High FIVE!

In FIVE weeks’ time I will be retiring from my employment as Funding Development Manager for Children in Distress. Today I was given the sad news that CID is in crisis; not quite the note on which I wished to retire L

Children in Distress is in its twenty fifth year (FIVE x FIVE) and, in that time, has given support to thousands, yes literally thousands, of children in Romania and the Balkans – the forgotten children of Eastern Europe.  During the time that I have supported Children in Distress (the last eight years as a paid employee) I have grown to love the children in our care, grown to love the country, the people I have met and who I now count many as my friends.  After retirement I will continue to support this wonderful small charity until my dying day; I have seen at firsthand what a difference FIVE pounds or FIVE RON (Romanian lei) can make to a child who literally has nothing.

Now I know that as you are reading this (thank you for reading!) you will probably be thinking “Oh here we go again; someone else wanting my money”.  I have no shame where these kids are involved – yes I AM asking you for money, BUT I am asking for FIVE pounds that’s all (of course you can give more if you wish to!! J ) and humbly ask that for the next FIVE weeks that I have left as an employee you give as many FIVE pounds/euros/dollars/RON as you can, to enable CID to be able to continue to help these lovely children who so desperately need someone to show that they care what happens to them.  If you are able to donate, on a monthly basis, FIVE pounds that would be simply wonderful.  FIVE pounds to most of us is not a huge amount of money; a jar of coffee, a takeaway, tea and a cream cake, a couple of balls of knitting wool, packet of toilet rolls etc. But FIVE pounds to CID can mean so much more; giving FIVE children their only hot meal of the day, a flu or MMR inoculation for a child at risk, two school books; the list is endless.  Could you forego a takeaway meal and feed FIVE children instead?                    

Without your immediate help, CID is in real danger of having to close down some or all of its projects and it is for this reason that I am appealing to you now from the bottom of my heart; we simply cannot let this happen, not for the sake of a FIVE pound note! If you are able to help, please go to our website www.childrenindistress.org and press the ‘Donate’ button NOW! Thank you J

In return I will give you a ‘High FIVE’.  The definition of a High FIVE is a follows:

High FIVE

‘Symbol of celebration when something good is said/done. The causes for the call of "HIGH FIVE" can vary from anything as small as finding something cool on the floor to something as big as saving the world from almost certain destruction’

 

 

 

Jane x

Treasure your Mum

If, like me, you are fortunate enough to have your Mum in your life you are indeed a lucky, lucky child.

My Mum is almost 97 years young and has been an inspiration to me all of my life.  She is a strong, fiercely independent woman. A woman who went through WWII with her husband in the army who enlisted on Valentine’s Day and was injured on Christmas Eve 1942 making it necessary for her to travel to Oxford from our small market town on the edge of the North York Moors.  This journey would be difficult enough these days on Christmas Eve…………………………can you begin to imagine what it was like in wartime over 70 years ago?  Only a strong person could make that journey.

She brought my two brothers and I up to know the difference between right and wrong, to care for others less fortunate than ourselves and most of all to TRY; try with our school work, to try with everything we undertook.  If we tried, it wasn’t important if we then failed at least we had tried.

Most things in our house were handmade.  Mum made the clothes we wore, the rugs under our feet, the lampshades above us, the curtains covering the windows; if it was possible to be handmade then it was.  The love she felt for her family was there for all to see.

Many of the children in the care of Children in Distress have been abandoned by their Mothers. BUT in many cases it wasn’t because their Mothers didn’t love them, it was because their Mothers DID love them that they abandoned them.  The medication costs for a disabled or poorly child in Romania are beyond the reach of many families so rather than let that child remain untreated and ultimately die, their Mothers abandoned them into our care so they could receive the treatment they needed.

If your Mum is in heaven and you are unable to send her flowers on this Mothering Sunday, perhaps you would consider making a donation to Children in Distress in honour of your Mum and therefore give hope to other Mums who have entrusted us with the care of their children.  Please go to our website www.childrenindistress.org and press the donate button in honour of your Mum.  Thank you!

Treasure your Mum; she will love you like no other person.

Why Volunteer?

Why indeed?!  Do you want to feel good about yourself? Do something for someone less fortunate? Don’t have much money to donate but you do have some spare time?

Whatever the reason, WE NEED YOU!

1.    Do you live near one of our shops? Kirkbymoorside, Guisborough or Shildon?  Do you have at least one hour per week to spare?  Our shop managers would love to hear from you!  There is always something to do in one of our busy shops – sorting donations, ironing, dusting the shelves, keeping the floor clean, manning the till and much more.  You would get to meet some of our lovely customers, have a bit of chat and even help them to choose an item.

2.    Are you a nurse, teacher, social worker or similar? Perhaps you would like to use your skills in Romania at one of our hospices or other projects? Contact our Head Office in Glasgow for details of opportunities.

3.    Do you like organising events?  We are always looking for supporters to hold events to raise much needed funds. Coffee morning, stall at a car boot sale, craft event, tombola, car wash, wine & cheese evening, sponsored walk/run – the possibilities are endless!

4.    Are you a ‘crafty’ person? Perhaps you like knitting, crochet or sewing? Thanks to our Handcrafters’ Guild members and other supporters, we now send in excess of 20,000 items of clothing, blankets and knitted toys to Romania for the children we support. Items are also made for sale in the UK to raise funds.  If you would like to volunteer your skills in this way, contact me at janerussell@childrenindistress.org.uk to have a chat.

5.    If you work in an office, factory or similar environment where there are a number of workers, why not start a collection of used postage stamps (£10 a kilo for unsorted stamps!), old postcards, ink cartridges or mobile phones? All of these items will earn money for CID and won’t cost you anything, only your time in collecting them.

These are just a few ideas on how you can volunteer to help us raise funds to care for the children we support.  I’m sure you can come up with even more J

Please don’t leave the  volunteering to someone else………………they might be leaving it up to you.

 

 

 

Jane x