"I can spend £5.48 on better things."
Back at the start of July, Kate introduced me to Ksolo.com. We both love our karaoke*, so online karaoke seemed to be a fine idea. Only thing is that if you want to sing, you have to pay. The fee, in US$, worked out to £5.48. At the start of August, when Ksolo asked me to pay up for another month of unlimited recordings, I declined. When I told this to Kate, I justified my decision with the remark, "I can spend £5.48 on better things."
Yesterday, I chatted away to Kate about how I was thinking of sponsoring a guide dog puppy. The cost is £5.00 a month. She asked me if I could afford it. I shrugged because I hadn't really thought about spending £5.00 a month outside of groceries etc before.
I was able to consider £5.48 of online karaoke per month, with a view that I could afford to spend just over five quid for my own entertainment. I thought about it and deliberated and yeah, I can afford £5.00 to sponsor a guide dog puppy. £5.00 a month on a guide dog is better than spending £5.00 a day on cigarettes or £5.00 a month on chewing gum. So, I am giving back a little to society.
For a while now, I have felt like I want to make some kind of contribution that is outside myself and outside my family. Something beyond my comfort zone. Guide dogs provide a very valuable service to the blind and partially sighted, and having spoken to a blind man with a dog, I realise just how much money and time is spent on these very clever animals.
*Incidentally, if you are interested in hearing my cacophonic rasps, you can do so HERE. If you fancy listening to Kate, you can do so HERE.
Well, I think it's wonderful what you're doing. I sponsored a dog at the NCDL (I think it's called the Dog's Trust now) on *'s behalf for a couple of years, and that felt nice too. Much better than giving money to the tobacco industry, which, incidentally, experiments on animals!
ReplyDeleteBTW, we can't hear you gals sing! Boo hoo, and to think I got all excited when I saw you've got More Than Words in your repertoire...
In fact, we've sponsored two NCDL dogs over the years: JG and Henry Ramsay (the latter being a dead ringer for Anthony Quinn). And I give £5 to the WWF each month, too. It does feel good to do good things for animals. They get a lot of shit from us humans. Well done, Tanya.
ReplyDeleteThat is so commendable Tanya. Good on ya!
ReplyDeleteWe do an annual thing, where we sponcer an animal from the WWF in Kiras name (my daughter). She is three, and we have spncered a lion, a panda and this year a housing of monarch butterflies. She gets a certificate (which we are keeping for her for when she understands a little better) and we normally get some nature of trinket from the WWF. A little lion beanie toy, a little panda beanie toy.. but this year they sent a mock set of wings that kira can wear! it's darling.
Good one indeed! I give money to 3 different animal charities - all very worthy causes in my opinion...
ReplyDeleteFree Me - www.freeme.org.za
PDSA - www.pdsa.org.za
CLAW - http://myweb.absa.co.za/suven/claw.html
That is so neat, I watched a show on the training of guide dogs once, a lot goes into it.
ReplyDeleteI donate to a couple of animal charities off and on, I'm not as consistant with it as I would like to be though.
Yay for you. :)
That's great Tanya! And you're really not going to notice the money isn't there.
ReplyDeleteI sponsor a child in Togo through Foster Parent's Plan. It's $35 a month. Sure I could certainly use that money in my pocket but missing out on a movie or a lunch out once a month is a sacrifice I'm willing to make if it helps out someone in need. And as a bonus for me (along with feeling good about helping someone), I get a tax receipt from the charity at the end of the year when I go to do my taxes.
* (asterisk) - a dog that looked like Anthony Quinn? *sigh* - I loved Anthony...