We didn’t give because we got something for doing it; we gave because it was the right thing to do.
— Dr Rebecca Williams Dinsdale, prize-winning triple graduate, and a person with lived experience of ME/CFS
I’ve always loved the idea of fundraising.
It started when I was very little and a lady was collecting in the street and giving out stickers for a donation. I really wanted a sticker, and she had a kindly face. I beseeched my Daddy for some money, and an epic life lesson ensued.
He said that we didn’t give because we got something for doing it; we gave because it was the right thing to do – explaining that Gift Aid and an ongoing donation supports charities to plan and help people in the long term. The morals stuck and led to a lifetime of trying to contribute whether there was an acknowledgement of it or not.
When my Granny lost her sight, I helped her write the cheques to her charities.
Personally, she lived very frugally but gave immensely.
I saw just how generous she was to others, and no-one knew a thing about it – except her best pal with the wobbly writing on the cheque stubs!
I knew after five years of severe M.E. that science was our best hope.
At school we had a sponsored silence in aid of Help the Aged, and it was the best hour of my school life. The certificate I received was signed by a man called Hugh Faulkner. A decade later, we would become friends as he started the CFS Research Foundation with his remarkable wife, Anne. That coincidence was astonishing and I knew after five years of severe M.E. that science was our best hope.
I was privileged to attend Hugh’s memorial service and saw his beautiful grandchild, beaming with loving pride, as he held a plate of donations that reached his chin. It took me a month to recover from going but a lifetime to savour it.
When we are very ill, it is hard to fundraise or even think that it could be possible. Battling back at illness in the most productive of ways, however, is empowering.
Here are some ideas to help those doing the most to help us:
- Could you request donations rather than birthday gifts or wedding presents?
- Do you know a runner who could gather sponsorship for the cause?
- Can you save a certain type of coin in a jar, so they accumulate over time?
- Can you set up a small, sustainable direct debit or ask a family member to do so?
- Are there any local Trusts or organisations that might be approached with a polite letter?
- Sadly, is there a funeral where a donation box could be used for this worthy cause?
- Think of the wonderful long-term plan of donating to M.E. Research in our wills
Fundraising can be joyous and worthy of all the stickers in the world.
After a decade of raising small amounts with help from family and fitter friends, my husband Kevin and I had an ethical wedding.
At the time I was very unwell, so we held an afternoon church service with a request for no gifts – only donations to ME research. The joy of raising thousands of pounds made up for any lack of material goods.
My lovely Mother was a very generous woman and a great supporter of any fundraising effort. We had the desperate situation where she was diagnosed with early-onset dementia in her 50s.
She wanted me to take her funeral service as I had been a minister, and we had donations for ME Research UK.
Fundraising can be joyous and worthy of all the stickers in the world, coupled with a deep knowing that every effort was made when it mattered most. Thank you beyond measure for being at our side and on our side.
Words of gratitude
Thank you to all those who work and support this wonderful organisation. We need, respect and admire every effort ME Research UK makes on our behalf.
We bless the volunteers, whose time is invaluable and tone of interactions delightful.
We cherish the scientists working away in labs and libraries, and salute the diligence and determination of PhD candidates plodding through endless research papers, trials and references. A career in caring for those so neglected and abandoned is a true vocation.
Every hour of research is an hour to help brave people who are torn away from normal living and enduring immense amounts of struggle and suffering.
