There are countless ways we can do good stuff for those in need

I HAVE a terrible admission: often when I see those people representing charities in the street, who are going to ask me to sign up to £2 a month or whatever, I pretend to be on the phone.

I know it’s wrong but I just don’t want to have that awkward moment of them telling me how awful things are for children/animals/homeless people and that my £2 a month could make all the difference, and for me to have to say that actually I’ve been giving XYZ and so can’t really afford it.

I know there are terrible things going on in the world but yet it seems to be my input which is necessary instead of governments or nationally funded organisations which seem to have gone for a collective wander while all this suffering was going on.

And I know that the people asking for the money – sometimes rather unkindly called ‘chuggers’ which is shorthand for ‘charity muggers’ – are only doing their jobs.

But I just don’t want to engage, so that they can take £2 a month or whatever, and give me a leaflet on what it could well possibly be spent on. It all feels so impersonal.

This is not to bash charities, who I realise don’t have the resources to pair up donors with recipients so that I can take some satisfaction that my money is being properly used. Every charity, from Cancer Research to St Luke’s Hospice, from the Red Cross to Jeremiah’s Journey, needs money to be able to carry on providing their services, and they don’t want to spend that money on telling us what they are spending the money on. It’s a vicious cycle I guess.

But I am a big fan of more personal acts of giving.

Over the weekend, I took my girls shopping so we could collect up enough to fill a shoebox which will be taken to Ukraine for a child who might not otherwise get presents. A similar endeavour has been done recently by charitable group The Soroptimists, with a group of 10 generous members of a West Country club creating an incredible 50 decorated boxes which are to be taken out on a convoy carrying other aid.

I am lucky too that I know Andreas Evangelou, a man from Plymouth who is about to embark on his eighth trip to Ukraine, having first headed to the country when he felt like he had to do something, having seen his own family turfed out of their ancestral lands in Cyprus in 1974. He’s driven seven caravans out on his trips over the last two years, and left five vehicles in Ukraine. Not to mention the tonnes of aid which he carried in their innards. So a shoebox or two felt like something I could do to help.

They had packs of pens and pencils already which have never been used, so in they went, together with some colouring books (empty, of course) and an activity book we found in a shop.

We added a lip balm to each box, a hat and scarf and pair of gloves, and a mirror/hair comb compact set. All designed for a little girl, which is what my kids both said they wanted to donate to. I probably spent £20-30 on each box, as well as donating some things which might have otherwise been thrown out but which were perfectly serviceable.

There are countless other ways in which people can do good stuff for those in need, whether that is in this country or elsewhere, and this is just one example of something which feels like a personal way of giving.