You are probably wondering what this is all about so for the blog this month I have invited a very special lady, Faye, to tell you about her charity, 'Spread Some Sunshine' and how it is supporting Victor in India.
You may remember Faye and her team from my previous blogs about the London 10K
and their brave swim in the freezing sea off Brighton.
“My charity Spread Some Sunshine first became involved with BFIT 3 years
ago after a mutual friend kindly introduced Victor and myself. Our charity aims
to bring smiles to children living in poverty, pain or suffering so we wanted
to get involved with the fantastic work that Victor and his team carry out with
HIV orphans in India.
We started off by introducing our birthday scheme (which allows UK
families to buy a birthday gift for a child overseas) to one of the homes that
cares for 23 children. It was very successful and the UK sponsors loved
receiving the photos that victor would email over each time a gift was handed
over.
In 2014, my mother and I flew out to experience BFIT's great work first
hand and had an incredible trip. Victor was truly inspirational and we hit it
off immediately! We visited all of the children's homes and projects and spent
time in the leprosy colonies distributing food.
Through chatting with Victor we
discovered that on site chickens would be really beneficial at the orphanages
so on our return we set up an Easter themed "adopt a chook" scheme
and are currently building our second chicken shed and supplying chickens.
We were lucky enough to spend some time with Victor on his UK visit and
over dinner he mentioned his aim to build a home where HIV positive pregnant
ladies with little support can receive love and care during their pregnancy.
Victor's aim was to build a house that could home around ten women at a time
and to ensure they received the appropriate medical treatment to prevent the
transmission of HIV to the baby during delivery. This was something we were
really keen to get involved in so in July this year we ran the British 10k on
BFIT's behalf and raised £4000. We also raised some funds towards it by swimming
the choppy waters between the piers in Brighton.
Work on the house is now beginning and we are planning more events to
fund the second half of the building cost. We will be putting all money's
raised from our annual cheeky naked calendar (which uses well positioned
props!) towards the calendar and are planning a Bollywood night in
February.
In March, my mother and I, plus one of our fundraising supporters, will
be lucky enough to go back to India and hopefully see the house in its final
stages!
It has truly been a privilege
meeting Victor and his team and helping to spread a little sunshine into some
special children's lives."
Thank you Faye and 'Spread Some Sunshine'!
------------------------------------------ooooooooooooooooooooo-----------------------------------------
Karen, my daughter, and I are pleased to announce that our fundraising efforts were rewarded with a donation of £37 to the British Legion Poppy Appeal and £205 to Brighter Future for the 76 poppies we made. Karen sold lots of them to the three choirs she belongs to. The bank manager admired them so we will target the bank if we make them next year!
The quince jelly making is finished and selling well. along with one card selling session at my church we took £210.
The quince jelly making is finished and selling well. along with one card selling session at my church we took £210.
Manya
NB. The last day for International Standard Post to India is Monday 7th December. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
