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| Brunch: my reward. |
Yesterday was the last of our five days – so as I write
this, we are free! We celebrated this morning with an extremely delicious
brunch at Boston Tea Party which I’ve been fantasizing about all week. I’m normally
a slow eater so my dear husband is pretty tolerant by now, but this morning I
ate so slowly, savouring every little bite, that even he was getting pretty
bored! Rarely has anything ever tasted quite so good, after a week of almost no
flavour.
Today, I want to address something that popped up on the
#fdbloggersBTL thread – someone asking, perfectly reasonably, what this
challenge actually does to help. It seems clear to those of us who are within
it, but I’m willing to accept that it might not be quite so clear from the
outside, so let me explain why exactly I think this challenge is a Good Thing
and how it helps those in need.
First of all, it raises a lot of money. Like any “challenge”,
the potential is there for plenty of sponsorship from everyone who reckons they
couldn’t do it and feels sufficiently moved by your temporary hardship to dig
into their pockets. According to the official website, over the past five years
Live Below the Line has raised over $16 million worldwide (that’s about £11.3
million), which is not too shabby. That money goes to help a wide range of
charities fighting poverty all over the world.
The money is hugely important, of course, but for me the
way Live Below the Line changes people’s perspectives on poverty is just as
crucial. It’s easy to think you know what it’s like to live this way. Most of
us will have had to get by on a low income at some point in our lives, perhaps
as students or at the beginning of our careers, and I’m no exception - so when
I first did this challenge I thought I knew a few things about sticking to a
budget. All I can say is, there’s living on a budget, and then there’s living
below the line. Living the reality, even if only for five days, is a massive
wake-up call.
Last year, when we did this challenge for the first time,
I wrote that what I had experienced would keep me awake at night, and drive me
to do more. This wasn’t an empty flourish. Since then, we’ve committed to
donating to our local foodbank every single week. This year, I was determined
to get some other food bloggers involved, and although there weren’t many of
us, I know the experience has been really valuable for everyone who
participated. Several new people have said already that they’d love to do it
next year and I hope to make it a yearly challenge for me and my food blogging
friends, not only to change their perspectives, but to give all their readers
new insights too. As well as getting other bloggers involved, my husband's also been spreading the word at his office, and this week has been collecting food for a donation to the Trussel Trust. The more understanding and compassion we can spread, the more
all of us will do to help.
As I’ve already discussed in my previous diaries, I’m
fully aware that doing this for just five days isn’t much in the grand scheme
of things. To some people, it might sound trivial – a small thing. But enough
people doing one small thing can add up to a lot. Once again, doing this
challenge has fired me up to do more to help, and I’m not the only one. That’s
why I’m going to keep at it, and why I hope you’ll join us next year too.
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My husband's food bank collection from his lovely work colleagues - thank you guys! |
