National Charity

[Columbine]

So in Britain we've just finished with the week-long media marathon that is Children in Need and with Pudsy Bear confined to the back of the toy-box for another year, it's got me wondering; what massive nationally televised charity events happen where you are, if any?

Here in Blighty we have Children In Need, Red Nose Day, Poppy Day (aka. Armistice Day) and more recently Sports Relief. These and charities in general were all a big deal in my high school. Each of the 20 forms picked a charity to fund raise for amongst themselves; the school as a whole had the 'All-School Year Project' ,for example, raising money to convert old buildings to schools in the Philippines; and the 6th form (ages 16-18) held R.A.G (Raising and Giving) week for a different charity each year, which was a weeklong fundraising drive. Plus all these other national drives, that added up to quite the yearly total raised for good causes.

What's kind of hit me in retrospect was that all this activity was entirely voluntary and the students at my school weren't from especially lucrative backgrounds.

So what does your school (or country) do for charity? Was my school unusual or is this something that happens in schools world wide?