[CHARITIES] The great big thread of who you can help this Christmas

Darragh

Hey folks

There are various charity initiatives, campaigns and drives happening this Christmas to help those in need. This is the thread where you can post and find out about any Charities who feel they could use your help this year!

Cheers

Darragh

Darragh

Christmas FM are back this year, already broadcasting around the country on Dublin - 89.9 | Limerick -105.5 | Cork -106.7 | Galway -89.5 | South East -103.8 and on http://www.christmasfm.ie[/B]

They are an All Volunteer station, everybody is doing this for free, for the enjoyment and to raise awareness (and funds) for Barnardos.

For every text you send to the Station at 57000, proceeds of the €1 will be donated to Barnardos.

Just text 'xmas' and your message to 57000 and your donation will be received!

Best of luck to all volunteers working on ChristmasFM

Darragh

Santas and Collectors needed!!!

The '100 Singing Santas' takes place on Monday December 20th on Grafton Street

We are aiming to raise €20,000 for St Vincent de Paul, St Luke's Hospital, AWARE and Kidane Mehret.

We will be meeting up at about 12.30 on the Monday to sing our little socks off and it will be finished by 4pm. There will be a free drink after the event for those wonderful people who gave their time.

All details over on

http://bit.ly/100santas

Darragh

I've been told about this a couple of times now and feel it's very worthy of including:

http://www.karenhamill.org

Karen is a 27-year-old, very much loved daughter, sister, granddaughter, niece, cousin, girlfried, best friend and in particular, treasured Auntie to her two much loved Nephews

Having spent 2 years travelling and working in Australia and New Zealand, Karen and her long term boyfriend Ger were having a final beach holiday in Vietnam before returning home to Ireland. They were due here in time for Christmas - a time of year that Karen loves.

But now our wonderful Karen lies in a critical condition in the FV Hospital in Ho Chi Min City, Vietnam.

She has been struck down by Encephalitis. The doctors say this is a new strain of Encephalitis one which they haven’t seen before.

Encephalitis is a bacterium or in some cases a virus that attacks the brain causing an infection. Infected nerves become damaged or destroyed and this leads to seizures, convulsions, tremors, hallucinations, memory problems and in cases such as Karen's, it can cause a stroke. These symptoms in turn can lead to permanent brain damage.

We’ve been told that Karen has brain damage. However the doctors can’t assess the extent of the damage until this destructive virus has run its course through her system. She has also developed pneumonia.

Karen is on a variety of strong medications and although she is very, very weak, she is still fighting.

Anyone who knows Karen knows she has always looked after her health - keeping very fit and eating well. The doctors say that this is what has helped her to fight.

SO WHY DO WE NEED YOUR HELP?

Karen’s insurance claim has been disallowed, therefore we, her family, must cover the costs of her medical expenses. As she is now off the ventilator, the average daily hospital charges have changed to €1,700 per day.

That amounts to €11,900 per week!! Her mother is given a bill every 3-4 days with a request for immediate payment.

We also have to plan for the cost of getting Karen home. We don’t yet know when that will be or what condition she will be in. She may need an air ambulance, the cost of which, we have been told is anything from €80,000 up.

We feel we are living in a nightmare, between the worry over Karen and trying to find the money to meet her present hospital bills and planning for the cost of bringing her home. We have exhausted our own family resources and now are forced to launch this appeal for help.

You'll find information on Karen here - http://www.karenhamill.org and on Facebook - http;//www.facebook.com/fundraiserforkaren

There's also an event this evening, Monday 13 December in Dublin 1 - details here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=161090117267141
- Paddy Cullivan from The Late Late Show/Camembert Quartet House Band, RTE's Karl Spain, Eric Lalor, World Street Performer Champion Comedy Magician, Jack Wise, Laughter Lounge MC and 2FM Comedian Steve Cummins, Ro from Lir & Special Guests.

Best of luck to all of Karen's family, friends and supporters.

Tails

Camara Education is a volunteer based charity that takes in old computers from organisations and individuals, wipes the hard drives, cleans them, installs educational software before shipping them out to educational centres in schools in Africa.

Through their Christmas Learning Shop you can send a computer to Africa for just €10! After making the donation a person has the option to enter their friend’s/relation's details and Camara will forward a Christmas card to the chosen person along with a tracking number which will allow them track the computer’s journey from Ireland to a school in Africa.

On average 20-30 children get to benefit from each computer over the year which makes a fundamental difference in their lives. People can make a donation or buy the gift at http://shop.camara.ie

Here is a short video about the Learning Shop

You can also find out more about Camara on www.camara.ie or follow them on Facebook or Twitter