poverty
Selfless teen gives up wardrobe for charity trip
When the summer arrives, most teenagers will be relaxing, enjoying their holidays with mates – especially if they have just come to the end of their high school education. But eighteen-year-old Charlotte Adams from Southend, Essex (UK) will be heading off to India for a month, to work with the charitable trust Emmanuel Ministries Calcutta (EMC) … which for nearly thirty years has been offering rehabilitation services for single parents who live on the streets; setting up and running health centres; and working in orphanages and slums, fighting poverty, malnutrition and illiteracy.
Charlotte, who currently attends Southend High School for Boys, has to raise a total of £2,200 to make the trip. So far she has achieved just over half of this from fundraising and savings out of her part-time tutoring job. Now she has started selling her personal belongings on eBay to raise the extra funds: so far she has sold a significant percentage of her own wardrobe, as well as various other items.
Christian-motivated EMC is inspired by the belief that “each individual has intrinsic value and deserves respect and dignity”. This is something that we believe, too, here at the Chreda Foundation. We also believe that young people have much to offer the world, and it’s great to see this latest example of the kind of selfless activities that so many of them are engaged in. This is exactly the kind of altruism that we will be seeking to encourage when we introduce the Chreda Prize at the end of this year.
Ten-year-old’s midnight walk for charity
Photo credit: Terry Ife
Ten-year-old Chloe Bamsey from Exmouth, Devon (UK) is walking three miles tonight to raise funds for charity. After hearing at Brixington Community Church how scarce food was in Africa she started fundraising for the charity DevonCHAPs (Communities Helping African Projects), originally aiming to collect around £30. But from midnight tonight the pupil from Littleham Primary School will start a 3-mile walk during which she hopes to raise nearly £200 in sponsorship.
Chloe, who has an 11-year-old pen pal in Africa and hopes to work with poor communities in Uganda and Malawi when she is older, says: “I have never walked at midnight before so it might be a challenge, but I have got to do it for the poor people…how lucky I am: I can go into my back garden, run around, and go and see the sea…in Africa they don’t have a lot – it’s sad. [But it’s] amazing how the money you raise can help them.”
To help Chloe with her fundraising efforts call her mother, Beth Dance, on 07964 950013.
One Direction reduced to tears
In Friday’s post I mentioned the fundraising efforts of British boy band One Direction on behalf of Red Nose Day, following their recent trip to Accra, Ghana. Now they have produced two commercials for the Comic Relief fundraiser. In these they explain emotionally how babies they saw dying from malaria in Africa could have been spared suffering by means of vaccinations costing just £5 each. The first clip stars Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson: Harry Styles and Liam Payne star in the second.
These guys seem to genuinely care!
Harry Styles bakes cupcakes for charity
On several occasions in the past this blog has featured the generosity of the Brit Awards ‘Global Success Award’ winners One Direction (in particular, Harry Styles). The boy band’s latest exploit concerns Red Nose Day – a charity initiative its members have been supporting since their recent visit to Ghana. The poverty there made a big impression on the lads, and as can be seen above, Harry has now been inspired to bake cupcakes in honour of the fundraising event, which will take place on Friday the 15th of March 2013, with the theme of ‘do something funny for money’.
Harry Styles delivering pizzas
Harry Styles recently spent a day delivering Domino’s pizzas. But the pop heartthrob who celebrates his 19th birthday today wasn’t trying to supplement his income as a singer with boy band One Direction. In fact, he spent several thousand dollars on the pizzas, a few months ago, which he then delivered personally to LA’s homeless. Harry – who has recently hit the headlines for shedding tears over the world’s poor – is rapidly becoming known as the band’s chief philanthropist, and he has even been compared to Bob Geldof. Add to this his recent interest in philosophy and one suspects that this teen could become quite a force to be reckoned with.
