Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.  See bottom of page to read about donations through Justgiving

As many of you know, I am travelling to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in November 2010 to volunteer my elbow grease renovating a drop-in centre for street children with a Manchester based charity called Retrak. 

Retrak are committed to inspiring street children, who range in ages, but canas young as 8 years old. It is so difficult to ever imagine what life must be like for these children, with no family to care for them and basically little in the way of hope.

With the help of the charity the lives of many of the children can be improved in different ways, by re uniting them with their families or by providing shelter, emotional, educational and emotional support.

I consider it an honour to have been chosen as one of the 20 volunteers to go out to Ethiopia to help.

I’m really, really grateful for the support I’ve been shown by colleagues, friends and family for this trip so far, and so am pleased to have reached a stage where the costs of getting out to the drop in centre and the dodgy £6 a night “hotel” while we’re helping have been covered! (I have actually donated a lot of my own money to this cause to cover travel and hotel costs)

 I wanted to make another brief appeal to you for your support to make sure we raise enough money to be able to donate funds towards the project itself, and ensure our being there will impact the street kids we’ll meet for the rest of their lives. 

Please consider giving £5 or £10 towards the amazing work of Retrak.  As an idea of what your money will pay for; £3 buys a blanket, £5 will pay for a medical consult and treatment for a child, £14 will pay for shelter for 2 months, £30 feeds a child for 2 months, £75 will cover the cost of reunifying a child with their family.

On the 20th June I survived my big challenge of doing a tandem Skydive. It was absolutely fantastic!! I was really nervous but due to the amazing support from so many generous people, I couldn't bottle out. So thank you to all who supported me through donations for this and those who came to support me in person, it really spurred me on.

I have been selling on ebay and raised funds that way and also helped at fund raisers.

Yesterday the 19th September we had a Harvest Fayre family day, organised by Tina McAndrew and even though the rain was non stop, we still managed to raise more funds.

Thank you to all the children who bought my Secret Straws and to Amelia who won the Teddy name. I know you will look after HONEY very well.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.