Fundraising Reports
It is so wonderful the amount of fund-raising going on for Smiles -
somewhere just about every day. This makes such a difference to what
The Smiles Foundation can do in Romania, because to fulfil our dreams
and maintain our projects, we need your help in raising the financial
support to keep it moving. |
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 In
Training...... for Kilimanjaro
Currently there are 16 people interested in going to Kilimanjaro next
Summer. A few photos from the first practice expedition for the
Kilimanjaro trip! The team were blessed with a
beautiful day and the 6 inches of snow arrived in the area the next
day! It was really beautiful in the
 Mourne
Mountains. Brian McKee (Trustee) led the first trip on a
relatively easy route to Lough Shannagh and then a bit of a climb to
the top of Doan mountain. The next trip is in April when more people
are free to join. Please contact
Penny Kennedy for further
information.
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 School
Fundraisers ...
In February pupils of Stewarton Academy
presented our Scottish DA, Ann Cowan with their fundraising cheque for
nearly £700. Thank you and well done to everyone.
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FLOWER ARRANGING ENTERTAINMENT
“CANDLELIGHT SOIREE”
On Wednesday 11th November at Catshill Baptist
Church, local ladies Virginia Davis and Diana
Kitely (as Rose and Hyacinth) entertained an audience of one
hundred and fifty ladies with a Flower Arranging Demonstration
entitled “Candlelight Soiree”.
A wonderful evening was enjoyed by all present and raised £2,000
($3,200) for The Smiles Foundation, towards the provision of a Centre
for Children with Disabilities in Cihei, Romania. Some ladies were
able to take home the lovely flower arrangements made during this
superb evening.
We are extremely grateful to Virginia and
Diane for their support and do thank all who came along and helped to
make this evening such a tremendous success. We also thank
Karen Bales of Burcot Grange Nursing Home
for providing the refreshment of tea, coffee and delicious home made
cakes!
Joan and John Mayo
Smiles Ambassadors (Bromsgrove)
The entertainment was based on the classic
UK TV series "Keeping Up Appearances", also shown in the US on PBS
television. |
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the
lady with the hat and colourful jacket" is Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced
Bouquet) aka Diana Kiteley; the other lady is "Hyacinth's sister Rose"
aka Virginia Davis. |
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Fundraising at Ingatestone Elim Church
Three months ago, our
three, 9 year old grandchildren were enjoying an afternoon
blackberry picking in the garden with Granddad.
During a drinks break, they looked at my
photographs of the summer Mission Trip and were obviously very moved
by a photograph of a house in Salard. They could not believe that
anybody could live in those conditions, especially as there were
children there too. I explained that our summer Mission team had
promised to raise money to re-house the family, and their immediate
response was “Nana, we could sell the
Blackberries in Church”. This was the beginning of their
enterprise! We sold cakes, blackberries, tomatoes, in fact anything
that people donated went!
 Our small church was
very generous and this resulted in the children raising £300 for the
re-housing project and a further £210 for Christmas S.O.S.
They want to continue to sell and people have
come to look to buy from us, so we will continue once a month to have
their ‘Stall’ and the money will go towards our Summer Missions Trip
donation.
Marcia Weeks
Smiles Ambassador (Essex)
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Mission Trips, especially through
the summer, are great for being able to raise important funds for the
work of Smiles projects throughout the year. Often up to
£50,000 / $100,000 is raised by
Mission Trip visitors and others back home during June, July & August.
That’s 10% of our entire operating budget for the year from summer
Mission trips.
Many people find coming on a Mission trip, a great opportunity to do
special events to raise extra funds for Smiles and we appreciate all
that is done by so many to raise so much to make such a difference.
This summer we’ve got off to a great start.
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The Special
Gift Day Offering at the opening celebration service on
Sunday June 8th at Tileagd Community Church totalled
£11,789 / $23,578 which is truly fantastic. We thank God for His
provision and those who so generously gave to launch the work of
the Community Complex. |
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We also have the stunning new
12
month Calendar for Smiles. A beautiful new
fundraising tool, with over 80 full colour photographs and every
Smiles project featured month by month. A super personal calendar
and also a wonderful gift. At £5 / $10
this fundraiser can contribute significant funds to the projects
with your support. |
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Contact us now to order your
personal copy and supplies to sell locally.
Telephone:
UK - 0113 276 5060 or USA - 423 239 9525
E-mail:
info@thesmilesfoundation.org |
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Many others have also been doing
some great fund-raising.
First Baptist Leesburg raised
over $4,000 (£2,000) towards Mission Trip projects. |
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Claire
Smyth of Northern Ireland did a Skydive in April and
raised £1,000 ($2,000) for Smiles. |
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Hilary and David Kent of Great
Ayton, England raised a £1,000 ($2,000) for Smiles in lieu of
their Wedding Anniversary.
Considerable funds were raised in the
Belfast marathon last month along with further funds
from Fiona Presho who held a
birthday party with an ‘allo-allo’ theme with gifts to Smiles
instead of presents.
Every day we are informed of more fund-raising activities and all
of them, big and small are crucially important for the work of
Smiles to keep growing and impacting lives in Romania. |
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Thank you for all the plans
and events going on right now and for the weeks ahead.
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