Thank you for visiting my fundraising page. Please dig deep and sponsor me online.

Donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to sponsor me: Hope and Homes for Children will receive your money faster and, if you are a UK taxpayer, an extra 28% in tax will be added to your gift at no cost to you.

The Charity:

Charity Aim: To give hope and homes to the poorest children in the world

Background: Hope and Homes for Children was founded in 1994 by Mark and Caroline Cook. Initially, between 1992 - 1995, Mark, a former UN Commander, and Caroline raised money to rebuild two orphanages in Croatia and Sarajevo which had been destroyed in the war. In 1996, the cry for help came from Albania, where they rescued 55 children living in appalling conditions in a state orphanage and provided them with a new home.

They now work with local partners to replace institutional orphanage care in Eastern Europe with family based care - supporting mothers at risk of abandoning their children, reuniting children with families, finding new foster families and providing small family homes.

In Africa they work through partner organisations to support orphaned children who have no parents left alive, or only a frail grandparent to look after them. They ensure that the children are fed, educated, clothed and housed, and above all, kept together as a family. What these destitute, orphaned or abandoned children need most in life is the love and security of a stable family.

Lloyd’s Charities Trust Project Name: Sierra Leone

The Issue: Sierra Leone is the poorest country in the world according to the UN. Gross National Income per capita is $140 a year. The country has experienced one of the most brutal conflicts in modern times which raged for 10 years. As a result over 40,000 children have been orphaned or separated from their families.

Project Outline: Lloyd’s Charities Trust will help Hope and Homes for Children deliver their innovative child-care programme to give hundreds of these orphaned or separated children – some of the poorest children in the world - the chance to grow up in the love of a family and the security of a home. Through education and training, the project will also enable the children to have a worthwhile and independent future.

How you can help: Lloyd’s Charities Trust will be providing £75,000 (£50,000 annual contribution, plus £25,000 special anniversary award) of the £110,000 annual costs needed to run this project and will seek support from the Lloyd’s market to support this project further with their own donations.

Any additional money raised will go towards funding the ongoing costs of this programme.

So please sponsor me now!

Many thanks for your support.