Events – Fundraising in 2006

The President’s charity this year has been the British Red Cross Society, in support of the services it delivers locally not internationally. The local branch delivers the following services within the area of South East Wales (for more information go to http://www.redcross.org.uk/branch.asp?id=490)

1. Carers Respite and Befriending;
2. Carers Emergency Card Support Service;
3. Community First Aid Training – targeted at people who are disadvantaged;
4. Public First Aid Training – general public;
5. Barry Day Care Services – elderly;
6. Emergency Response;
7. Fire Victim Support;
8. First Aid Cover at Events;
9. Preventing Admission to Hospital;
10. Home from Hospital Discharge Scheme;
11. International Tracing and Message Service;
12. Medical Loan;
13. Practical Aids to Daily Living;
14. Refugee and Asylum Seeker Support;
15. Skin Camouflage;
16. Therapeutic Care;
17. Transport & Escort;
18. Western Vale Day Care – EMI;

Most people link the Red Cross with its international work and are unaware of its work in the UK. This was an attempt at raising awareness about its local work as well as raising money for the services.

The money (£1623.19) was raised through:

• A really big coffee morning;
• Foods from across the world and Belly Dancing;
• Carol Service in Llandaff Cathedral, given by the Landaff Cathedral Choral Society, with the collection going to Red Cross;
• Tea at Betty’s (at a member’s home in Cardiff);
• St Valentine’s Day event including appropriate readings, a jazz singer and Indian dancing;
• Donations from the WRVS in Caerphilly and our luncheon club;
• Lectures to Gwent Medical Society and SI Stafford.

Other money was raised, going directly to the BRCS, through:

• Lecture to Inner Wheel Barry – £170.00;
• Red Cross week/collections – £629.56
• Sales of Red Cross goods – £150.00.

Thus the total funds raised amounted to £2,575.75.

Activites intended to raise awarenes and give help through other means were:

• Dissemination of the telephone directory number (881499) which gives 5p for each call made – split 50:50 between BRCS and Barnado’s;
• Recycling – inkjet cartridges, mobile phones, foreign coins;
• Red Sack Collection – all items except electrical goods and children’s shoes – 35 sacks collected;
• Raising awareness of the BRCS Open Gardens Programme.

In addition to these funds were raised for:

• The Cape Verde project;
• Project Independence, Women Survivors of War, to enable women victims of war to rebuild their lives (http://www.soroptimist-gbi.org/quadrennial_project);
• Halo Trust de-mining in Nagorno-Karabakh, for Mines Awareness Week (http://www.halotrust.org/nagornokarabakh.html);
• Licking Lassa Fever in West Africa;
• SI President’s Appeal – Roll Back Malaria (WHO) will distribute bed nets to pregnant women and children under 5 years old in Ze Province, Benin (http://www.soroptimistinternational.org/html/president_s_appeal.html);
• SI Kenilworth, rebuilding Lamreh Village through SI Jakarta (http://www.rebuilding-lamreh.org/);
• Barnado’s – Christmas gifts for young homeless people aged between 16-21 years, through the Marlborough Road Project ;
• Ockenden Trust (http://www.ockenden.org.uk/);

In all in excess of £5500.00 was donated to these causes.