Sinead Gave £1,000 to...

I never thought giving away £1,000 would be so hard!

It brings back memories of going clothes shopping with (much lesser sums of) birthday money as a teenager. I'd feel a huge pressure to spend it really well and not fritter it on something I'd go off in a week! But of course this is a much more serious business – so on to the task at hand.

I wanted to give all my money to one charity, but in the end I faced the fact that I'm far to indecisive. There are 3 beneficiaries.

The first gets the smallest amount – £150 and was a bit of a late entrant.

The charity is Smile Train and £150 pays for a poor child to have an operation to correct their cleft lip. In this country it's a disfigurement that can be fixed quickly after birth (and for free) on the NHS. In less fortunate parts of the world it means a child is outcast from society and is ridiculed – facing a bleak future. My money can't help save the many babies that get abandoned at birth because of this. But if it can help one child live a normal life and give their parents a gift they compare with winning the lottery then that's good enough for me.

The rest of the money will be split evenly between two charities that care for people who are terminally ill (£425 each). Visiting hospices for work has made me see time and time again how important it is to pull out all the stops to make the final stages of someones life the best they can be. At its most functional, this means without pain. But it's the emotional support and the fun and laughter charities like this can give that makes me feel humble.

The first is Rainbow Trust, a children's charity that provides support for terminally ill children & their families. They do this in many ways – in peoples own homes, at school and through their hospices. I did an appeal for them years ago and have had a soft spot for them ever since. Now I'm a mum it's even harder to imagine how I would deal with this fate. I want to make sure someone like me doesn't have to do it alone.

The second is a local hospice in Derry called the Foyle Hospice. They do amazing work – just like Marie Curie – but they get the money because I might one day rely on them to look after someone I love very much. And it feels good to give something back to the place I'm from.