I’ll turn 37 this weekend. Yep, well into my late 30's now! Ooh no!

In lieu of gifts/cards/booze, my birthday wish is to help the
following places who do a huge amount of work in supporting kids and
adults alike in very tough times:-

Marie Curie Cancer Care
Thames Hospice Care
UNICEF

Since I am turning 37 this year, please can I ask you to pick any one
of these amazing organisations and support them with a donation
of...wait for it...£37.

I know that's quite a big ask, but hey, to be honest, feel free to
give anything you can, £5 up to £500, whatever you can afford.

Beyond the good karma and thank-you letters you'll receive, here's
some other incentives to donate, all of them a bit crazy and I promise
absolutely 100% genuine:-

-Incentive #1
How it becomes £2,000: I will match every pound donated, pound for
pound, up to £2,000 total. Yes, I'm insane. But you all know that
already.

That means any time the total donations for all 3 places hit £1,000, I
will donate the equivalent amount for each charity on their
corresponding donation page.

-Example
Marie Curie total is £300, Thames Hospice total is £400 and UNICEF
total is £300. Yippee! The total has hit £1,000!
I'll then go on to each donation page and donate the equivalent total
amount to that charity - in this case £300, £400 and £300.
Total = £2,000

Sounds like fun right?

So, please pick one of these great organisations to support, go to the
donation page and look around. Seriously, take a peek!

Marie Curie
http://www.justgiving.com/daveunusualbirthdaypresentmariecurie

Thames Hospice Care
http://www.justgiving.com/daveunusualbirthdaypresentthameshospice

UNICEF
http://www.justgiving.com/daveunusualbirthdaypresentunicef

The goal is to get approximately 30 donors at an average of £37 each,
which will add up to about £1,000 and, matched, add up to £2,000.

Almost everyone has donated via justgiving.com before, so you all know
that it only takes about 5 minutes to do, but please let me know if
you have any issues when you're trying to use the site or donate.

-Incentive #2
Hey, it gets better - I get to give you a present too! It involves one
of my big loves - food!

Please help spread the word about this to friends and and family and
neighbours:-

Simply tell people that I've lost my mind and I'm matching donations,
and then forward them this mail or the justgiving.com links above.

Then email me back, telling me what you did to spread the word
(Facebook, Twitter, myspace, email blast, the sillier the better).

I'm going to take the three most ingenious promoters, and then the
four of us are going out to dinner - on me - at my most favourite
restaurant on the planet - Le Gavroche. It will be a night to remember
I promise!
http://www.le-gavroche.co.uk/

Beyond the cheesy bribes and general stupidity of this mail, I hope
you’ll feel pretty good about helping out these absolutely wonderful
places who have done so much for so many people.

Ok, I think that's everything. Please help give me a super birthday
present this year!