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 May
2010
Website
Report from Region 2
Derek & Lynda Donaldson
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The North West region covers
the counties of Cumbria, Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Merseyside
and Cheshire. It’s a large area to cover and being new to the post of
Development Associates we are only at the beginning of developing the
support for The Smiles Foundation throughout our region.
Just by way of introduction, our names are
Lynda and Derek Donaldson
and we have been
involved with the charity since 2001. Lynda joined a few others on
one of the very first
 mission
trips to Romania undertaken by The Smiles Foundation and has been a
Smiles Ambassador ever since, visiting the projects on numerous
occasions.
Derek first visited in 2008 and again
in June 2009. This was a real life changing trip for him and you may
want to have a read of his diary from the trip by catching up on ‘back
news’ on the website.
(LINK to Story) |
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Living at the far North of our region
in Carlisle does mean that for the past nine years our work with
Smiles has been concentrated in North Cumbria.
We have been fortunate that others from
our own circuit of churches here in Carlisle have caught the ‘Smiles
Effect’
and given their support over the years
with many fundraising efforts. We have enjoyed lots of teas, coffees
and cakes, (too many for one of us!) as people have baked their way
through fundraising. We are very grateful to all of them for their
continued support.
 Lynda runs a toddler group in Carlisle and every week each
family attending contributes 50p to The Smiles Foundation. This,
along with sponsored toddles around the church and other fundraising
activities has seen them raise almost £10,000 over the years.
Our most recent event planned just before the Easter break was a
sponsored ‘Welly-Walk.’ Very apt for Cumbria where we do tend to get
our fair share of rain! |
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 Back
in November we held our first Smiles Foundation event in the South of
the County in Kendal when the Tileagd
School Choir performed.
Those attending were all captivated by the young people and five from
the area will have seen them again when they visited Romania on a
mission trip in April.
(See Trip Report)
This became an extended visit
due to the Icelandic volcano situation, but the team enjoyed their
extended time in Eastern Europe visiting the city of Budapest (Capital
of Hungary). Mission trips are becoming ever more popular and are a
fantastic opportunity to see the work taking place within our projects
first hand, as did a group from Wigton a few years ago.
Maybe reading our web site will inspire you to sign up for a trip
yourself! |
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Spreading the news about our work to
others is vital to our continued growth and work as a charity.
As already stated, here in
the North West we have a massive area; as yet; mostly untouched,
although we do have supporters dotted about here and there. We are
delighted that Vic Brown,
based in the Kendal area has taken on the role of a Smiles Ambassador
for South Cumbria / North Lancs.
If you are reading this and are someone who believes that you could do
a little more to spread the news in your area, possibly as one of our
Ambassadors, then please do get in touch, we would love to hear from
you. |
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Tileagd Children's Choir
Schools Tour - July 2010 |
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Making Smiles .... Changing Lives |
We have already mentioned the
Tileagd School Choir.
The children will be visiting our
region on 5th – 6th July to give presentations
to schools. A number of
schools have already expressed an interest here in Cumbria but
hopefully this will be an area for further development throughout the
region over the coming years. Schools can have such an important role
to play in helping our friends in Romania by sponsoring children, by
fundraising and holding events to raise awareness. It costs about
£420 to educate one child for a year in our Tileagd School. A school
holding a fundraising non-school uniform day here in the North West
could possibly raise enough funds to sponsor one child’s school
attendance for a whole year. If you, or someone you know, is involved
with work in schools, perhaps this is something in which you could
support us. |
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 Other
regions have taken up the
Container Challenge,
but at time of writing we are
still looking for someone who could rise to the challenge and
co-ordinate this fantastic project in Region 2. We need someone who
could source a container, find somewhere to store it, fill it, log
what goes in it, get it all shipped to Romania and have the pleasure
of knowing that they have helped provide a home for someone
desperately poor.
It does not need to be the same person doing all of this, so if you,
or someone you know has skills in any of these areas, then please…can
we bother you again? |
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 One
of our supporters is taking up the
Cumberland Cycle Challenge
in September. This is a 105 mile ride over some of the counties more
challenging terrain. We wish him well and thank him for undertaking
this challenge in aid of The Smiles Foundation.
We have been privileged to see people’s lives change for the better in
Romania as a result of the work of The Smiles Foundation. Please
consider being part of that ongoing work, AND….
‘Remember when you do this
for the least of my brothers, you do it for me.’
Matthew 25:4 (The words of Jesus)
Please keep in touch and let’s see if Region 2 of the United Kingdom
can make a lot more Smiles for the Smiles Foundation and the people of
Romania.
Derek & Lynda
Donaldson
Development Associate for Region 2 - North West
derekandlynda@thesmilesfoundation.org
Region 2:
Cumbria, Lancashire, Gtr.
Manchester, Merseyside & Cheshire
Previous Reports
North Midlands, March 2010
Scotland, February 2010
South East
Counties, January 2010
Southern Counties, December 09
North East, November 09
South
West, October 09
Northern Ireland, September 09
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