12岁英国小童捐钱当生日礼物
Charlie Doherty
12岁的他，可能是英国最有善心的小朋友。他过去八年都不要生日礼物，呼吁亲友将买礼物的钱捐给有需要的人，又参加慈善单车赛和攀山赛，小小年纪已为慈善机构筹得3.5万镑。
为善最乐，肥头得意的多尔蒂（Charlie Doherty）这个小善长，善举始於4岁。那年是2004年，南亚世纪海啸夺去逾20万人性命和无数人家园，眼见人间悲剧，他於是呼吁亲友不要送他生日礼物，把钱捐给有需要的人。
一颗善心，不是逞一时之快。到他5岁生日，他依然毋忘灾民，妈妈朱莉说：「他不断嚷着要我捐钱而非生日礼物，真了不起。」下周六，13岁的多尔蒂将到非洲马拉维，到他有份捐助一间学校厨房参观，他6岁起已为这项目筹得2.1万镑。
Crawley boy refuses birthday gifts to aid charity （BBC news 2011.1.23）
Charlie Doherty
Charlie has raised more than £15,000 over the past seven years.
An 11-year-old boy from Crawley has helped raise thousands of pounds for charity by refusing to accept birthday presents for the past seven years.
Charlie Doherty first asked people to give money to worthy causes instead of gifts when he saw the effects of the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami on television.
Charlie, who recently celebrated his birthday, has also carried out a number of fundraising feats.
Earlier this month he walked from Crawley to Brighton.
In 2010 he ran the Brighton Marathon Mini Mile to help raise money to build a kitchen in a school in Malawi.
‘Pretty unique’
Charlie said: “The tsunami in 2004 when I was four, it just struck me how we have so much and all their homes were knocked down by all this water and they don’t have anything.
“I thought there must be some way I can help.”
He added: “For my fifth birthday party I asked for money instead of presents and gave that money to charity. My main charity now is Mary’s Meals.
“I just raised over the £15,000 mark but I couldn’t do it without the support of my friends and family.”
Charlie’s mum, Julie, added: “I’ve got two other children and they’ve done their little bit for charity as most people do but I think they find that Charlie is pretty unique and he’s done it consistently for seven years.
“It’s not just the birthday presents he’s given up, he’s looking at other ways to raise funds for the charities that strike him.”