eve-olution latest newsletter - December 2009
Contents of newsletter this month
- Christmas is a time for giving, a seasonal message from Tracey Carr
- “A different approach to charity – a hand up not a hand out”
Christmas is a time for giving
I can’t believe that another year has flown by and yet it is a good reminder to us all to reflect on what we have given. What will we give at Xmas time and what will be our contribution in 2010?
For me and my three teenage daughters a highlight of our year is giving up a day on the 23rd December to help the Basket Brigade achieve its mission of feeding thousands of disadvantaged families at Xmas time. Hundreds of volunteers gather at some unearthly hour of the morning to fill Xmas Hampers with food for a delicious Xmas lunch. What’s really amazing about this is that we then get to take some baskets and deliver them ourselves. For my children, in the past, this was a big stretch. We live in leafy Surrey and they don’t know what it means to ‘go without’ and so even driving to disadvantaged areas of London was a shock for them. To then knock on somebody’s door (someone who isn’t expecting you) and delivering an anonymous gift to a stranger is surprisingly difficult and takes courage.
My girls are used to it now and they know the benefits and look forward to it. As my 14 year old said last year ‘the feeling is like being nervous, scared but the end result is such a feeling of joy when you see the tears and gratitude on people’s faces’.
The girls are 19, 17 and 14 this year … young ladies and, hopefully, growing up with the right values and a little bit of gratitude.
The Basket Brigade is an annual event of unconditional contribution and fundraising, inspired by Anthony Robbins, and organised in London by the Yes Group. Watch the video to find out more and be inspired – and if you are interested in getting involved with any aspect of Basket Brigade 2009, including making a donation, you can find out how by visiting the Yes Group website.
Go out and give yourself a Happy Christmas - with passion!
“A different approach to charity – a hand up not a hand out”
Continuing the spirit of giving, eve-olution has selected MicroLoan as our charity for support with donations throughout the coming year. It’s a great fit with the values we espouse ourselves, as it’s an organisation committed to helping people to help themselves in order to change their lives for the better. It does this by providing micro loans to enable small groups of women in Africa to start their own businesses – as they say themselves, “a different approach to charity”.
The MicroLoan Foundation was founded by British businessman Peter Ryan in 1998 following visits to the Philippines and Malawi. MicroLoan in Malawi started out with one man operating from a garage in 2002. And since its inception it has made over 50,000 loans to over 19,000 women, directly impacting the lives of about 114,000 family members and dependents. Empowering the women really gets to the heart of the communities to bring about real change.
You can read more about the difference they are making through the stories on the MicroLoan website.