Do Something Worthwhile – Karl Gets Involved In Charity Event With Gears+ And Friends Of Chernobyl’s Children

There’s a lot to be said for doing a good deed.  In this modern world that we live in, it’s too easy to get wrapped up in our “normal” lives and spend all of our time chasing something for our own game.  Wouldn’t it be a great change to get away from chasing targets every day, whether it be salary, sales targets, or any of the other number games we seem to get transfixed on?

One of the great keys to personal success is personal fulfilment.  For most people, goals and achievements are defined as tangible or monetary gains.  It’s true that these things can give us the stability to achieve greater things, but if we remove mass marketing and mass media from our minds for a minute, what’s left?  Well for a start you wouldn’t be striving to buy that exclusive sports car, the holiday home in Tahiti, or the designer clothes that seem to all form a big part of many people’s ideal of success.

Success goes much deeper than that.  Success is not necessarily a measure of how much money one has, nor a measure of how many possessions one can claim as their own.

True success is a feeling deep inside.  Let’s try something – In principle I want you to strip away all of your possessions.  Take away everything that was bought or inherited or paid for with money.  What’s left?  Are you happy with what you’ve got?  If not, why not?  Do you maybe feel that there’s nothing to shout about once the possessions have gone?  If so, you could really benefit by doing something special for someone else!  You can make the choice to change someone’s life for the better.

On 26th June 2009, I had the great pleasure of helping at a charity event organised by Salford-based charity Gears+ and Friends of Chernobyl’s Children.  The event was aimed at giving the children a fun day to remember.  Everybody had a fantastic day – and I really do mean everyone.  Naturally the children were delighted at the chance to ride in a hovercraft around a farm, over hills, through freshly cut grass, and over a lake (who wouldn’t love that?!).  They enjoyed riding the buggy, quad bike and morotcycle around the fields too.  Equally, the event organisers, volunteers, and sponsors had a great time too!  Not only did we all get to feel like oversized children with the blessing of being away from our desks and spending a day in the glorious sunshine, but we also gained so much in seeing how much the children enjoyed and appreciated the day.  The personal feeling of contribution certainly outweighs the monetary deficit from being away from my desk for the day.

Here’s the important part… It takes people such as the event organisers and sponsors to make things like this happen.  Without them there wouldn’t have been an event at all.

With any luck, you’re now feeling like contributing and getting a real slice of success in your life… if not, what else do you need to be convinced?  That question is not rhetorical, I’m genuinely interested in hearing why you’re not inspired to do soemthing good to contribute to others, so please leave me your comments!

If you are inspired to do something good for someone, here’s a few ideas for you to get started:

Are you a Business Owner / PR Manager?  You could…

• Find a local charity and arrange sponsorship of an event
• Arrange to get your staff involved helping at an event – It could be part of their PDP
• Promote good causes in your email footers
• Write articles about good causes on your website
• Send your staff on a fun and fulfilling group charity event rather than the usual costly team building sessions

Interested in volunteering?  You could…

• Contact your local council for a list of charities and give them a call
• Search Google for local charity events and get in touch with them
• Contact registered charities and ask if they need any volunteers

These are just a few ways you could get involved.  If you’d like to contribute additional ideas, leave a comment and we can amend the article accordingly.

We would would love to hear your stories of success through contribution.  If you’d like to share them with us, please leave a comment, or send an email.