Charity Is Not a Lost Cause - Do Something Amazing Today

It doesn't take much to make a real difference to the lives of many. While we all lead increasingly busy lives, we should not forget the privileges we have. Let's take advantage of the benefits we have in our lives and assist those less fortunate than ourselves. It needn't cost us a thing but the payoff is unimaginably huge.
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It doesn't take much to make a real difference to the lives of many. While we all lead increasingly busy lives, we should not forget the privileges we have. Let's take advantage of the benefits we have in our lives and assist those less fortunate than ourselves. It needn't cost us a thing but the payoff is unimaginably huge.

Yes, okay, it's a fairly preachy message and who am I, a meagre TV critic and entertainment reporter to tell you to help out charity? I'm hardly a model charity activist myself. I fully admit to signing petitions under extreme duress without reading the background and playing doge the 'Save The Tigers' guys on the high street.

Life is busy, I have somewhere to be, I put my 1p change in the newsagent's charity box, I'm a pretty model citizen so I have nothing to feel guilty for. I don't catch eye contact with the homeless guy on the street so he isn't really there. I tweet during emotional adverts about the starving children of Africa so I don't have to feel the crippling guilt that I'm not picking up the phone.

Wow, actually, writing it down and reading it back makes me seem like a bit of a tosser really, doesn't it? I pull in a salary, I am comfortable, I have a roof over my head, I am married, I can eat (often I can choose what I eat based on what I fancy) and I can freely take a shower whenever I please. Though I'm more of a bath person. How nice that I have the choice.

So what's £2 a month to me? I can barely get a Greggs sausage roll and a can of coke for that.

It's time that many of us had a good kick up the backside. I recently have and support two charities that are very close to me. Mind, because I have battled my own mental health demons in the past and British Heart Foundation because I have lost loved ones to Heart Disease which runs in my family. Yeah, better cut out those sausage rolls.

I was inspired to do so by a lady called Kym Pye, who is undertaking the 'Nuts Challenge' And it seriously IS nuts...it's a 7km military assault course. Rather her than me! But she was inspired by Tony Grounds drama Our Girl, starring Lacey Turner, which followed soldiers on the front line, to raise money for Help for Heroes. And in turn, I hope my article might inspire one person to do something in their own way.

It's a lovely chain reaction, and it doesn't take much.

Not that I am implying that the Nuts Challenge undertaken by Kym is a walk in the park. It's more a climb of the fortress, crawl through the mud and swing from the monkey bars in the park. As well as raising funds for Help for Heroes, Kym is also being sponsored for the charity Scope after she tragically lost her cousin, Gavin, to cerebal palsy.

In preparation, Kym has been attending the gym and fitness classes in between her busy life as a mother of two and a full time carer. If she can do something this big, we can all surely throw a couple of pounds either her way towards her charities or to a charity of our own.

"I've never attempted anything like this before and I can't even swim!" Kym told me when I asked her about her challenge. "I wanted to help the soldiers and the families who risked their lives for the sake of our country. I have done very little in the last couple of years due to having small children so it will be an achievement for myself too. I am extremely nervous!"

I'm positive that Kym will nail it and the feeling she will have afterwards cannot be described in words. It feels great to do something for someone else. Why don't we all give it a shot this week?

You can find out more about Kym's challenge and make donations to the cause here: