The Sweet Charity : August 2019

About

The idea

Sweet Charity is a marriage of my two great passions. Traveling and Charity . I am a couchsurfing member and for years I have been hosting travelers in my house for free. One day I came up with this idea of doing it with a bit of a charitable twist. So the deal is simple : You are very welcome to stay in my house for as little as £10 per night. The money is not my profit, but it is going to be donated to a charity.

About me

My name is Weronika and I am originally from Poland. I live in Broadway with my family – my partner Henry and my daughter Iris . I want to believe , we are very open minded and creative people. The Sweet Charity Project is my very first attempt of raising money to help people. In the past I made some donations myself but I always had a feeling that it wasn’t enough.

What to expect

What can you expect in our house for £10 per night ? Since this isn’t quite the same as AirB&B and the price in minimal , we will expect you to understand some limitations of what we can offer.

Still we are going to do our best to make you feel comfortable and Happy ! You are going to be offered a nice and private space in our lounge. Since the idea of Sweet Charity has its origin in a couchsurfing culture, we will offer you our sofa bed. We are taking large and comfortable sofa bed ! You don’t need to bring any sheets or sleeping bags- Everything will be provided.

You will have an access to the kitchen, where you can prepare your meal, or if you choose- we can cook together. The more friendly- the better.

We have a child in the house, but she sleeps upstairs so she won’t bother you during the night. However during the day she will probably come downstairs and spend some time in the lounge.

The other thing you need to be aware of is that you won’t be given any keys to the house. Therefore your arrival and booking has to previously discussed and agreed with us. We need to make sure that we are at home during the days of your stay. Having said that ,I am a stay at home mum , so it is almost guaranteed that we will be available. If you have any question- just send me a message .

Is this place suitable for couple or larger groups ?

Unfortunately at this moment we can only offer a place for two people. So this is really an option for sole travelers and couples. However, if you have a tent during the summer time, and you would like to put in in our garden – this can also we arranged.

Location

Broadway is a well known tourist place in the heart of the Cotswolds. Beautiful landscape , stunning architecture , romantic Tea Rooms and old history. The only thing that this place lacks- in my opinion -is an affordable hostel or any other sort of alternative cheap accommodation. But here is a Sweet Charity for you. Our house is located close to the Main Street of Broadway. We live in a quiet and safe residential area. The best way to get to Broadway is by driving , but you can also use a public transport. There are daily buses arriving here from Cheltenham, Stratford-upon-Avon and Moreton-in -Marsh

Is there an option for staying for free ?

Yes, there is. Every person who has a couchsurfing profile WITH REFERENCES is going to be accepted on ‘ CS terms’. In return I will only ask to spread a good word about this place ( if you like it !) However , I need to make it clear : people who are willing to make a donation are going to be prioritized.

Safety

You can check my references with people . Hopeful people who are going to visit us are going to leave some valuable feedback.

Can I choose the charity I would like to support?

I support Red Cross ( I have direct debit set up with them) and a charity called Kiva. Because I strongly believe what Kiva does, I will encourage you to give your money to them. However if you prefer to invest your money into a different philanthropy project, you are more than welcome. As long as there is option of one off payment done with a paypal button – we can do it.

How is the donation made ?

When you choose a receiver of your donation, we are simply going to use a paypal button or your card. I do not handle money , you won’t give anything to me. You just choose an organization and before leaving my house you make an online transfer. One thing : I want to witness this transaction , so I know for sure that the money was donated. That’s all

Get in touch with me !

Thank you so much for reading this. Just the fact that someone is curious about this idea means a lot to me. Maybe you would like to give me some suggestion of how to improve this project ? Or maybe you like it so much, you would like to do something similar and we could try to BUILD A WHOLE NETWORK of Sweet Charity places ? Or maybe you like the idea and you are wiling to invite me to your house ( somewhere in Europe) so I CAN DO MY Sweet Charity Holiday !?

Saturday 31 August 2019

Good news, bad news

I can't believe it ! Today it is the last day of August. This summer has been quite busy for us. We met and hosted quite a few people . Today I have two announcements. The bad news is that on Monday we are going to Poland. That means no hosting until October . The good news however is very very good ! This actually is a celebration post . I am proud to tell you that thanks to my efforts and your participation we manged to hit a nice round number. We raised HALF A GRAND. And this is not the end of the story. We went well beyond it and the exact amount of money I so far donated with your help is £595 . This makes me so happy and the sweet charity journey is going to go on. If you are thinking about visiting the Cotswolds , definitely consider this October. May and October, in my opinion are the best for exploring this area . Even though I am going to be away I will still be available to answer your questions . So if there is anything you would like to know about my place , my home or transportation , just drop me a message ! Let the adventure continue :)

Tuesday 27 August 2019

Amazon Rainforest

So we came back from Paris. I was exhausted but very happy. Today I would like to tell you about our big-ish donation to the very special organization. I give you a hint. One of the very first things that I saw in Paris was the logo of " Extinction Rebellion " . I made a joke, and I said to my friend : " This is the sign. We are going to donate our money to save Amazon Rainforest " . That actually was a very bad joke, as on the following day bad news came from South America.

World Land Trust (WLT) is an international conservation charity that protects the world’s most biologically significant and threatened habitats acre by acre.

Through a network of partner organisations around the world, WLT funds the creation of reserves and provides permanent protection for habitats and wildlife. Partnerships are developed with established and highly respected local organisations who engage support and commitment among the local community.

Actually I have known this organization for a while and I always wanted to give £100 to 'buy an acre' . For a single donation , £100 seemed like a relatively large sum for me. But when I planned my trip to Paris and I was invited to Pierre's house to enjoy the free accommodation, I thought it was a perfect opportunity. Three girls , 4 nights in a very expensive city of Paris. £100 between us didn't seem that much , especially that I shared this expense with my friends Bozena.

Deforestation is a real problem. Climate change is a big issue. If you want to support a charity and you don't know where to put your money , protecting and planting trees is always a good way to go. Every single human and every single animal will in some way benefit from that.

Sunday 18 August 2019

Beautiful lady Samina

It is Sunday and I am very busy getting ready for our mini holiday . On Tuesday we are going to Paris. I just want to take few minutes to tell you a story of my weekend with a beautiful lady Samina. She stayed with us for 2 nights. Samina is person who 'believes in charity and it a big part of her life' ( her own words ). She told me about some of the projects and organizations she has been supporting over the years. Meeting person that generous makes me feel quite small.
We raised £20 that was donated to https://www.kidneyresearchuk.org/ . KidneyResearch is the leading charity committed to developing treatments, patient information and raising vital public awareness to help save lives. There are three million people in the UK living with kidney disease right now. One million don’t even know they have it and there is no cure. The research aims to improve the quality of life of those living with kidney disease. Ultimately, they want to eradicate this silent killer.

Dear Samina ! I wish you all the best with your new career and I hope we are going to meet again.

Wednesday 14 August 2019

Magda's visit

GRAIN is a small international non-profit organisation that works to support small farmers and social movements in their struggles for community-controlled and biodiversity-based food systems. Recently I have been reading a lot about the issues of the food sovereignty and climate change. So when I received my guest this Monday , and they had asked me about the suggestions on my favorite organizations , I had no doubts . The overall objective of GRAIN's programme is to deepen public understanding of the forces shaping the global and local food systems and their impact on farming and food security, and to support social movements and civil society organisations in advancing towards food sovereignty. This is such an important problem ! If any of my followers actually has a deep knowledge and interest in this field, please send me a private message. I am eager to learn more on this subject.
This time thanks to Magda and here lovely family we raised £30 . It was nice to have some Polish people around. I hope you enjoyed your time in the Cotswolds and I hope to see you again :)

Saturday 3 August 2019

Born Free Foundation

Here I am. A survivor of the Czech and Slovakian invasion. I must say : it wasn't a bad experience at all. In fact I just loved it. Of course I am talking about yet another visit. Normally I don't accept last minute requests ( hint hint !) , but this time my inner spirit commanded : "Go for it . It is going to be epic". And yes, It was right. I had a great pleasure of meeting people with the set of interests very similar to mine. And I love talking about travelling Mexico. Always :) So yeah, we ended up having a nice chat, exchanging ideas and we raised more money. My guests were very interested in preserving the beauty of the wild life and eco projects. Therefore it was decided, that this time we should donate to the organization called Born Free. This time we raised £40 ! Nice. And on the top of that , the manager of The Sweet Charity Project ( aka Me) received a bottle of wine. Best present ever. Thank you !