Charities & other donations
Donations
At the Zoom meeting on 5th April we were privileged to have Kenny Turnbull from Friends of Chernobyl's Children West Lothian address our members on the work carried out by this charity to support children from the parts of Belarus most severely affected by the Chernobyl disaster.
"Friends of Chernobyl’s Children West Lothian is an independent Scottish charity, affiliated with FOCC GB to assist with our work in Belarus. Our group is based in the town of Broxburn, West Lothian. Our objective is to give “a month of love and care” to each one of our children during their visits to Scotland. The children live with host families in West Lothian and we put on a full programme of activities every weekday from 8.15 to 5.30. The children arrive with us with nothing and go home with a full suitcase of clothes, vitamins, medicines, toys etc to help them and their families to get through the next year until they return to us again. The children come from the age of 7 to 12 and can come to the same family for up to 5 visits."
We were delighted to make a donation of £500 to support the work of FOCC West Lothian which has had its fund raising efforts curtailed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Email from Kenny Turnbull
Thank you so much for the kind donation of £500, which has arrived safely in our account.
It was great to see all the guys gathered online last night and to share a little of the work we do with the needy children of Belarus and their families.
I have attached 2 photos of our current groups of children. They should have been coming in 2020 and again in 2021 but as you know, these visits had to cancelled because of covid.
Most of these children live in wooden houses with outside toilets and a well in the street for water. When you factor in poverty, temperatures of -30 in winter and snow on the ground for months it’s a very harsh existence even without the radiation.
It’s not hard to see why our visits to Belarus and the children’s visits to Scotland are so much looked forward to by the kids. With your help we will bring light and colour into what is often a grey existence. With your help we will give them a chance of a better future.
Thank you so much. We are all volunteers in this charity. We love doing what we do, but we know we can’t do it all by ourselves. Our “work” is only possible through the kindness of good people in our community, like yourselves.
Kenny
Other examples of donations we've made in the last 2 years mainly to organisations within Whitburn or West Lothian
Whitburn Gala Day WCDT Community Fridge
Tippethill Staff Gifts Covid-19 River Kids
Ajay Chambers Polkemmet Primary (Outdoor benches)
Whitburn Scouts/Guides/BB/GB Whitburn Academy Prize-giving
Tippethill League of Friends Remembrance Memorial Cairn
WCDT Armistice Parade catering Alzheimer’s & Salvation Army (J. Marshall)
Coeliac UK Poppy Scotland
