Charitable giving; Snowdrop gives hope
Charitable giving
According to the World Giving Index the UK is a charitable country. The Charities Aid Foundation index rates 140 countries against three indices: helping a stranger, volunteering time and donating money. The UK takes eleventh place behind the Netherlands in tenth position, Ireland in eight position, Canada in seventh position and the US in fifth position.
Myanmar (Burma) is in first position, 51% of residents saying that they had volunteered, 53% claimed to have helped a stranger and 91% donating to charity. The Charities Aid Foundation believes that: as Theravada Buddhism is practiced by the majority of Myanmar residents Sangha Dana – the practice of supporting Buddhist monks – may contribute to this giving lifestyle. In the UK 28% volunteered, 64% helped somebody and 58% donated money to charity. Below the UK’s position eleven on the World Giving Index, in all of the other Western countries giving was in decline during 2017 compared to 2016.
Snowdrop gives hope
In keeping with the UK’s giving nature here at MarchwoodIFA we support local Chichester-based sick children’s charity Snowdrop.
Help and care is provided by Snowdrop to sick children and their families in the home. In many cases families want to learn how to use medical equipment, such as nasal gastric tubes for feeding, and need the support of a qualified nurse. Having a sick child can also put a strain on the family’s time; medical carers are able to give parents, guardians and siblings a much-needed break. As much as 70% of Snowdrop donations go directly to sick children and to their families. Very often a family member may have to give up work to free up time to care for a sick child, which means that financial help is needed. Caring for a sick child and getting to hospital can be very costly. By way of example a return taxi fare to Great Ormond Street for a bone marrow or a kidney transplant costs over £160. Parents travel thousands of miles to take their children to hospital; Snowdrop has Family Volunteers who take families to and from appointments in their own cars to ease this burden. Snowdrop has bereavement counselors and continues to grow expertise in this area. Recently Snowdrop founder Di Levantine and counselor Phil Portway have worked with trainee-teachers from Chichester University to develop a bereavement-counseling guide for teachers. Currently bereavement is not included in the teacher-training curriculum. The Snowdrop resource is proving invaluable for schools and teachers where a pupil is diagnosed with a life threatening, or a terminal illness.
If you would like to make a donation to Snowdrop please click here.
If you would like any advice on critical or serious illness policies, many of which offer automatic children’s cover payable as a lump sum, please contact MarchwoodIFA on 01243 532 635 to arrange a consultation.
As ever we would advise you to speak to an Independent Financial Advisor about your finances. We have specialists that are able to discuss specific options with you.
To discuss Life, serious illness and income protection insurances (to protect a debt such as a mortgage or to make sure that your family is well looked after financially after the death of a parent/partner) or equity release to help you plan for income in retirement please ask to speak to Hamish Gairns.
To discuss mortgages & insurances please ask to speak to James Mayne.
To discuss retirement and investment plans with us please ask to speak to Richard Smith.