Daydreaming is a favorite activity of mine and it’s such an easy way to slip into that perfect world, where there are no bad things, just good things in the surrounding. Where I can have anything I want just by simply thinking of it and where everyone is happy and smiling. But then comes the cold shower which is called reality, which can’t be avoided regardless of how many times you try. The idea of locking away all the negative aspects of life in metal storage lockers and burying them underground is a fantasy and the reality is that you have to deal with the bad.

People of all ages are affected by poverty, disease or disabilities. But I thing that children with disabilities are the most marginalized, because (and again this is just my opinion) they are viewed as undesirables in the perfect world that people pretend to live in. They represent our future, just like every other child, and simply because they do not fit into our standard of a “normal person”, they are made to feel from the very young age that they don’t belong to our world. But then again, who is to say what is normal? And what gives others the right to judge?

Go ahead and talk to one of them, listen to the words they use, the way they phrase every thought and really look at what they can do and then you might be fortunate enough to get a glimpse of the blinding sparkle that is buried inside them, carefully protected from the outside world that can extinguish it. They deserve to smile and be happy, they are smart to the level of brilliance and they want to be loved just like everyone else. You want to be charitable? Make them smile, make them feel appreciated and make them understand just how special they really are, so that when you look into the future, you will know that you played a role in making this world a better place and their lives a little brighter. Try it once and you will never stop doing it.

If you strongly believe in an issue, want to get your voice heard, or just want to do something productive, then starting a youth group is a great decision. Hopefully this step by step guide will allow you to find a great outlet for your enthusiasm and do something wonderful.

The First Step: is to determine what your youth group is going to stand for. Preferably pick a subject on which you are extremely passionate, the more so the better! A love for your cause is perhaps the most important thing; it will be the spark that is the basis for your group. When you have found your cause research it; this will get you more interested in and provide some useful information about the subject. Use the internet, it is a vast resource, however be wary of unofficial stats and articles; you want your facts and figures to be legitimate when attracting others, which is the next step.

The Second Step: is to gain some support for your group. If you are under the age of 18 getting an adult supervisor is extremely important. This will give you another world of valuable contacts, perspectives and experience. Also people will respect your group more as the presence of an official supervisor will give your group more credibility. To gain members, you need to hold your first meeting. This is probably the most important step so far, you need members for your group. Be appealing, informative and confident. Making a first impression to prospective members is very important. Pick a time, date and location that are easy to get to, and during a time where most of your target audience will be free. Then advertise in your community, posters, verbal invites, emails, flyers, whatever works!

In Your First Meeting: Introduce yourself and your cause (be creative, also give them the facts); inspire others, tell them your story of how you got passionate; share your vision for the group; ask your peers to discuss their opinions; get people to sign up and give and receive contact details; set a time, date and location (hopefully keep these constant) for your next meeting.

The Third Step: is to organize your group. Have a structure that suits your group, this can either be where you have up to 3 main leaders who run the group and provide the guidance and inspiration, or by having a committee type structure whereby separate people have the roles of: President, Vice President, Secretary, External Affairs, Treasurer, Promoter etc.

The Fourth Step: is to get cracking. Have regular, consistent meetings. The leader(s) of the group should organize the meeting before hand, planning on what to discuss, do, and plan in the meeting. The leader(s) should then raise each issue and open the floor to discussion, a minute-taker should be making notes of what happens/is decided in the meeting. These should be emailed/ sent to everyone for reference or reminder. Also, gradually start to run different campaigns and projects. Hold events to increase awareness of your group and cause, this way you can increase your following and promote your cause! Organization is key to this so use what you have learned so far and apply it. Once in a while (every month or two) review your success and set new goals. Assess what went well and what could have been improved so you can improve.

The Fifth Step: is to think about the future. If you are running the committee at a school or university then have an appropriate system where you chose a successor. This is why it is important to have people of all ages involved, so there is always someone present with experience.

So there you have it, an easy to follow 5-point guide to help you set up your own youth group. The only thing left to do now is to take the plunge. Get stuck in!

You might say: ‘One need not possess a natural talent in order to help the needy’. However, this is a highly disputable statement as being a truly concerned and helpful person, is actually a real talent. Doing it out of your own inner will and not due to your image in the society is not natural in today’s world. If you naturally feel sorry for the one who is hurting and also have the willingness to do something about it, then you have the talent to help.

I recently heard a movie character say that being unlucky is just a frame reference for those that are lucky, meaning that we need someone else to be unlucky, just for us to realize how lucky we are. This is indeed how the world works, since we really need bad things in order to define the good, but that doesn’t mean that when something bad happens you should just turn around and walk away. I can only speak of the present when I say that bad luck seem to be in higher doses than good luck, because this is the time that I live in and it’s quite disturbing to see how things keep going from bad to worse.

Helping those that are in need is something that should be done out of the heart, not out of obligation or at least that’s my opinion. The rewards of being kind to those who are less fortunate than us don’t have anything to do with financial gain and while I do believe that charity for the sake of publicity can’t be refused, the reason for doing it is quite wrong. Like I said, helping others should be done because you want to, not because you need to. Otherwise it loses the great value that it has and it also diminishes the efforts of those that do it from the bottom of their heart.

Every gesture counts no matter how small. The sincere effort of family lawyers for divorce rights in some cases, donating clothes or just offering a hot meal to a homeless person, may not seem out of the ordinary or uncommon to you, but for the one who is being helped it can mean a lot more then you realize. I will admit that I’m a bit reserved in giving out money to charities, because in my experience money and power are the two most common temptations that change people from good to bad and yes maybe I am paranoid when I think of charity fraud. However I prefer volunteering. Nevertheless help is help, no matter what form it takes and if you ever find yourself needing a reason to be charitable then do it just because you are compelled by your heart.

It just goes to show, all you need is an idea, a desire to do good and a willingness to work at it to realize even the biggest of goals.

I once felt incredibly sad after seeing a TV commercial intended to raise money for supporting orphans and children in need. There is nothing wrong about that, not at all, just that I hate it when people only think of them in the Christmas season. For me, this is nothing but formality what they do and not a sign of consideration or willingness to help. Real people would love to help every day.

The truth is that such children and people are not just in need of money – they need so much more than that. A touch of a tending hand, a loving hug and helpful words, this is so much more valuable than the new dress or shoes. Yes, money also matters but we consider that it is everything people want when they don’t have it. However, what they really want is, not to be excluded and not to be pointed at or mocked at. They are just normal human beings, just like us and would love to have or experience exactly the same thing that we also desire. So, if you really want to be helpful or would like to claim yourself as a good person, prove it genuinely, not just by throwing some money. A really good person is the one who has little, but still manages to share it with those that need it more than he does.

Many poplar names such as Brookman, Davidson and many others rich and famous names pretend to be people that would do anything to save a human life and donate money to charities every time they want. However, if such people are being asked to spend a little time with the people that they want to help, they would strongly refuse as their schedules will be affected. This is something that I call artificial feelings because if they really cared for whom they pay for, they would prove in other ways as well.

So if you really want to help people who are less privileged then try and spend your time with them, not just money. Donating to charities is easy but caring for someone takes effort.

According to most religions, we should all be giving a regular amount of our income to charity. And that has to be a good thing. Just imagine if everyone took this teaching on board and gave just a few quid away each week. We probably wouldn’t even notice any difference to our own standard of living, yet it could make the world of difference to thousands of other people!

It was estimated that over 62,000,000 were living in Britain in 2010. And if even half of these were to donate just a pound to charity every week then you’d be talking about a serious amount of money!

It’s a sunny Saturday afternoon and you have popped into the city centre to have a look around a few of the big name stores. Sitting right next to a shop doorway is a scruffy looking man with a blanket covering his legs. He has a small dog lying on the ground beside him and he is holding a dirty piece of cardboard in his dirty looking hands. ‘Hungry and Homeless – Please Help’ has been scrawled across it.

A lot of us will feel automatically suspicious if we come across a person like this on the street. And much of this will be down to the rumours or stories we have heard. You see, there are some people who actually make a good living out of this. These ‘vagrants’ are not really homeless at all but they certainly look as if they are. They have got their ‘hobo outfit’ down to a tee and have told the story of how they ended up living on the streets so many times that they almost believe it themselves. We’ve all heard about people like this, haven’t we?

I’m sure that there really are a few charlatans out there in our city centres, but there also happen to be a lot of completely genuine individuals. So if we treat all homeless people as frauds, we are tarring everyone with the same brush. But this is the big problem; how do we actually know which of these ‘homeless' people are genuine? After all, it is certainly easy enough to look the part… Sadly it is virtually impossible to know if someone really has to sleep rough on the streets each night. To know if this was true, we would literally need to follow them around for the day!

But the fact of the matter is this – some people do have to find somewhere to sleep every night in all weathers. These people really don’t know where they will get their next meal. And they will often be mocked, spat on or even attacked by cruel drunken louts in our bright and shiny twenty first century ‘civilised' society. That is why we should always treat a homeless person as ‘genuine' until we have reason to think or believe otherwise.

Or put it this way; if YOU had to sleep outside the entrance of Pestforce Hereford or Boots or Next… would you like other people to take you seriously? And how would YOU feel if well-dressed passers-by thought you were simply sitting on the street to make yourself ‘a few extra quid’?

Quite a sobering thought that, isn’t it?

I strongly believe that being charitable is an intrinsic and inbuilt part of human nature (or at least that it is for 99.9% of us). This is basically because everyone I know would do a certain amount to help out other people who are in a worse situation than themselves. Of course, some individuals are bound to do more than others, but none of my friends or family would ever turn their back on someone in their hour of need.

Although it can sometimes seem as if no-one gives a damn, I know deep down inside that most people do! If fact, some people may not even realise how much they actually care…. And that is because there are far more ways of being charitable than the majority of us even realise!

We all know about the ‘normal' ways of helping other people, but we can also carry out ‘good deeds' on several different levels. For example; anyone taking primary school teaching courses is doing their bit for our education system and people who run a youth club are keeping our ‘bored' teenagers on the straight and narrow. It depends on how you look at it all I suppose… Personally I can see all manner of ways to be ‘charitable’; and some of these are far less obvious than others.

There will always be the odd exception, but I am positive that most people in the world will do their best to improve things if they are given half a chance. Of course, I might be completely wrong about all of this…. However, before you go shooting me down in flames please just do me one favour – Stop and think about all of the people that you know and what they are doing with their lives… And can you really imagine any of them turning away if they heard someone asking for help?