#BajanGiving

Just over a year ago, I joined the international GivingTuesday family, and they've welcomed me with a warm hug and incredible support ??

GivingTuesday Barbados is one of the smallest countries participating in #GivingTuesday, and we are also one of the only countries that doesn't touch a single dollar as part of our campaigning - this is partially because we can't facilitate online fundraising in Barbados, but equal parts because I like a challenge, clearly ???♀

#BajanGiving is about giving back to the community without spending a dollar - giving of your time, your voice, resources, skills and in our case, blood!

A reallllyyyy easy way to show your support is by posting an #UNSelfie on social media - basically a selfie with a purpose. You can give a shout out to the causes and charities that you support in Barbados and help raise their profile. Too many people are unaware of the work being done by the 1000+ charities, NGOs and individuals in Barbados. If you're a Bajan abroad, please consider doing this to show your support.

If you have any children's books, please consider donating them to the Children's Book Drive. Together with the The Gabrielle Gay Award for Excellence in Reading and Literacy we donated over 500 books last year to schools such as St.Bernard’s Primary and Workman’s Primary School. This year, we're aiming for 1000 books and we're partnering with Books for Babies - Barbados, as well as more primary schools in need of story books.

If you're not in the island but want to contribute, please consider sending some children's books to Barbados via post (they're exempt from duties on arrival) or sending some down with relatives who are visiting in the coming month.

We're aiming for 50 blood donations for the National Blood Drive. This may not seem like many, but in a country with barely 200 regular blood donors, 50 wouldn't be too bad! ;) If you can't donate, or Nov 27th clashes with your donation schedule, you can pledge to donate at a later date. If you're a big baby and can't stand the sight of blood, please reconsider :) The team at the Barbados Blood Collection Centre are really nice and you get a cookie! Jokes aside, the blood situation in Barbados is really dire, especially during the Christmas period.

The support shown for GivingTuesday Barbados last year was overwhelming, and we're reaching for even bigger goals this year thanks to all of you who participated.

If you're an individual or company who's interested in taking part, please shoot me a message or an email at [email protected]. It's not too late to get involved and we'd love to have you on board for #BajanGiving :)