31 Days of Scotch - July 2016

Once again this year, many people will be participating in the Dry July campaign, which raises money for people who are living with cancer. Dry July asks people to abstain from alcohol for the length of the month of July, to give up something they enjoy in order to show their support for the cause, and ask people to donate to the cause to show their support, and help out the families and patients concerned.

More information on Dry July can be found at https://www.dryjuly.com/

Last year, in 2015, I went against the grain, and instituted the 31 Days of Scotch for the length of July. Each day during July, I took a photo of myself having a nice refreshing scotch, and posted it on social media and my blog, proclaiming this my way of celebrating July. At the conclusion of July, I donated $50 to the Dry July campaign.

Why did I do this? Well, there were a couple of reasons why. 

Firstly, it wasn't to stick my nose up at the Dry July campaign as some people suggested. Indeed, if I was to have embarked on the Dry July campaign myself, it would hardly have been an effort, as my intake of alcohol is practically zero through the week, and only the odd expansion on a weekend if a situation arises. So my thoughts were that going dry for a month for me would not have been a stretch at all.

Secondly, there are a number of people I am acquainted with who I know have signed up for the Dry July campaign in the past, but have then noticeably not carried through with their part of the bargain, and yet collected donations from people who had stumped up the cash in the belief they were actually following through with their promise. That's great that money was raised, but where was the commitment from these people who claimed they would not drink alcohol for a month? So I wanted to do something where I would make the commitment, and have it proved each day, such that anyone who wanted to donate to my cause would feel justified that I had fulfilled my agreement.

So once again in 2016, I will be embarking on the second annual 31 Days of Scotch during July. Last year I donated $50 when I had a family currently unaffected by cancer. This year, with both one parent and one parent-in-law currently at odds with this disease, at the end of July I will be donating $100 to the Dry July campaign.

If you would like to join the 31 Days of Scotch campaign, it's easy. Just take a photo each day of yourself enjoying a refreshing scotch (yes, you need to be in the photo), and post it each day to social media, using the #31DaysOfScotch hashtag so that the world can see your fun.

If you would like to donate to the 31 Days of Scotch cause, please donate direct to the Dry July site at https://www.dryjuly.com/donate

And don't forget to let me know, so I can post a tally of my fundraising on social media.