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Background:
At the third Annual General Meeting of the Association,
held at the Ramada hotel Loughborough on Sunday 14 September
2003, Minute 10, proposed by General Peter Baldwin CBE, unanimously
agreed that the Association would sponsor (as our one on going
charity) a disadvantaged child from the Wassenberg/Effeld
area in Germany.
With the help
of the The Burgermeister of Wassenberg (Herr Erdweg) and John
Chudleigh (our Wassenberg representative) they have identified
Raphael Geiser (aged 9) as deserving of our support.
Raphael was
born on 17 February 1995. He suffers from Cystic Fibrosis
(CF) a genetic disease. In general terms, a defective gene
causes the body to produce an abnormally thick, sticky mucus
that clogs the lungs and leads to life-threatening lung infections.
These thick secretions also obstruct the pancreas, preventing
digestive enzymes from reaching the intestines to help break
down and absorb food. Raphael has been fed artificially since
the age of 9 months. He requires 24 hr supervision and his
mother also has two other children to support.
The Association
has only been in existence for a few years and as such, we
are not awash with funds. Other than our one-off lifetime
membership of £5 per new member and our annual draw, we have
no other income. Thus, any support that we do provide will
not be as generous as perhaps we would all wish.
What we provide may
not be much, but we will have the satisfaction of knowing
that every penny donated, will go entirely to it. I see our
main areas of expenditure as:
a. To provide
any emergency assistance to the child that we may be advised
of.
b. Assistance with
birthday's, holidays, Christmas etc.
c. Some assistance
towards the child's up-keep.
This list is
neither definitive nor exhaustive and there will be other
occasions when we are called upon for help. If members have
any ideas or suggestions on how we can further promote income
to this cause within our membership base, I would welcome
such input.
To start the
ball rolling, the Association Secretary, Cyril Harding, has
transferred £200 from the General account to the Association
Charity.
Also, two of our staunch members, Cheri and David Hopkins,
have given us a tremendous start by making a generous donation
of £100. They then followed this up by placing a Standing
Order with their UK bank for £150, to be paid to our Charity
in October of each year. In addition to this, they have since
made a further wonderful pledge of £50/month for as long as
they are able to sustain it. A truly remarkable gesture, particularly
as their donations were received prior to the launch of this
appeal.
Ideally, we
need a constant commitment like Dave and Cheri's, rather than
a 'one off ' show of generosity. If we all gave, via a Standing
Order, say, £5 a month (or quarter) that would be a really
tremendous help and enable Cyril and I to administer the charity
on a sustainable basis.
We have an individual
and collective responsibility to make this work and I appeal
to you
all to make a donation of whatever you feel you can afford,
in support of the Raphael Geiser BVA charitable fund that
you so generously voted for.
Cheques should
be made payable to the Birgelen Veterans Association and sent
to the Association Secretary Cyril Harding: 14 Park Close,
Abergavenny, Mons NP7 5SU.
All donations will be acknowledged.
Thank you all
for your support.
Fred Searle
Chairman
Birgelen Veterans Association
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