Even after a November that brought a peak in UK charitable giving – with Children in Need, Typhoon Haiyan and Movember – we have entered the prime season for the piquing of philanthropic consciences.

Many of my Christmases over the past 30 years have been spent working with homeless people at The Passage, an organisation near Victoria Station. It takes its ethos from St Vincent De Paul, who believed in hands-on service to vulnerable people. Any of us could become vulnerable through losing one or more of what I think of as the four "legs" of life: home, health, livelihood and personal support network. Spending time at The Passage certainly makes me appreciate what I have.