Thanks sponsoring me for the London 10K in aid of the donkey sanctuary... the donkey in question being Eeyore.  Yes, the deserving charity this year is Depression Alliance, for which I volunteered for donkeys' years (15 in fact, until last year).

 

People say this volunteer work has changed and saved lives just by being there and letting people talk without fear of judgement (the meek don't inherit the earth, in fact, they tend to get a pretty raw deal).  There are many volunteers up and down England doing similar stuff, but more needs to be done, and it seems the national organisation is far better run than it has been at any other time over those 15 years. 

 

Here's the bit from JG.  In my experience it works pretty smoothly:

"Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity."

 

And the charity says:

"The money we raise will go towards resourcing a national network of projects, aimed at ending the loneliness and isolation experienced as either the result of or as a cause of depression. It is still greatly stigmatised condition that will affect, to some degree or another, 1 in 4 of the adult population of the UK (that’s nearly 15 million people). We will all know someone who has been, is now or will be in the future a sufferer of this life-crippling, sometimes fatal condition."

Please feel free forward to anyone with pennies to spare.