Charities 2017-18

This year we have selected several principal charities we will be supporting, in addition to that we also support a number of other local, national, international and Rotary chartities.  Here are some of the Charities we will be supporting this year under the umbrella of "THE ROTARY CLUB OF BROOKMANS PARK TRUST FUND - Registered Charity No 1021658.

Unlocking Potential In Africa - Everything Red Rubber Ball does – coaching, workshops and community projects – is all part of the same vision.  They’re serious about unlocking potential in people – wherever they happen to live – because talent is universal but opportunity isn’t.They're providing opportunities for talent to flourish

Scholarships - The problem that  “we are too poor to afford education” is being overcome. Right now there are 44 boys and 40 girls, bright young people from the poorest parts of Kenya, all in secondary school reaching their full potential.  This year Brookmans Park Rotary Club is sponsorsing two of those children.

Other projects run by Red Rubber Ball include:-

Educational Farm - Orphaned children near Butere (in Western Kenya) get a good meal every day because of their farm. At the same time, they learn farming skills and they get encouragement and support for their schooling.

Football Academy - The Hope Academy provides football coaching for boys and girls. More than just nurturing a passion for sport, it also provides mentoring that develops their life-skills and encourages them to achieve more in their school work.

Workshops - Every year we share our life-changing workshop "Anything is Possible" with young people from all our projects. In 2014 this included Nairobi, Kenya - "Yote Yawezekana" - providing the children we support with the opportunity of a better life.

International Links - We have established links between primary and secondary schools in the UK and Kenya. This broadens the horizons for both groups of students and can provide a very relevant focus in a number of subjects .

For more information visit:- http://www.redrubberball.co.uk/

Harry Worrell

Our club is balancing it's charity efforts by having a local charity as well as an International charity, and we have chosen to try and help Harry Worrell and his family, who reside in Potters Bar.

Harry is a bright and determined young boy, which is fortunate, because he has a long battle ahead.

Harry has a form of MND which is called SPA, (Spinal Muscular atrophy).  It is caused by genetic problems and until very recently, there was no treatment.

Now, there is a new drug in America, called Spinraza, which offers Harry and others like him some hope, by mimicking his missing gene.

Harry will require the administering of the drug every three to four months, and this must be done in America, by an operation which places the drug directly into his spine.

Harry is blessed with a fantastic family who are tireless in their pursuit of help for him.

We are trying to help Harry to continue his treatment in America, until the drug becomes licenced in the UK, and is hopefully approved by NICE for use by the NHS, which will remove most of the barriers in Harry’s short life.

Some of the Rotary Charity projects we have supported are:-

Rotary International Haiti - www.ribi.org/news/articles/haiti-rotarian-offers-shelter-to-fellow-earthquake-victims

Polio eradication - www.polioeradication.org

ShelterBox - www.shelterbox.org

We recently donated  £1,000 towards Shelter Boxes which are being sent out to the Nepal Eartnquake Relief.