At the beginning of this year a small team including Karen Brown and myself, applied to do the 40 mile Keswick to Barrow walk to raise funds for Hands of Hope Romania. Despite the walk being in May, and our application going in in January, demand was so great that our application was unsuccessful.
Though this was frustrating, it gave birth to an idea. As there was clearly a great demand for such long walks (more fit and or mad people than I realised!) why not create our own annual long distance walk to raise funds for Hands of Hope?
A 25 mile route taking in the four hills of Billinge, Ashurst, Parbold and Harrock was devised, along with a short 4 mile route. Spring and summer were spent getting the official clearance necessary for the event, walking various routes to decide the best, and creating a website. Many people had input to all this, too many to name here, but a big thank you to all of you! The event was planned for 5th September and called the “Walk of Hope”, primarily to reflect the link with Hands of Hope, but also that the event might bring hope to other situations through other charities that some walkers might raise for.
Unfortunately, a month before the event I sustained injuries in a biking accident that ruled me out of the event. Furthermore, another of the walk guides, Martin, was also ill in the days leading up to the event, and so we were increasingly hoping numbers would be small enough to manage. This was the case with about 35 people taking part in the day, plus a number of helpers – my heartfelt thanks to them too. This proved to be an ideal size for a first event, and a few lessons were learnt for next year. The weather began wet, but all the walkers showed great commitment. The weather improved through the day and at the finish all walkers and helpers said they’d been really glad to be a part of it.
The event raised nearly £3000 in total, with approximately £1300 to date for Hands of Hope, and £1631 raised by two walkers for medical help for a child with a brain tumour. This exceeded my expectations and is a great spur to begin the preparation for next year’s event.
If you, or someone you know, would like to take part in either a 10 or a 25 mile walk next September, then look out for further details next year on this blog or at www.walkofhope.co.uk.
Trevor Hilton
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
November 2009: Newsletter
Dear friends and supporters,
Welcome to the Autumn Hands of Hope newsletter! It’s been some time since we wrote, so there are lots to update you on.
Hands of Hope Romania were thrilled recently when one of our Trustees, Sarah White, gained a scholarship award from Edge Hill University where she is presently studying. Sarah was presented with her award by psychologist and broadcaster, Professor Tanya Byron for the charity work she does with Hands of Hope Romania.
The first ‘Walk of Hope’ took place this September. Overall the event raised £1300 for Hands of Hope, and over and above this amount, £1620 was raised for other charities. We hope to make this an annual event in order to fund-raise for Hands of Hope. Time to start training for next year now!
Over the summer Sarah spent six weeks out in Jibou from July to September. For the first week of her stay she was accompanied by our chair of Trustees Karen and later on by a friend from Oaks church in Skelmersdale, Irene. It was Irene’s first visit to Romania and she obviously enjoyed herself as she is looking forward to going back again!
Sarah helped different people in a variety of ways while she was in Jibou, from teaching games to children, advocacy work and financial advice to practical help; she even used her professional nursing skills in administering medical help.
In early August Sarah and Rodica, one of our Romanian volunteer workers, took a young blind boy Marius to hospital to see an orthopaedic surgeon as besides his vision, he is also semi-paralysed. As well as providing financial assistance for the several journeys to and from the hospital, Sarah made sure he had all the items he need for his stay in hospital, such as pyjamas. Rodica and Sarah assisted the boy’s mother to understand what would be involved in the operation by ensuring she understood the medical procedure. Their involvement also helped to ensure the boy and his mother did not experience any discrimination due to being Roma as unfortunately there can be discrimination and prejudice within the health service.
In September Marius had his operation, which thankfully appears to have been a success. Hands of Hope are glad to have been able to support Marius and his family at this difficult time.
Sarah was able to give financial assistance to help an older woman gain medical treatment with severe pressure sores. Sarah acted as an advocate for the woman in gaining medical treatment, and Hands of Hope were able to financially assist to ensure she had medication for a month’s treatment.
While she was in Jibou Sarah was able to see first hand the success of the weekly children’s group, run by volunteers Solomon and Rodica where sometimes there are so many children it is hard to fit everyone in their home! One day Sarah and Rodica took a group of twenty children to the local football stadium where they enjoyed a game of Rounders and a picnic!
During the first week of Sarah’s visit, she met with the local social worker, along with Karen in order to build a greater working relationship between Romanian Social Services and Hands of Hope. They discussed how we could all work more effectively together to deliver aid and support in the most effective way.
Besides the activities over the summer, our other activities continue as usual such as the children’s work run by volunteers Victor and Nadia in villages outside of Jibou, which Hands of Hope supports by assisting with transport costs and costs of children’s materials. The regular food parcel support to widows and widowers continues fortnightly as it has done throughout the year.
It may not be Christmas just yet, but Hands of Hope are working hard to have all our shoeboxes packed and ready to send over to Jibou for the end of November. We hope to send five hundred this year, our most ever. A big thank you to our secretary Jean who has put in such a huge amount of work in working to achieve this target.
Thank You!
The Hands of Hope Team
Welcome to the Autumn Hands of Hope newsletter! It’s been some time since we wrote, so there are lots to update you on.
Hands of Hope Romania were thrilled recently when one of our Trustees, Sarah White, gained a scholarship award from Edge Hill University where she is presently studying. Sarah was presented with her award by psychologist and broadcaster, Professor Tanya Byron for the charity work she does with Hands of Hope Romania.
The first ‘Walk of Hope’ took place this September. Overall the event raised £1300 for Hands of Hope, and over and above this amount, £1620 was raised for other charities. We hope to make this an annual event in order to fund-raise for Hands of Hope. Time to start training for next year now!
Over the summer Sarah spent six weeks out in Jibou from July to September. For the first week of her stay she was accompanied by our chair of Trustees Karen and later on by a friend from Oaks church in Skelmersdale, Irene. It was Irene’s first visit to Romania and she obviously enjoyed herself as she is looking forward to going back again!
Sarah helped different people in a variety of ways while she was in Jibou, from teaching games to children, advocacy work and financial advice to practical help; she even used her professional nursing skills in administering medical help.
In early August Sarah and Rodica, one of our Romanian volunteer workers, took a young blind boy Marius to hospital to see an orthopaedic surgeon as besides his vision, he is also semi-paralysed. As well as providing financial assistance for the several journeys to and from the hospital, Sarah made sure he had all the items he need for his stay in hospital, such as pyjamas. Rodica and Sarah assisted the boy’s mother to understand what would be involved in the operation by ensuring she understood the medical procedure. Their involvement also helped to ensure the boy and his mother did not experience any discrimination due to being Roma as unfortunately there can be discrimination and prejudice within the health service.
In September Marius had his operation, which thankfully appears to have been a success. Hands of Hope are glad to have been able to support Marius and his family at this difficult time.
Sarah was able to give financial assistance to help an older woman gain medical treatment with severe pressure sores. Sarah acted as an advocate for the woman in gaining medical treatment, and Hands of Hope were able to financially assist to ensure she had medication for a month’s treatment.
While she was in Jibou Sarah was able to see first hand the success of the weekly children’s group, run by volunteers Solomon and Rodica where sometimes there are so many children it is hard to fit everyone in their home! One day Sarah and Rodica took a group of twenty children to the local football stadium where they enjoyed a game of Rounders and a picnic!
During the first week of Sarah’s visit, she met with the local social worker, along with Karen in order to build a greater working relationship between Romanian Social Services and Hands of Hope. They discussed how we could all work more effectively together to deliver aid and support in the most effective way.
Besides the activities over the summer, our other activities continue as usual such as the children’s work run by volunteers Victor and Nadia in villages outside of Jibou, which Hands of Hope supports by assisting with transport costs and costs of children’s materials. The regular food parcel support to widows and widowers continues fortnightly as it has done throughout the year.
It may not be Christmas just yet, but Hands of Hope are working hard to have all our shoeboxes packed and ready to send over to Jibou for the end of November. We hope to send five hundred this year, our most ever. A big thank you to our secretary Jean who has put in such a huge amount of work in working to achieve this target.
Thank You!
The Hands of Hope Team
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