280. Philanthropy

Every year, the two co-owners of the company I work for give each of their employees £1,000, which we then give away to the charities of our choice. It's to their credit that they continue with this sweet and generous scheme, given that there are now 32 people working here...

Everybody who works here gives money to charity on a regular basis. Of course we do, we only have charities as clients and we're all a bit brown-ricey, so it's to be expected. But a grand is a nice wodge of cash - you can really do some good with that.

In a couple of hours, we'll all gather in a room to tell our colleagues how we spent the money and why we chose those particular charities. Here, for your benefit, dear readers, is how I spent mine:

I gave £200 to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. I spend a lot of time by the sea, and a certain amount on or in it. I've called the Lifeboat myself a few times and stood with my heart in my throat until the familiar bright orange boat came streaking along the horizon. The sea is a remorseless, implacable force. It doesn't care about your pathetic puny human body, or your pathetic puny boat. Get tired swimming? Tough. Lose a rope or get smashed by a wave? Tough. Lose power? Tough. Here's some freezing, salty, rough water. Here's a riptide. Here's a huge expanse of nothing but certain death, and fathoms for you to fall.

In the UK, the people who'll do their best to rescue you from the sea are all volunteers. They don't get paid to come out in a storm, or in the middle of the night in the middle of a gale. But they will. Go to the RNLI website and watch some of the videos. Talk about bloody heroes.

I gave £300 to Magic Breakfast. They give children breakfast before school. If they didn't, these kids would sometimes go from lunchtime to lunchtime with nothing in their tummies. Try learning your times tables while you're starving. I had enough trouble and Mum gave us Ready Brek.

I gave £250 to the WRVS. They make sure that isolated and vulnerable older people get out of their houses and are looked after inside them. This one's for Granny, and I was proud to give the money in her name.

And I gave £250 to Action for Children, to support a young carers support group in South London. These kids look after sick or otherwise incapacitated family members. They give up their childhoods to look after the people who should be looking after them. Then very often they get bullied at school and on the streets. The support group gives them a respite, helps them catch up on school-work, gives them access to counsellors and other kids who are going through the same thing. They also get some self-defence lessons. Take that, bullies.

It was a pleasure and a privilege to play junior philanthropist - and I've set up direct debits for all those charities now, too. Every little helps, after all.