Charity is not an event

It seems to be Sport’s Aid this week.  Not Live Aid, nor Comic Relief – but a sort of mutual backslapping other form of relief which provides some minor celebrities and sports stars to do something heroic in their efforts to get on television.   don’t want to appear churlish – but I am getting pretty sick of all the media extravaganzas thrusting charity down my throat.

Now some of the events I am vaguely aware of are indeed quite breathtaking.  The bubbly girl with a funny accent on Blue Peter has apparently canooed her way down the Amazon.  And a discredited ex-rugby player has pedalled all the way from Rome to Edinburgh taking in every 5 nations venue on the way.  Quite an achievement – and they have raised lots of money.  But is all this media exposure actually killing off proper charity?

I suppose the general idea that you and I can do something sporty and get some cash for our chosen charity is quite worthy – but do I really need to see it on television raising zillions of pounds which lands like so much largesse on good causes.  Does it perhaps starve thousands of other charities of funds – whilst encouraging waste?

The very nature of charity is sometimes quite dubious.  If you are unfortunate to have an accident in a remote or hard to reach place your life may well depend on an air ambulance.  And that will be funded by charity.  More astonishing still, if you take to the seas and get in a spot of bother, your life will depend on the RNLI – and they are entirely funded by charity.  Why?

The very idea of charity is that you feel you really should contribute…. Not feel obliged to contribute.  Remember Live Aid?  Self-obsessed rock and pop stars rallied to the cause (aware no doubt that even flagging careers could receive a welcome boost.  Even royalty got involved.  And millions and millions poured into a country ravaged by war and self-imposed famine.  A couple of decades on Ethiopia is still ravaged by civil war and famine.  And dark stories have emerged that up to 95% of the massive funds raised may actually have been spent on weapons.