When Charity Doesn’t Cost a Penny

Do you believe in coincidences? Try this one for size and then let’s talk … Last Friday, I read a guest post over at The Big Red Tomato Company from Ben Lumley that gave me cause to stop and reflect on why we do what we do here at Give A Brick. The day before, Karen Ruby offered a challenge of a similar nature. The day before that, Travis Morgan and I talked about this too after I read his post.

It wasn’t until I just looked back and appreciated how close all these happenings were, that I realised just how significant this reflection might turn out to be. I don’t believe in coincidences. There is no such thing. I prefer to call them God-incidences

From January 5th, when we started writing regular content and building this blog with more drive, until now, I have never not known what to write about. Six days ago we introduced a new daily series which aims to provide daily motivation in short, bite size pieces. Someone asked me where the ideas come from. I have to tell you they just sort of pop into my head: I see ideas everywhere and have woken in the dead of night with sudden clarity of thought. A cynic would tell you that this proves nothing. I’m not offering this as proof, just an explanation of where I’m coming from.

As I’ve expressed before, I have a vision of Give A Brick as being a vehicle to make a difference in the lives of ordinary people who need the opportunity to smile. The first project we’re supporting is part of that but I have this feeling that Give A Brick could be so much more.

When this blog first started to be used properly, less than one month ago, it was done so with the sole intention of letting you know that we exist. (It’s very difficult to ask ‘everyone’ to Give A Brick if no-one knows you even exist ) Not knowing what would make a difference, we offered stories to make people think, articles to encourage and motivate and ideas about how you can help the charity.

It was reading Travis’s post about core values that encouraged me to think about how Give A Brick has evolved from there and what we can do next to make a difference. As I said to him then, I would love Give A Brick to be an online community of people helping each other out, listening and being listened to. That’s why I write the stuff I do, hoping it will lift someone and make them smile.

And that aspect of Give A Brick doesn’t cost a single penny (hence the title ) We all need to be loved, respected and listened to. We need to feel valued and safe. I have this vision of Give A Brick being an online safe house where people can share and love one another. That’s not to detract from our bricks and mortar projects. These make a real difference and are impossible without the kindness of people just like you giving a brick.

But the really cool thing is that back in November 2007, when the charity did it’s paperwork to set up as a charity and get registered, we talked about how we were going to make a difference. We wrote about concrete stuff at a community level but guess what, we also said we’d be working to “Provide advocacy / advice / information” Back then, we had no concept of what that would mean in real terms but it’s there in black and white in our charity documents. Coincidence? I think not

But now it’s over to you. Today is a special day as we throw open the doors for you to start building this space. We’ve added a ‘log in‘ button at the top. You’ll need to register before logging in but doing so will only take a few moments of your time. If you have your own website, you can add a link to it in your profile too

As I write this, I don’t know how this will develop. Any-one can register and start writing blog posts. For now at least, your posts will need to be approved by one of our editors before being published in order to make sure we don’t get taken advantage of However, don’t allow that to put you off. If you have something to share that will make someone smile, it’s just what we’re looking for.

Am I mad? Is this one of the daftest things I’ve ever proposed? Only time will tell but I’d love to hear what you think