Chile Earthquake

The second big quake of 2010 hit Chile on 27 February. An Oxfam team went in on March 1st, and you can read about Oxfam's response to the Chile Earthquake here.

At present it does not look likely that there will be a DEC appeal. There is not at present an Oxfam appeal specifically for Chile - supporting Oxfam's fundraising for emergencies around the world is currently the way in which we are helping - for example by making our Bookfair on 27 March (at the Wesley Memorial Church, New Inn Hall Street, Oxford) as successful as possible.

New Year's Resolutions

Did you make any New Year's Resolutions? How are you doing?

The classic advice is to

1. Make a specific, but realistic commitment (e.g. "moderate exercise 2 times a week", not "do more exercise" or "loads and loads of exercise every day");
2. Don't give up the first time (or few times) that things don't go to plan;
3. Have ways to keep yourself motivated.

The Oxford Oxfam Group can't really help with the first two, but why not keep yourself motivated by raising money for OOG as you go?

There are lots of ways to do that, for example:

• You decided to cut out that pastry with your coffee each day. Or you gave up smoking. Collect up the saved money and donate it to Oxfam via OOG
• You have a bad habit you want to lose. Fine yourself a donation to OOG each time you do it (tip: family or co-workers will be EXCELLENT at pointing out each time you slip up :-) ).
• Make a small donation to OOG for each day (or each time) you manage to stick with your resolution. For example, you went to the gym today as planned. Good for you. Good for OOG too if you can put an affordable sum in a jar to celebrate and watch it mount up.
• Promise to make a donation if you reach a specific goal (or, if this works better for you, make a donation if you DON'T reach your goal).
  

Please do not feel that the amounts of money have to be painful to be effective. Let's take the pastry example. Maybe your pastry costs you £1 each working day. That's £5 per week; you could have £20 or more for Oxfam in just one month. Remember this isn't actually costing you anything (you would have spent the money on pastries)! Fine to time-limit this or only donate a share of the saving if that works best for you. Let's not do nothing just because we can't do something really spectacular.

Collaboration is another great way of staying motivated.

• Involve your friends, family or co-workers. Whole office giving up the pastries? Ask them to donate the saving (or some of the saving) too. Backsliding suddenly becomes that much more difficult. You could easily and quickly get over the £100 mark.
  
• Let's do this together as OOG members! Let the rest of us know what you're doing (comment on this post, or email us at volunteer@oxfordoxfamgroup.org.uk). We can have fundraising totals, a leader board and so on. By the way, no need to share the details of what you are giving up/taking if it feels kinda personal.
  

Once you've collected some money, write us a cheque (payable to Oxford Oxfam Group) and post it to the Treasurer with a brief note explaining what it is for. If you need an address for that cheque, email volunteer@oxfordoxfamgroup.org.uk to ask for details.

At one time in OOG's history we used to raise significant amounts from this kind of low-key small fundraising by individual members. It's a tradition I'm keen to revive.

Effortless ways to help Oxfam, #1

If you shop at one of the Midcounties Co-operative stores, consider becoming a member of the Midcounties Co-operative. Your shopping then earns you dividends and you can donate your dividends to a charity. Naturally you would want to choose Oxfam :-) .

Some Midcounties Co-operative members events might be of interest to OOG supporters too: in February 2009 there are "Fair and Square sessions " described as "free fun and interactive sessions for members and colleagues of The Midcounties Co-operative to help everyone understand what ethical shopping [including Fairtrade, a long-standing interest of OOG] really means."