This post starts with an Abba quote. You've been warned.

You know the Abba song? The one that goes;

‘Money Money Money, must be funny, in the rich mans world’

(And if that song is now playing on a loop in your head, well, I apologise. Or not - depends upon how much you like Abba)

Anyway, I can sincerely assure you that if it’s funny in a rich mans world, then the air distorts and the humour vanishes from the room in a poor man’s.

Look. I know money is tight everywhere. Before I came here I’d spent eighty percent of my time inside my car thinking about how much the time inside my car was costing me.

But, hey, I have a car. First world problems written all over that one.  

This has a point, I promise. I'm getting to it right now.

...

So,

Project Isobel is currently operating as a drop in centre for local youth and children.

To give you an idea about what some of this involves:

The opportunity to play games, work with the animals, go on the computer, watch TV, play basketball,  and get fed a balanced meal.

It costs around 2 pounds per person to do so, accounting for the cost of food, gas, electricity and petrol to provide all of the stuff, as well as delivering clothing, school supplies and food packages as part of the Project's outreach.

You may have been observant enough to notice all of those teeny, tiny hidden costs that mount up to something monstrous when you’re not being careful (and when you are).

So, say 10 kids, at 2 pounds per day… multiply x by the square root of y and take a sharp right at the cosine of pi and you get to somewhere in the region of twenty pounds. Just to supply a meal.

That was not real maths. But the answer is correct.

A day.

And then, without the great food fund (which I named myself, by the way) there are the running costs of the project itself.

I mentioned gas and electricity didn’t I? What about running water? And maybe maintenance of furniture and walls and cars that have a nasty knack of breaking down at the most inopportune moments and costing a whole lot of money.

What about when one of the animals falls sick?

To put it bluntly, at the moment, there’s a whole lot of money coming out of this charity, and an awful lot less going in.

Project Isobel has a website here. And if I handily set that link for you all to go straight through to the support page, it is purely to economise your time efficiently.

But please, feel free to stay a while there and explore the project from the comfort of your screen. 

  

And maybe, just maybe, if you look at your costs and shave something like an overpriced coffee off your list of daily necessities for just one day a week, you could possibly spare a few pounds to give over at the Project Isobel Paypal. (click the yellow donate button on the site)

Or possibly, quite possibly, you figure you wouldn’t even notice it much if you set up a standing order and twenty pounds of yours flew off to do some good before you even registered it was in your account.

And feasibly, entirely feasibly, you might want to use one of the email addresses provided on the site (or maybe email, tweet at, comment on, or direct a smoke signal towards me) and ask how you can get involved, and make a difference in the lives of street kids and abused animals.

Here I would like to take a moment to provide a few hints, tips and ideas. And yeah, I'm using a bullet pointed list. It's aesthetically pleasing.

• Get in touch.

I know I just wrote about it, but it needs emphasising. Even if it's just to send a word of encouragement about the Project's work. Some of the time (all of the time) that's priceless.

Also, getting in touch enables what the Project needs, and what you can offer it, to be personally matched. Kind of like internet dating, but with less creeps.

• Share it

Maybe you are just a really excellent networker, and have a bazillion and eight Facebook friends. Sharing links and the like for the project helps to raise awareness - and raising awareness raises the charity's profile, which may lead to raising the charity's donations, which definitely leads to raising the impact that the Project can make on the lives of the children.

I think I've got about 8 different ways to share at the bottom of this post, and along the sidebar too. There's the recommend to StumbleUpon badge, which will connect totally random people to this blog (speaking of which, I have a Russian following, which is amazing)

And then there's the +1 button, which recommends this site on Google, or the share on Facebook option, or the 'email this' (it looks like an envelope) or the 'tweet this', or 'blog it'... you get the picture. 

• Dig deep

I know for many of you reading this it's a struggle to afford yourself, let alone support a charity.
But please, please, consider it.

Consider how much you can justifiably spare.

A one off donation of a fiver? Brilliant.

A pledge of ten pounds a month for a year? Wonderful.

Whatever it is, to shamelessly lift a catchphrase from a well known Supermarket chain, every little helps. It really does. It eases the immense financial pressure on the Project just a little, and helps it to continue doing it's amazing work, one day at a time.

And that's you, that's your money, your generosity, making a difference in somebodys life.

I think it's pretty amazing that we have that chance, that we can do that for a child.

Don't you?

• Do Something

Everyone can do something. Maybe you're feeling inspired and want to do something creative, flog it, and donate the profits. Into graphics? Design a T-Shirt or a Hoodie or something, and sell it to everyone you come across that needs clothing. I'll be first in line.

Or maybe you're a party lover, or a foodie. Perhaps you could organise a dinner/tea party and charge for entry, and, er, donate the profits.

You might have a blog or a Tumblr of your own. Why not try linking http://www.projectisobel.com/ to it, and helping to increase the site's traffic?

Prayer support is always vital. I, and the Project, serve the Creator of the Universe, and I fully believe that prayer changes things. It brings about breakthroughs, and the Project needs a breakthrough. And it's free.

I know that I have a highly talented and dazzlingly beautiful readership of this thing, with an astounding pool of varied talents and skills that are just waiting to be utilised and honed, brimming full of more ideas than I could ever come up with.

Give it a go.


 I'll update again soon with what I've been up to, but for now I think this is enough. If this post has made even one of you consider any of the options handily listed above, then I will be so thankful. Honestly, whatever you do really will change things over here.

Thanks for sticking with it.

All my love, and a whole load of God's blessings being sent your way.

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