Charity is a very personal experience for each person, we each have one that is special or touches our souls whether its animals, children, domestic violence, homelessness, environmental the list can go on and on.

The fact that we feel we are constantly being bombarded by charities for donations should never take away why they are asking….they are asking because as we all know funding is being cut and a majority of these charities run on fundraisers & donations.

The NI Hospice is no exception, the very first Hospice open its doors to families in 1983 and that surprised me, I thought for sure it was older, so looking at what they have achieved in over 30 years on donations is amazing.  The lives and young people that they look after day after day the Macmillan Organisation estimate that from 2015 there are over 63,000 of us living with cancer, at the NI Hospice their tag line is providing care for those with LIFE LIMITING IllNESS, gosh those words strike terror in my heart to be honest.

So it was with great awe that i watched as person after person climbed to the top of the Europa Hotel today, leaned back and slowly worked their way down, absolutely terrified, but doing it anyway because they put themselves out there, they asked for donations and they chose to do something today to do their part for people living with Life Limiting Illnesses. Isn’t that just the amazing thing about humanity, our ability to show empathy and courage, stand up for the people that are too weak to stand up for themselves.  Im very very proud to call these two girls my friends, Alison & Kathy both work for the NI Hospice so they see everyday the generosity of people donating and buying items at the NI Hospice shops, and decided to take the step and do a tiny bit more, because every £1 raised will help another child, father, grandmother who is living with a Life Limiting Illness, who is getting ready to say goodbye to their families.

The girls have a Go Fund me page i have attached the link, if you have a spare £1 then donate, if not then look at the NI Hospice web site and get involved in a fundraiser or donate those items that are gathering dust at home to a local shop, give eBay a miss this week and pop into the shop and see if there’s something that takes your fancy.

I had a lovely morning witnessing the empathy of humanity today, here’s a few photos.