Thank you so much for taking the time to visit our JustGiving page.

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 - We raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.  

 On the 14th August  Kevin and  I will be taking part in a three day cycle ride on behalf of the Toybox charity.  The total distance  will be 144 miles, starting at Whitehaven on the west coast and finishing in Newcastle -upon- tyne on the east coast.

 

 I recently read a  book called   'Through the eyes of a street child'   It was written by a young women called Angela Murray.  Angela had spent her gap year working for Toybox, helping street children in Guatemala.  It was a year that completely changed her life.  On graduating from university she gave up her ideas of a career in psychology and instead focused her efforts on changing things for the better for the poorest of the poor.   When I read Angela's book I felt compelled to do something to help.   The book is full of different children's stories of living and surviving on the streets in Latin America. I just want to quote you a section of the book.  I wonder,  will it have the same effect on you as it did on me?

 

' Working with the street children at the rubbish dump was the part of the work that affected me most.  It was there that I met  boys like Francisco aged 11, who very rarely left the rubbish dump. 

  The rubbish dump in zone 3 of Guatemala City is huge,  unlike anything I have ever seen before.  Several hundred people live on and around the dump either in shack houses or simply sleeping on some cardboard or whatever it is they can lay their hands on that day.  The rubbish dump may seem a strange place to live.  If you or I suddenly became homeless, I guess our first thought wouldn't be 'quick, where's my nearest rubbish dump?'  However, the reason they choose the dump is because it is an incredibly resourceful place to live.  The children and adults spend their days searching the rubbish for leftover food and for anything of value that they could sell on to other people.  As you can imagine, the kids at the dump are frequently ill and they are at risk from cuts and infections which they pick up as they scour the rubbish day in and day out.

As a new rubbish truck approaches the dump, people gather to try to be the first to get a chance to get a look and to take things of value.  This is especially the case when they know that the truck has come in from zone 10 or one of the other 'richer' areas of Guatemala City. This really is a case of the poor having to live off the scraps of the rich.'

I know  when the training for my three day cycle ride becomes tiring and my legs ache and the urge to give up is overwhelming,   I  will remember Francisco and his friends living on their rubbish dump waiting for the truck from zone 10 to arrive.

Every £76.00 We raise will help to take a child off the miserable, violent streets of Latin America.  It will provide food, education, and a home where they will be loved and cared for.

 

So if you can,  please dig deep and help us  make a difference to Francisco and his friends lives.

 

Many thanks for reading our message and for your kind support, 

 

Together we can try and 'Heal the world and make it a better place!'

http://www.toyboxcharity.org.uk/

 

Jo  and  Kevin Moran x x x x