The Christmas appeal at the Rotary Club of the City of Wolverhampton this year was supported by over 50 people.

Club members, friends of club members and friends at the Bethel Christian Fellowship Church in West Bromwich gave a great many gifts and contributed in excess of £2,000 towards this appeal.

The funds would be split between 4 recipients and this is the outcome

of recipient number 3-

The Rotary Shoebox Scheme.

www.rotaryshoebox.org

Our club has a long history of support to the Rotary shoebox scheme and, 2023 was no exception.

Members fill shoeboxes or make donations to enable purchases to be made on their behalf.

The boxes are filled with gifts or household items for vulnerable youngsters and families who live principally in Romania and Moldova. Each box is more than just a box  full of useful and fun items; it’s personal a gift, not just for the person receiving it, but for the family, too-a message of hope and a demonstration that someone cares about them.

On December 18th, 252 completed shoeboxes were delivered to the Rotary distribution centre at Oldham for onward delivery to their Eastern Europe destinations. A few years ago, two members of the club drove to Romania and Moldova to deliver the boxes personally and found out just how wonderfully they are received.

Our friends at the Bethel Christian Fellowship Church of West Bromwich contributed nearly £300 and provided 34 filled Shoeboxes too and we certainly thank them very much.

PP Sylvia and Derek Morgan’s grandaughter Ella packing just a few of the 71 Shoeboxes that she completed this year. A wonderful effort- well done!

The Christmas appeal at the Rotary Club of the City of Wolverhampton this year was supported by over 50 people.

Club members, friends of club members and friends at the Bethel Christian Fellowship Church in West Bromwich gave a great many gifts and contributed in excess of £2,000 towards this appeal.

The funds would be split between 4 recipients and this is the outcome of recipient number two-

Kimbilio in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

www.congochildrentrust.org/

The Kimbilio organisation is one that our club has supported for some years now and has been visited by a club member. Based in the UK, the Congo Children’s Trust founded Kimbilio   (sanctuary in Swahili) to try to help with the plight of street children- sadly very common occurrence in the largest cities of the DRC. Kimbilio runs a day centre for street children and 4 transit homes where the main emphasis is on reintegration of youngsters with their families.

In 2022 they opened a primary school on the outskirts of Lubumbashi, the second largest city of the DRC and the club funded a fun day for the 200 children who attend the school and also members of the 4 transit homes, who joined in the fun too. Youngsters were treated to food and drink with fun and games being the order of the day. The star of the show of course was Santa Claus who arrived to add even more excitement to the day.

CLICK HERE to see just how well Santa can dance.

The Christmas appeal at the Rotary Club of the City of Wolverhampton this year was supported by over 50 people.

Club members, friends of club members and friends at the Bethel Christian Fellowship Church in West Bromwich gave a great many gifts and contributed in excess of £2,000 towards this appeal.

The appeal would be split between 4 recipients and this is the outcome of recipient number one- the Kanyama Free Baptist Community School in Lusaka, Zambia.

Over 300 children of the school attended during the day of celebration in advance of Christmas and the last day of their school term.

Each youngster received fruit, pop, crisps and a small gift.

Much singing and dancing took place and I am told by the Head teacher, Mr Beston Chilemalema that it was wonderful occasion.

The photographs and video certainly confirm this.

The school is located in an extremely impoverished township just outside the city centre of Lusaka and this club has been supporting them for several years, in which time the school has doubled in size.

Click the clip below to see what enjoyment was had!

Thank you video clip

And……

CLICK HERE to read a message from the Head teacher who tells us about Christmas in Kanyama.

Our most recent project has been the building of a soon to open extra classroom.

More of that in early 2024.

www.rotaryclubwolverhampton.co.uk/kanyama-free-baptist-community-school

Picture shows Deputy Head Gemma Evans, PDG Richard Green and Rotarian David Cheadle-who by coincidence, attended Warstones Primary school as a youngster.

The Books4Home project by which Rotary is making hundreds of reading books available to schools in Wolverhampton is going from strength to strength.

Today, it was our great pleasure to deliver a book strage unit, kindly made for us by retired joiner Peter Arnold, to deputy head Gemma Evans at Warstones Primary School.

At the second of five limb camps in Kerala southern India during November and December a very special child presented for treatment among the numerous beneficiaries.

He is seven year old Godwitness, which is the name given to him by his parents in gratitude for his survival. His story began before he even took his first breath because he was born six months premature and with no limbs. Doctors doubted he would survive, but his parents refused to give up.

His tale resonated with everyone. His small size and missing limbs presented a challenge, but the technicians were determined to give him a chance to run and play like any other child. Special artificial limbs were produced to perfectly fit his tiny frame and he became a symbol of hope for others at the camp as he navigated the crowd with his infectious smile.. As with all the limbs provided by the Rotary Jaipur Limb Project, the treatment was free of charge.

His father, overwhelmed with gratitude said “what you are doing is a blessing to those who can’t afford this gift. You give hope and freedom. May God bless you all abundantly for this noble deed.”

The series of free limb camps are organised the Rotary clubs of Quilon, Viakom, Allepey, Changancherry and Trivandrum in District 3211, the Rotary club of The City of Wolverhampton in District 1210 and with generous support from Districts 1175, 1210 and 1175 in Rotary in Great Britain and Ireland through a Global Grant from the Rotary Foundation.

PDG Richard Green,

Trustee and Director for India, The Rotary Jaipur Limb Project.

Wolverhampton Rotary Clubs Christmas Carol Service- A Great Success.

On December 9^th there was a large turnout for the club’s carol service held at the beautiful Ukrainian Catholic church as a result of the strong bond of friendship that has been formed with the Wolverhampton Association of Ukrainian citizens in the UK.

We were honoured by the presence of the Mayor of Wolverhampton, Councillor Doctor Mike Hardacre, the Mayoress Ms Lynn Plant and District Governor Rotarian Mukunda Chidrawar.

It was a particular pleasure to have attendees from the Rotary clubs of Tettenhall and Bilston and Wolverhampton West with the service being ably conducted by Rotarian The Reverend Allen Roberts from the Tettenhall club and a message delivered by The Very Reverend Father David Senyk who had travelled from Coventry to be with us.

Various club members delivered a series of bible readings and special thanks are due to Peter Wright for his faultless organisation of the event and in particular to Rotarian Robyn Davies from the Rotary club of The Wrekin who once again provided our musical accompaniment.

The service was followed by a most enjoyable gathering for refreshments at the Razom Ukarianin social centre and we are, as always, indebted to our friend Hryhorij Kowalazuk – known to us as ‘Greg,’ for making the facilities available to us.

PDG Richard Green

Centre Manager Paula Anderson, District 1210 Governor Doctor Mukunda Chidrawar and PP Peter Williams

The M.S.Therapy Centre was opened in 1984 as a Wolverhampton Rotary Club project in the year of Peter Williams’s Presidency and a recent Club visit to the Centre replaced our usual venue.

The Centre Staff of Paula Anderson, Lisa Sheward and Vicky Watkiss organised an excellent buffet lunch (including the option of purchasing alcohol for those Rotarians suffering from a drink-deprivation problem….!!) and the ratio of “the number of sandwiches consumed per Rotarian” produced an unsurprising figure……!!

Lunch was followed by  Centre Chairman Peter Williams welcoming District Governor Mukunda Chidrawar, Club President Charles Cox and our own Club Members.Following Peter’s talk on the history of the Centre, which was illustrated with a video of the early days, he spoke of the support from our Club which has continued over 39 years, there then was a congratulatory response from Mukunda.  Paula spoke of the progress of the Centre over the  years and the plans for the future of the many treatments and facilities which the Centre offers.

Peter also added that the Trustees at the Centre will be working closely with Rotary Club members at their fund raising events to support the essential services that the Centre provides.

All in all it was an excellent and informative visit and hopefully the continued involvement of our Rotary Club will aid the ongoing success of the Centre.