Charity 'Challenges'

Yes, of course, any money raised for a charity is a good thing. But why dress it up so much and, worse, pretend to actually be 'doing' something?

"Will you sponsor me?" a woman at work asked me.

"What you doing?"

"Race for life," she replied.

"Ok. How far's that?"

"Three miles. I won't be running it though! God no - I'll be walking round."

So, basically, she's walking three miles. I walk about three miles every fucking day! I'm sure most people do. Why doesn't she just say 'please give some money to this charity because I can't be arsed to do anything of note'? I'd prefer that - at least it's honest. It'd be fair enough if walking three miles were a challenge for her. If it stretched her physical and mental capabilities then it might inspire me some more. But it doesn't. It's like me saying 'Sponsor me - I'm going to eat a sandwich!'

The other end of this is freeloading on the back of a charity's name. For example, 'I'm climbing a mountain - please sponsor me'. If they raise enough money it costs them £1000 to go climb Mount Kilimanjaro instead of around £2000 as it normally would. That's not charity, that's a fucking cheap holiday.