Children
with disabilities ranging from blindness to leprosy living in
villages near Ramnagar, some five hours north-east of Delhi, will
have a new special school and home thanks to the many individuals and
companies who answered WiT’s (Women in Travel) call to raise the
final sum required to complete the project during TFWA World
Exhibition.
The
original target of €12,000 was exceeded by the great generosity of
exhibitors and retailers who donated some superb prizes, including
DFS, Furla, Bally, The Moodie Report, Reflecta, Essence Corp, Armani,
Cairo Airport Duty Free, Swarovski, Tumi, Travel Markets Insider and
La Prairie, whose items went into a silent auction.
The
prize draw and silent auction raised over €8,500, and incredibly
generous donations from Heinemann, Dubai Duty Free, IAADFS and the
Moodie Report added a further €13,500. Money is still to come in
from the auction of a bottle of rare whisky by the Travel Retail
Business and from the Cannes fun run organised by Maxxium Travel
Retail, and Travellers Shop has kindly donated Nike T-shirts, shorts
and socks for all the children.
‘As
usual we had a fantastic turnout of women from across the industry at
our event, with many new faces, and their efforts in working so hard
to sell entries into the prize draw were pivotal in raising this
extraordinary sum ,’ says WiT member and supporter Gerry Munday.
‘In addition, there are many others we need to thank, including
Rob Grossman and his team from Questexhibits for their invaluable
help in collecting and delivering the prizes and supplying the
champagne flutes, Follador for the Prosecco served at the event,
Rowena at Essential Communications and the trade media for raising
awareness of the project, and TFWA – particularly Marissa
Phanivong.
The
biggest thank you, however, must go to everyone in the travel retail
industry who made donations, bought prize draw entries and bid in the
silent auction. Says WiT founder Sarah Branquinho: ‘Year after
year we ask the industry to dig deep into their pockets for various
charities and year after year they do. In 13 months we will have
built and opened this amazing school and home complex with the monies
raised by WiT at TFWA World Exhibition in 2011 and 2012, and from the
sale at auction of the Glenfiddich Janet Sheed Roberts Reserve Bottle
no 7 (of only 11) donated by William Grant & Sons for £42,000
(£35,000 after tax) to World Duty Free Group. It is impossible to
describe the difference this will make to 100 children who have had
no access to education, or in many cases to society. A further
bulletin will be released when the school opens at the end of
November. Fund raising has now become an integral part of the Cannes
WiT meeting and I am deeply touched that, once again, we have done
something that will really change childrens lives.’
Over
the last year the Women in Travel group has grown exponentially and
WiT meetings have been held at major trade events across the globe.
Providing a fantastic networking event and a great opportunity to
make contacts and renew friendships, the next WiT networking meeting
will be held during MEDFA. Further details will follow in due
course.
For
more information and to donate prizes, please contact any of the
following:
Catherine
Bonelli – cbonelli@devanlay.fr
Tina
Tam – tina.tam@laprairiegroup.ch
Amanda
Felix – amanda.felix@dfnionline.com
Lois
Pasternak – parsnip5@aol.com
Notes
to editors:
Ramnagar is in Uttarakhand State where there are nearly 200,000
people regarded as having special needs due to disabilities ranging
from mental illness through to those who are crippled or have
leprosy. Of these nearly 11,000 are children between the ages of 6
to 18yrs. Over 500 live in the area where the school and a home are
to be built. Currently there are no educational facilities adapted to
their needs; they receive little or no education and have little hope
of any meaningful future. As a result, they are often ostracised by
the community. The project sponsors are Lotus Flower Trust* and U.S.R
Indu Samiti**
*Lotus
Flower Trust is a UK based charity (Reg. no. 1127316) which over the
past three years has changed over 1500 children’s lives by building
homes and skills centres, typically in remote rural areas. Lotus
Flower Trust has few overheads - no office premises, no paid staff,
so almost all the funds raised go direct to the projects. For more
information visit www.lotusflowertrust.org
**
U.S.R.
Indu Samiti is a charity working in the field of Integrated Education
since 1999 and registered under the Society Registration Act 1860
and handicapped People Act 1995/52 with FRCA granted in 1976.
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