{"id":620,"date":"2005-07-08T23:40:00","date_gmt":"2005-07-08T23:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jcm.org.uk\/blog\/2005\/07\/08\/more-support-from-around-the-world\/"},"modified":"2007-01-21T16:34:49","modified_gmt":"2007-01-21T16:34:49","slug":"more-support-from-around-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jcm.org.uk\/blog\/2005\/07\/more-support-from-around-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"More support from around the world"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earlier this evening I received the following email:<\/p>\n

Hello Nosemonkey,<\/p>\n

I appreciated your coverage of the bombings, and wondered what I could do. On 9\/11 I could give money to the Red Cross, but i don’t think that is necessary there. Honestly speaking, right now I would like to do something for the folks in London, and not a charity in Africa, or somewhere else.<\/p>\n

What I would most like to do is buy a pint of beer or two for someone in London, but that is easier said than done. Thinking about it, I realized that if i had come across a banner that allowed me to do something like that with paypal or credit card, I would have done so in a heartbeat.<\/p>\n

So, I am proposing that you or someone you know in London set up a temporary charity blog that accepts international donations through paypal. Then it disburses the funds collected by randomly choosing London pubs and paying for a pint or two for everyone already inside.<\/p>\n

I don’t know what bureaucracy might be involved, or exactly how it would work, but I do know that a lot of folks around the world would probably be happy to donate in the next week or so.<\/p>\n

I would be happy to donate the first 50 pounds (or is that quid?) (just don’t tell my wife), and would be happy to e-mail journalists and bloggers here in the US about this, too.<\/p>\n

Anyway, that is what I would like to do. If you or anyone you know can set it up, I will gladly buy some beer for you guys.<\/p>\n

Regards,<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I responded thusly:<\/p>\n

The only thing I can suggest – and this will sound INCREDIBLY dodgy – is that I’ve got a paypal link on the blog (currently standing at a grand total of \u00c2\u00a30.00). I could make a guarantee that I’ll pass anything donated on. I know a couple of people in the Metropolitan Police, a few doctors working in London hospitals – it’d seem logical to buy those guys and the paramedics some beers, and the people I know may be able to point me in the right direction.<\/p>\n

It will, of course, look incredibly dodgy – and I doubt many people would be too happy passing money to some anonymous blogger on the other side of the world on trust alone. You’d only have my word, after all – and I wouldn’t trust some random guy off the internet…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

My correspondent has just sent fifty quid via PayPal. I’m amazed – and touched. And I guarantee that I will do everything I can to make sure this gets to the people who deserve it. Beers for the boys in blue.<\/p>\n

If anyone else wants to donate, all money will (somehow) be shifted to people who have been directly involved in yesterday’s fucked-up events. Just use the PayPal link in the left-hand column.<\/p>\n

On behalf of London – cheers.<\/p>\n

Saturday update: More donations are coming in – I’m overwhelmed. I am working on ways to distribute this, and to make this whole thing rather more official and trustworthy than it currently appears. In the meantime, cheers again. It’s truly appreciated.<\/p>\n

Update 2: There is now an official fund<\/a> set up by the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone.<\/p>\n

I’d trust him (slightly) more than I’d trust me, so if you don’t fancy trusting some random anonymous blogger with your cash:<\/p>\n

donate online at www.redcross.org.uk\/londonrelief<\/a>
\nor by telephone: 08705 125125
\nor you can post your donation to:
\nLBRF c\/o Mayor of London, FREEPOST LON18968, Sheffield S98 1ZA.<\/p>\n

Update 3: Someone’s started a T-shirt fundraiser<\/a> if you want yet another alternative.<\/p>\n

Update, 15th July:<\/b> I’m still working on this. Have just had a phone call from the BBC – they want to film any piss-up as and when it happens, so I’ll let you know. I’m hoping for next weekend, assuming I can arrange everything.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Earlier this evening I received the following email: Hello Nosemonkey, I appreciated your coverage of the bombings, and wondered what I could do. On 9\/11 I could give money to the Red Cross, but i don’t think that is necessary … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-london-terror-attacks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jcm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jcm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jcm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jcm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jcm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jcm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jcm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jcm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jcm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}