Can dMw donate £50 to the tsunami relief fund?

[TeaLeaf]

I have just finished watching the BBC News Special about the earthquake, the subsequent tsunami and the devastation that has hit the 12 countries involved.  I have two young children myself and to be brutally honest with you I had a lump in my throat and was on the verge of tears as I listened to the situation out there and in particular the stories of some of the parents out there who are searching for, or have found their now dead children.

I therefore want your (the members') permission to make a £50 donation on behalf of dMw to the DEC Tsunami Earthquake Appeal at www.dec.org.uk.  Please give your permission: VOTE 'YES' NOW.

Why £50?  This was a figure mentioned in the special report and this amount is sufficient to buy the materials needed to build a new home/shelter for a family.  Imagine if it were you.  Think about how you would feel if it were your family.  Comtemplate how you would cope with searching through debris in search of your children and your emotions as you find them, dead or alive.

Please vote now.  The poll will be reviewed tomorrow evening and the majority view will provide the Yes or No answer.

Thank you.

The Admins.

For those who do not know, the DEC is the Disasters Emergency Committee which is set up to launch and coordinate the UK's National Appeal in response to major disasters overseas.

Removing my Admin hat and speaking personally:
I am a huge fatalist and a massive sceptic.  When I know it's LiveAid my main thought is 'what a crap night of TV it is going to be'.   But this event has made an impact on me, so much so that I am going to set you a personal challenge.  

I have been sickened by the scale of the tragedy as details have unfolded.  However I have been even more disturbed by the level of aid to be provided by the so-called 'wealthy' countries to the devastated areas.  The UK's own response started at £500,000 and then our 'political generosity' increased in stages over a 48 hour period to the current £15m aid as the Government realised that the polls showed that the UK people actually cared about the people who have sufferred.  Well let me do the math for you:  Â£15m is not enough to solve the problem for an estimated 10m people who have been directly affected by this tragedy.  True, you cannot just throw money at the problem to solve it, but a sufficient amount would go a huge way to allowing certain materials and supplies to be purchased and airlifted into the affected regions.

I personally would be prepared to pay an extra 0.25% income tax for the next 12 months to donate to the DEC fund.  If we all did this it would raise about £0.5bn - that's over 33 times what the UK Government is proposing.  Now £0.5bn is a decent sum of money and if the UK confirmed aid at this level then it would force other countries to do similar and the total sum raised would be more like the REAL figure needed to help these folks recover from the total devastation that has befallen them.

So here's my personal challenge to you:

• Get out your calculator and work out what 0.25% of your salary is.  Yep, it's a small number so don't be alarmed.
• Go to the DEC website: http://www.dec.org.uk/
  
• Make a personal donation, try to aim for that 0.25% figure.
• Now go and tell everyone you know about this post and get them to do the same.
• Spread the word, spread a little love and goodwill this Christmas.

You don't have to post here to say you have made a donation, but it sure helps others when they know that they are nto alone.  If you want to then just log out and reply to this thread as a guest, that way we get the moral support,  the DEC fund gets your money and you keep your anonimity.  

I have just done it myself.  Why don't YOU think about doing the same, NOW?

Thank you.

TL.

[Vincentvega]

errr  go on then if we must.......NO, DO IT.
It'll be 100.000 dead b4 long every bit counts

[Anonymous]

Can we make it £100 and help 2 families?

And remember peeps they need this help NOW!!!!!

[Vincentvega]

Originally posted by BlueBall@Dec 29 2004, 08:39 PM
Can we make it £100 and help 2 families?

And remember peeps they need this help NOW!!!!!

[post=73343]Quoted post[/post]

[/b]

YEAH WOTEVA IT TAKES TBH
It does'nt bear thinking about...must be horrible out there

[Anonymous]

Anybody who is unsure have a look at this and imagine that it was your town. Just look at the speed the water hit!

[Vincentvega]

Those pictures surprised me BB cos the ones shown on tv dont seem to show anything to bad ...but then i dont watch the news that often.
But we must help them.
Live Aid can take a runnin jump and pudsey.
They NEED help and lots of it.

[Anonymous]

The link is to a video from BBC website. Its quite recent I think

[Guest]

0.25% done.

[Anonymous]

Originally posted by Guest@Dec 29 2004, 09:01 PM
0.25% done.

[post=73348]Quoted post[/post]

[/b]

Me too.

[DuVeL]

I've allready given some money by sending SMSes but yes plz! Good call!!! 4 a good cause.

[Gh0st Face Killah]

Two of my very good friends went out to Thailand for xmas and new year. I have no way of contacting them to find out if they are alright. I have contacted all the people I know who know them and no one has heard anything so I'm quite worried about them. So yes please donate the money.

[BADAIM!!]

done my bit but.. realistcily speaking its not enough so gonna try to do something in my local asda store where i work..   ...and yes tl good call

[smilodon]

I discovered tonight that family friends died in Indonesia. My fathers golf buddy was found drowned in his hotel room and his new fiancee has disappeared from the same room, probably washed away. My brothers best friend is still unaccounted for. Happily a cousin was on the other side of Thialand when the disaster struck and is safe.

I was going to post a message asking if we could donate more of the fund than £50. In fact I wrote half a post arguing that we give everything and then replace those funds through paypal in the new year. On reflection though TL (as usual) has the balance right.

All I'd say is if you do choose to help, maybe make that extra gesture. If your  0.25% donation is forty something pounds why not round it up to a neat fifty. If you earn a bundle and you calculate it to be eighty something pounds then what about a nice  round hundred quid. If you don't work at all why not just empty your wallet tonight and watch Tv instead of going down the pub. Of course ultimatley what each of us chooses to do is no ones business but our own and I've certainly no right to start preaching. My charitable work to date has been nothing to be proud of.

How can small gestures make even a tiny dent in a disaster of this size? They can't. But collectively many small gestures can make massive difference and will decide if someone somewhere lives or dies during the next few months and years. We'll never know who they are, or what their name is. We won't know if they are young or old or male of female. But they're out there none the less, sitting in the ruin of their lives.

It's Christmas. We've spent a fortune on booze, pressies and food. They call it the silly season, so why not do something a bit foolish. Bung another tenner on, be crazy  

[Anonymous]

That's a really moving post Smilo. I think the bit that really got me was:

It's Christmas. We've spent a fortune on booze, pressies and food. They call it the silly season, so why not do something a bit foolish.

C'mon peeps these people are sat there relying on people like us to do something for them, not because they don't want to help themselves but because at the moment they have the thin end of the stick and cannot help themselves.

I repeat my earlier request: Can we make it a £100? I'm sure the clan funds can meet that and if it leaves us short well we'll just go ahead and dig into our pockets again later this year - at least we can

Oh. And don't forget your 0.25% <- Thats an excellent idea TL and I'm glad you suggested it. If, like me, you find the site busy and responsive don't stop trying. It took about 11 attempts to get the pay site to appear - people are obviously willing to give and the site is under pressure. Thats good and we should put it under a bit more strain

[Whitey]

Great idea TL and my contribution has been made but as a 40% tax payer I'd like to see more of the money I give to the government going to help, lets face it the government are always bragging about how good the economy is so why not give some substantial help and not the token gesture made so far.