Spreading the birthday cheer.
Earlier this year, Facebook rolled out an initiative that gave users the chance to use their birthday as a way for their friends to donate money towards their favourite, chosen charity.
Facebook birthday messages normally consist of screenshots from your closest friends who are trying their best to make a fool out of you on your big day by sharing funny pictures you may have sent them over the year.
A traditional birthday message - if you're lucky to get one - might come in the form of a birthday card and if you're extremely fortunate, you might even get some cash or a good old Lotto ticket inside.
Facebook donate comes somewhere in the middle, birthday users are prompted to select one of the hundreds of thousands of charities on Facebook, set a goal amount and enter a custom message.
Your friends will then be sent a notification saying "[name] has invited you to contribute to a good cause for his/her birthday."
Friends can then click on the post and are able to donate all different sorts of amounts for the chose charity. The mini-fundraiser is automatically public and ends at the midnight of your birthday.
Noel Collins decided this year - on the celebration of his 29th birthday - was the year to do something different. He decided he was going to celebrate it in a way he has never done before, by setting up a Facebook fundraiser.
The information section of his fundraiser reads: "For my birthday this year, I'm asking for donations to LauraLynn – Ireland’s Children’s Hospice. I've chosen this charity because their mission means a lot to me, and I hope you'll consider contributing as a way of celebrating with me. Every little bit will help me reach my goal."
At €200, the target is very small but as Noel told JOE, it really is the thought that counts:
"My birthday happens to be near enough the Christmas season and coming up to this festive period, it's about children really.
"Children who are sick have a very hard time of it at Christmas and a small donation will hopefully make a massive difference to them and I chose that charity simply because they do brilliant work."
Cheers to Noel Collins for sending this our way. Got a story for JOE? Hit us up on Facebook or Twitter, send it to our WhatsApp number 087-4001102 or mail editorial@JOE.ie.
