Website to register your interest in volunteering and to find out more!

I'd love to hear what kinds of charity activities you are involved with, so be sure to let me know in the comments below. Also, if you have any questions about volunteering in Guiding itself, let me know in the comments - I'll do my best to answer your queries!