A Charity That Made A Difference

A terrible famine struck Sudan, a country in Africa, in 1985. A British comedy writer, Richard Curtis and his friend Alexander Mendis decided to take an action and they began a charity called Comic Relief. A charity worker, Jane Tewson, helped them to get the charity started. The charity started to sell red plastic noses in order to raise money. It became a huge success and this became a part of the charity’s regular fundraising effort. They promoted these campaigns all around Britain. The money that they raised contributed a lot to the projects in Africa and Britain. BBC supported Comic Relief with special TV programs, calling it Red Nose Day in 1997. Fundraising events were organized at the same time and people all around Britain sent their money to Red Nose Day. Over £27 million was raised for the charity. Celebrities and generous British people have donated and the charity has raised more than £600 million since it began. The charity now produces books, CDs, and other items to raise money. The writer of Harry Potter, JK Rowling, wrote two books about Red Nose day and all the money from the sales went to the charity.