What we did for Charity before Race Nights

Giving to charities is a noble and honourable thing to do. Mother always said that if we are blessed, we should share our blessings with those who are less fortunate. Despite the fact that we were dirt poor and living in the worst part of London in the 60s, mother gave to charities. Some of the charities that she gave to had more money and more food than we did, but it did not matter to my mother because she always felt blessed. She did everything that she could for others. It is too bad that we did not have Race Nights back then.

In poverty-stricken London, there were four ways that the poor could help the poor.

? Donations to specific causes through the church

? Donations of food, clothes, and money to local help groups such as food banks and neighbourhood welcome committees (In our area, if you were moving in it was automatically assumed you were evicted from another neighbourhood and had no place else to go)

? Neighbours taking food to neighbours

? The fourth and final way that you could help needy causes, which were usually families, was to throw them a party. Parties were usually done at their home and everyone that you knew came with food, mostly canned, and pre-baked food, clothes, and furniture.

Let the Church Do the Work

Those who donated through the church were those families that had extra and attended their church on a regular basis. They made sure that the money was beyond their usual tithe of 10% of their net earnings.

Find a Food Pantry

Helping the local charity groups was a very popular way to help a large number of people with numerous single donations. You never knew who you were helping and very often, it turned out to be you at the end of the month, when the well began to run dry.

You Give What You Can

My mother always enjoyed going through her cabinets to see what we could give to those families that we knew. It served the double purpose of giving my mother an excuse to visit with someone she had not seen in a while without it being due to someone dying. Most of the time, it was an elderly couple who were living on a meagre pension.

Let’s Par-Tay

To the last man, everyone we knew loved to throw parties for families that moved into the neighbourhood. The women would get together and dream up things to do to help loosen the purse strings of the husbands, who always banded together in a separate room to drink, tell stories and keep an eye on their wallets. My parents always had the same argument after one of these parties.

No Race Nights Back In the Day

Dad could not understand why he had to give money when we already brought food, furniture, and clothes. Still, the most complicated part of the whole affair was coming up with things to do at the party. If they had Race Nights back then, as they do now, it would not have been a problem because everyone loves to bet on dog and horse races. The DVD would have been a thrilling way to get the attention of the money carrying men, especially since there is a legitimate chance to walk away with more money than you actually had when you came in plus pay for your donation.