I received the following in my inbox the other day. Elliott (a regular reader) and his colleague are going to be having their chests, legs and bellies waxed in aid of HEMS, a worthy cause if ever I knew one:
After a night out on the town and a few beers, myself and a colleague from White Star Medical Ltd have agreed to have our chest, belly and legs waxed in aid of London Air Ambulance (White Star Medical’s charity of the year).
This event is planned for 2nd October 2006 at The Blind Beggar public house in Whitechapel by The Royal London Hospital where the London Air Ambulance is based.
It costs £1,000 just for the London Air Ambulance to take off and save lives! They take off 3 - 4 times a day and this financial year will need £750,000 to cover rising costs of fuel, insurance and so on.
It’s going to hurt, so help the pain with a donation!
*** If I make the target of £2,000 I will put a movie from the event on the Internet for everyone to see ***
Sponsor Elliott and his colleague here!
I, personally, am dying to see the video in question, so please dig deep. Rather them than me! No-one’s getting their hands on my copious chest hair!
August 12th, 2006 at 7:00 pm
Good to see that support for HEMS is receiving coverage here. I have just been put in post to work as part of HEMS fundraising team…so am impressed!
August 12th, 2006 at 7:47 pm
Thanks for the plug towards my small contribution to keep HEMS flying
August 12th, 2006 at 9:49 pm
A brilliant idea, and good luck from fellow EMS here in North Wales, and I hope it dont hurt too much for the waxing …………OUCH!!
August 13th, 2006 at 1:11 am
Erm, glad to contribute and all that … but …. Video of somebody having hair pulled? No thank you. I’d pay money NOT to see that. (Hmm. May be yet another fundraising opportunity there.)
August 13th, 2006 at 1:15 am
omg they’re nuts!
good luck to them.
August 13th, 2006 at 3:39 am
We have ’shave for a cure’ here in Australia every year to help raise funds for cancer research. There are usually plenty of volunteers to get shaved. I can’t imagine we’d get any where near as many if it was ‘wax for a cure’.
All I can say is, they’re very brave.
August 13th, 2006 at 7:54 am
Will it be a public event?
Might head down and get some photos…. Also, how much would we have to raise for HEMS to get Mark’s chest hair off, eh?
August 13th, 2006 at 9:03 am
Yay! I was the first to donate. The conversion from Australian Dollars makes the amount a little bit random though. I’m also giving the effort a plug on my blog.
C’mon Everyone! As of 6pm Australian time, I’m the only donor…
August 13th, 2006 at 12:53 pm
I have seen this done for a multiple sclerosis charity. I hope you have an ambulance on standby - seeing men screaming like that isn’t nice.
Good luck!
August 13th, 2006 at 9:12 pm
Thanks all especially Ausmedstudent….
Nert…. Ambulance… nah will be fine.. a little liquid pain relief from the bar…
Carmelo… Yes it will be a public event.. come on down!!! It should be 2nd October, Blind Beggar pub, Whitechapel… more the merrier (to buy liquid pain relief!)
August 13th, 2006 at 10:45 pm
What’s the story with giftaid reclaim? Is that like our charities being a tax deduction?
Does anyone know how the website calculates it? I’m a dual citizen. Should I have given my English family’s address and donated in pounds?
August 13th, 2006 at 10:51 pm
You can only claim gift aid if you’re a UK tax payer, so you wouldn’t be able to do it.
Elliott - expect a contribution from me after payday. I am well skint right now!
August 13th, 2006 at 11:02 pm
Ausmedstudent - In simpliest terms it’s like the goverment gives the tax you already paid on your earnings to the charity…
Mark - I can wait till payday, your help with publicity is already great and well appreciated! I’ll keep you in the loop for the next fund raiser for HEMS which is on the planning table and which is even biggerer, madderer, crazierer than the waxing plan
August 14th, 2006 at 1:48 pm
Great idea and I’d love to donate but I resent the fact that 7% of my donation will be lost to the company you’re using to collect monies. Is there another way to donate e.g. somewhere to send a cheque or postal order.
August 14th, 2006 at 3:51 pm
Yes Rob cheques will be suitable, I am opening an account for cheques etc in the next week or so. Drop me a message through the contact form at http://www.whitestarmedical.co.uk/contact.shtml by selecting my name in the liast and I will let you know when it is opened etc. Cheques will be accepted on the night as well.
(Smartgive actually charge 5%, the rest is bank fees, I would rather all the money went to HEMS but as they also organise Gift Aid (UK Taxpayers only) your donation stays the same (the charge comes out of Gift Aid) and ends up more than it was (£10 donation ends up worth £11.82)
August 14th, 2006 at 4:38 pm
Where will the video be published? Ill it be a linkable utube vid?!
It has to be shown on ambulance999.co.uk for deffinate.
August 14th, 2006 at 7:41 pm
As an ambulance999.co.uk member it will be, if I raise £2,000 or more through SmartGive
August 15th, 2006 at 12:27 pm
Thanks Elliott.
I’ve dropped you a message on that site.
August 16th, 2006 at 8:36 pm
Rob - you have mail!
August 17th, 2006 at 8:40 am
Just to clear up for others who may be concerned about the 5% that smart give charge (see my second to last comment). I did some checking myself because I’m going to do a charity event for something else and the 5% charged is cheaper than what the charities can process gift aid paperwork and your monies for if you donate via other methods. On-line payments are therefore the best way to give.