Charity Tuesday: How We Can All Give Back This Christmas

Let's draw a line under the whole blag/blog/PR stuff, except to say, if you blog, review or not, then its great. Lets all stick together, we blogger's rock, 99.9% of Pr's and brands rock too, lets hope Sorted have learned from this error in judgement. 


Moving on!


Charity Tuesday is something I see mentioned on Twitter quite often. Its just where people, not necessarily charities themselves but supporters of, will tweet a link to the charity they support. I try and re-tweet as many as I can, as its just a minute out of my day and most charities are run by busy volunteers who give their time to help out.


It got me thinking.


Recently, I've been moaning that the kids have too many toys, which they've pulled out of boxes and played with for a few hours before getting bored. There's nothing wrong with the toys, but its such a waste.


One thing I learned from my time sitting with Littlest in SCBU, hospitals are boring places for kids. The hospitals budgets are slashed, budget by budget, so something as trivial as toys and books are the least of their concerns.


When Littlest was leaving, we had lots of prem baby clothes he'd thankfully grown out of. We asked if they were any use to the hospital, and they were, in fact, Cindy who ran the ward was over joyed at us offering.


What has this to do with Charity Tuesday and Christmas, I hear you ask?


I can't be the only Mum who is thinking, prior to Christmas, that if we don't sort out some toys, books, DVDs and games, we'll have to move out. 


What I'd love to suggest is this. Before you bag it up for the tip, for EBay, or for second hand shops, perhaps give your local hospital a call, and find out if they can use it.

In SCBU one thing that was lacking, as there was one between 30 babies was mobiles. You know the cot things with sheep or similar dangling. When Littlest got out of his Incubator, he was in a cot, and to help him to lie straight, and to entertain him, he'd have a mobile attached to the cot for an hour a day. However, the Nurses told me they'd like all the cot dwellers to have one, as it soothes the baby. 


Family rooms can be a sad uninviting place, but the inclusion of pictures, books and other bits can brighten up a child's day. It saves the hospitals money, and even better you can feel safe in the knowledge that its the best form of up-cycling you can get.


Let me know if you join in! Would love to see some blogs about this so feel free to blog it if you do.


I'm calling it #BloggersGivingBack, and would love as much support as possible. No money needs to be given, just time and a few old toys.