Charity begins at home, or so the saying goes. However, more and more we are asked to dig deep and give to all manner of charities, disaster funds, sponsored runs, swims, walks, the list is endless and it gets harder to decide where donations should go. We all get to the point where it is impossible to keep giving.
The Timber Trades’ Benevolent Society currently has over 200 beneficiaries. We have just one employee and overheads are kept under constant review and were drastically reduced when we moved the office from rented accommodation to our general manager’s study a couple of years ago!
We know that out there are people who have worked in the trade and who now find it hard to make ends meet. We are not talking just about senior citizens, but also those people who have had to retire early through ill health or an accident and who still have a family to care for.
At the very least, please put us in touch with any past members of the trade who you may think would benefit from a little extra help, be it a television, Christmas hamper, help with telephone line rental or a quarterly allowance (to name but a few of the regular benefits we supply), not to mention the one-off grants towards equipment for the disabled which the state is unwilling or unable to provide. All referrals will be treated in utmost confidence.
Support your local area society, go to the dances, the lunches, the golf days, the go-kart racing, have a good time and, in the process, help to raise funds so that we may continue our work.
Make 2005 the year you give something back to the trade and help us to make someone’s year a little happier.
If I have managed to grab your interest and you would like to know more and/or get involved at a local level, please do not hesitate to pick up the phone and ring Malcolm Job who will be only too happy to hear from you (0121 705 5686).
I am looking forward to taking this
message around the country during the next two years and ask for your support for
your charity.
