February 2016 - The Stroke Association

The Donate a Day charity chosen for February 2016 is The Stroke Association.

This UK charity has an immediate relevance to me. My mother had a stroke in early February this year and is currently (as I write this) in hospital recovering from this. She seems to have been lucky and the long term effects seem to be limited. There will be some impact, but many people suffer much more from strokes.

The Stroke Association provides a lot of information that is very useful to sufferers and their carers and families. Many of the websites I have recently visited to find out more information about my mother's condition are either directly provided by this organisation, or reference The Stroke Association's guides and information leaflets.

January 2016 - Compassion in World Farming

The Donate a Day charity for January is Compassion in World Farming.

This is a charity that I have long supported. I became a vegetarian over 30 years ago not because I felt we should not be eating animals at all, but because I felt we did not treat them with the respect they deserve. I am not against animal farming, I am very much against the poor treatment that animals get under many modern farming methods. Human economics has completely destroyed morality and ethics when it comes to our treatment of animals for food.

Compassion in World Farming echoes my sentiments very well. Getting humanity to all give up eating meat is not an achievable aim. Getting humanity to give more respect towards animals is achievable. We have come a long way, not least because of charities like CIWF who highlight the practices behind much of our food industries. Raising awareness is the first step, and a very important one.