Corporate Support
Towers Watson / Scott Wilson Group
BHTFC / RBS / Vodafone Foundation /Get involved
Vodafone Foundation
This year Heather Rayment, our hard working Charity guru won a grant from the Vodafone Foundation to work full time for Quest4Change for 2 months at no cost to the Charity. This kind of support was invaluable to us as a small charity. Heather has been working hard on numerous projects, has been attending training days in London and the experience has been invaluable for both her and the charity.
Towers Watson
The staff at Towers Watson (previously Watson Wyatt) have shown incredible support for our work in the shanty town of Villa Maria, Peru. The money they have donated and raised, most notably over £3,500 raised by one cake sale will make a huge difference to the lives of the some of the poorest people in the world. Staff at Watson Wyatt then built on this support by raising another £3,000+ for this project at an excellent Salsa night.
Quest4Change have been working in Villa Maria for 14years now, over that time we have spent every summer providing 100s of children with cultural and recreational activities, keeping them off of the streets and away from the harmful drug and crime culture. We have purchased, renovated and kitted out a pre-school in the community and are now involved in the construction of basic homes for some of the poorest families.
Towers Watson became involved with our Villa Maria project after the tragic death of a former volunteer on the project, Katie Ashbridge. Katie was a volunteer in Villa Maria in 2000 and went on to work at Towers Watson after university.
The money raised by this phenomenal fundraising event will go towards a literacy program for the community and will also be used to buy a much needed photocopier for the school. Our huge thanks go to Andrew Long and the whole team at Towers Watson whose fantastic generosity is helping us make a difference.
BHTFC
After receiving a very generous donation of 5 full sets of Burgess Hill Town Football Club shirts at the end of last year we are exciting to announce that following an initial meeting with Garry and Gary at BHTFC in November 2009 numerous ideas have emerged and hopefully over the years a strong collaboration between BHTFC and Quest4Change will be established to the benefit of both parties.
The official shirt handover.
Pictured (left to right) Gary (BHTFC) Jon and Simon (Quest Overseas) and Heather (Quest4Change)
The shirts (pictured above) will be heading out to our Children's project in the shanty town of Villa Maria, Peru, where they will benefit local adult teams who are currently forming a league. The photo below was taken in the early hours of the morning at Heathrow on the 3rd of Feb 2010 and shows the shirts being handed over to the volunteers heading out to Peru.
latest news:
They've flown over 6,320 miles, have survived baggage reclaim and cancelled flights, but the Burgess Hill Town Football Club shirts have finally made it to Villa Mara, Peru.
The official handover
The shirts we handed over a couple of days ago by the current team of volunteers working out in Villa Maria to the Juan Velasco community who then went on to destroy the English volunteers in a suitable embarrassing game of football.
The Villa Maria team smash the Quest team
Quest4Change has been working with the Juan Velasco community in Villa Maria since 1999, their demon football team is made up of kids who we've worked with over the years and parents of many of the kids at the Quest school in Villa Maria. Once again our thanks go out to the fabulous Burgess Hill Town Football Club for their support and for donating five full football kits.
The Juan Velasco Team
As you can see from the pictures in Villa Maria they start them on their football young, I wonder if we can find any shirts that will fit baby Manuel?
Scott Wilson Group
In 2008 the Scott Wilson group built a school for 200 children in Tofo Mozambique, not only did they fund the project with a £25,000 donation, but 43 members of their staff volunteered a month of their time to build the school - incredible!
Before
Tofo desperately needed school facilities. The children were studying on a dusty cement floor with grass walls. They had no desks, chairs, books, bags or pens. The Scott Wilson group decided they could make a difference - through improving the educational environment and giving them a school they can be proud of. They worked alongside local people for their children's future, whilst also providing a building available for community facilities outside the school hours.
Building starts
Why the Scott Wilson Group got involved
"This project will give me the opportunity to spend a complete month in an area that will allow me to experience its culture and life style not just as a tourist." Jack Symmons.
"This is a brilliant opportunity to make a tangible difference in an area that requires a facility." Diane Riley.
This project, for around £100 a child didn't just give the gift of education, it gave these children the opportunity to raise themselves and their families out of poverty, giving hope to an entire community.
The finished school
Royal Bank of Scotland
In June 2008 Royal Bank of Scotland staff raised nearly £20,000 to help build a maternity clinic for the Pen Sulo community, Malawi (finished picture below). Two teams of volunteers travelled out to Malawi to spend four weeks working with locals to build the clinic.
The clinic now serves members of the local community, who had very limited access to health care facilities. The clinic has provided a base for health workers and doctors from the District Health Office to run Family Planning clinics, HIV/AIDS clinics, Ante-Natal Clinics and a Children's clinic.
Volunteer voice: "Have made fantastic progress. It is so motivating when you see the results of a hard day's work."
Why did we build this clinic with RBS?
Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world. According
to the latest World Bank figures, it has a life expectancy of 38.8
years and nearly 20 percent of children die before their fifth
birthday. AIDS is the main cause of death for those between 20 and 40 -
the disease causing around a quarter of the deaths in that age group.
According to a 1998 survey, 65 percent of the population were living
below the poverty line. Today, it is estimated that up to seven million
people may be on the edge of famine and that between 100 and 150 people
are dying from starvation each day
There is just 1 doctor for every 62,000 people – in the UK the ratio is 1:2000.
The benefits of building the clinic -
Immediate benefits: The clinic provides regular access to health care for communities for over 1,000 people in the Pen Sulo district
Expected benefits over medium term: Increase in the health of children and members of the communities. Mortality rate of children should fall over time. More children carrying on to secondary education and able to support their families
Expected over longer-term due to improved education:
Better health in community
Improved local economy
Better opportunities for local children and their families.
Get Involved
Most companies feel that the best way to show that they care about the world is by getting directly involved on the ground and working on one of the projects we support - is your business up to the challenge of a life time?
Why not build a school in Tanzania? Help care for endangered animals in South America. Build a Sand Dam which will provide clean drinking water to entire communities in Kenya. Whatever your business we have a project that needs you support, this is the opportunity of a lifetime. Make a difference with Quest4Change.
