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BVA's Sponsored Charity
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(Please scroll down) |
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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 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 BVA Wassenberg representative) they identified Raphael Geiser (aged 9 at the time), 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 and his mother also has two other children to support.
The Association has only been in existence for a few years and 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 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 Raphael that we may be advised of.
b. Assistance with birthday's, holidays, Christmas etc.
c. Some assistance towards his 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, transferred £200 from the General account to the Association Charity.
Also, two of our staunch members, Cheri and David Hopkins, have given us a 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 the appeal.
Ideally, we need a constant commitment like Cheri's and David'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 tremendous help and enable Cyril and I to administer the charity on a sustainable basis.
Having voted unanimously for this we now have an individual and collective responsibility to make it 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.
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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Keep on scolling!
Why not donate and get your name on the donors list?<
(Raphael's album can be found in the Photo's section of the website.)
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Gist translation received on 07 February 2004
Hello, My name is Raphael and I am 9 years old on the 17 February 2004. I wish
to thank you for the Christmas present, but at the time was not feeling too
well. My mother and I have enclosed some pictures so that you can see what I
look like. On some photographs I am with my brothers Kilian and Stephan which I
think is OK. My mother told me that some of you will be coming to Birgelen in
March/April. It would be nice if I could meet you then. In the Easter holidays I
must go into hospital in Koln for six days and I hope that it does not coincide
with the visit. It would be nice if you could tell us when you are coming so
that my mother can arrange something.
Best regards,
From Birgit, Kilian, Stephan and Raphael>
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