As we near the end of the first month of 2019, I wonder how many of us tried and. have achieved a dry January. My son-in-law has been very disciplined, my daughter succumbed half way through the month and we didn’t even attempt to get off the starting block. We do, however, try to refrain from drinking alcohol on school nights.

Although this public health awareness month does see large numbers of Brits abstain from alcohol for the entire month, and going forward some continue to drink less, it made me consider how many “awareness” days, weeks and months we have each year and are there too many to be effective.

There seems to be several in every month, but for January alone the list continues :-

• Dry January is a fairly recent campaign and is great to focus the mind and body after the excuses of the festive period.
• This year as veganism grows, more people have signed up for Veganuary. A complete lifestyle change, there are various reasons to try to be meat free. Some are concerned about the lives of animals, some about the effect of meat, especially red meat on their health and others the effect on the environment.
• Then there is Red January. Run Every Day challenge, in support of our own physical and mental health. Sponsored by the charity MIND, advocating regular physical activity to maintain a healthy mind.
• And finally at the end of January is Cervical Cancer Awareness week. Attempting to encourage women to take up the offer of their smear tests. A little uncomfortable, but why wouldn’t you?

Now though each and every one of these challenges, campaigns and awareness periods has their own special merits, we are being inundated and some smaller charities, who rely on these campaigning tools to raise their profile and donations are being lost in the numbers.

Any campaign which helps persuade people to, talk to their Medical professional about health concerns, to keep fit, eat healthier or donate to charity can only be seen as a good thing. However the NHS Employers website, lists no less than 104 awareness days/weeks or months over the year!

Every campaign or charity has a special place in someone’s heart but it does seem that the same events receive the most coverage each year, such as Macmillan Cancer Support and Breast Cancer Awareness. On top of these, are people like us who hold events in support of these charities and entice you to part further with your cash.

I feel, for some smaller lesser supported charities, it may be time to ditch the awareness days and to find a new innovative way to raise the profile of their cause. Social Media would obviously reach the largest audience. Or maybe they should take advantage of the ever increasing numbers of bloggers, vloggers and podcasters and advertise on some of these sites.

Being a small fundraiser myself I am interested in what readers are doing to change their own lives, am open to ideas on how I can help to highlight your chosen causes, or approaches from any charity to guest post on my site.

Let the discussion begin ………………….