Tag: team

Feniton Women’s FC & Crediton Youth FC Preloved Football Kits

Great donations of preloved football kit from Feniton Women’s FC and Crediton Youth FC via ‘Wear a Sports Shirt Day’ charity – thank you!

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31/08/24

Once again, we are delighted that ‘Wear a Sports Shirt Day’ charity has donated preloved football kits to the young people we help to support in rural northern Malawi. We are very grateful to Julian who spends a lot of his free time visiting football clubs to collect preloved kits that are no longer needed.

So today, as well as thanking Julian, we say a big THANK YOU to Feniton Women’s Football Club and also Crediton Youth Football Club for collecting their preloved kits and giving them to Julian to send to vulnerable children and young people in Malawi.

The young people love team sports, especially football and netball. They can enjoy being with their friends and forget about all the problems in their lives. Now they have smart, matching kit with no rips and tears. They can feel proud to belong to a team, their self confidence and self-esteem is better. They can dream about being famous footballers….and they know that people, whom they have never met, care enough about them to make their lives a little bit better.

We are going to organise football training and tournament for the nearby schools in the rural Chitipa area once we have enough funds in place. As no big charities are feeding children in primary schools that far north, we must provide each child taking part with food and drinks which obviously adds to the cost of any event. If anyone would like to contribute then you can either donate via our bank account with the reference ‘football’ Bank of Scotland, Changing Lives Malawi, Account Number 21081462, sort code 80-22-60 or donate via our fundraiser https://donorsee.com/project/24384?share=1 .

Thank you again to everyone who has donated preloved kit and to Julian at ‘Wear a Sports Shirt Day’ charity…. on behalf of all of the young people…Thank you for making a difference, Sarah x

A letter from Sarah

Could you raise funds or awareness for http://www.changinglivesmalawi?

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Sarah’s blog 03/04/24

Dear Supporters

I’ve thought a lot about writing this and whether I should or not. Writing blogs has taken me out of my comfort zone as I always want the focus to be on what is happening in Malawi or fundraising here, not about me. However, here are a few thoughts I’d like to share with you.

As a charity, Changing Lives Malawi is growing well and, thanks to our supporters, is continuing to make a big difference to hundreds of the most vulnerable children in rural northern Malawi. A few things do need to change in order for us to continue to grow;

  1. I need some more help as my caring responsibilities have grown over the last few months and I must continue to prioritise my family.
  2. As we grow, there is more to do. I have several large grant applications to do over the next few weeks and these will take time.
  3. We need to continue fundraising and this doesn’t all have to involve me. What I would find really helpful is if supporters could do some little (or bigger) fundraising for Changing Lives Malawi within their own communities. This shares some of the hard work but also lets a new group of people know about our charity. Hopefully, as 100% of donations go towards the projects we support, they will be happy to support us too. You could have a table top sale, a bake stall, an afternoon tea or a car wash…or could you do a sponsored event like the Kiltwalk or a half marathon?
  4. Share our posts please. Or write a post of your own about our charity. Again, a new group of people will see this post and that you have given us your seal of approval!
  5. Invite me to speak at your club, church, event. I love doing this and one of my favourite things is talking about the projects that we support in Malawi. After that, hopefully, that will have made a new connection and that community can become a supporter of Changing Lives Malawi.
  6. Feeding hundreds of hungry children continues to be a big concern as there are no big charities feeding them in schools in the far north of Malawi. Most are malnourished. All are hungry. If you could spare £5 per month to support the feeding programme then that would make a big difference. 100 people committing £5 per month would be £500 extra to spend on feeding children and putting into place sustainable projects that will help people be self-sufficient eg planting an orchard of fruit tree saplings at each primary school in the local area.
  7. Young people’s education is also a priority. Bright Futures Secondary School is only half full currently. We need to match more vulnerable young people with sponsors so that they can go to secondary school. Education is their way out of extreme poverty. It’s only £25 per month to sponsor a young person. They receive school uniform, stationery, a nutritious cooked school lunch (their only proper meal of the day) each day and, of course, free education.
  8. I remain 100% committed to Changing Lives Malawi – it is what I am supposed to be doing and I love it. I love being a small part of a big team. Every one of us has different skills and talents and we all can make a difference. Changing Lives Malawi is nearly 5 years old and I am so thankful of all the support we continue to receive.

Thank you for reading today’s blog and for understanding and supporting our small charity which is making a big difference. Sarah x contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com

Easter Study School Our Firewalkers are in the news again!

    Thank you Kitz4Kids!

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    Sarah’s blog 10/2/24

    Almost a year ago Julian Chenery from Wear A Sports Shirt Day (left) met with Mark Meekings of Kits4Kids. Julian has been collecting and donating football kit to us (and many other organisations) for several years. This was the first time Mark, whose charity Kitz4Kids also supports lots of organisations, has donated to us via Wear A Sports Shirt Day charity. We are delighted to have a new partnership supporting the vulnerable young people in rural northern Malawi.

    Unfortunately, this kit just missed going on a container by a couple of days….so it had to wait until the next one….however it’s been well worth the wait! Many thanks to Mark, Julian and all the other people who work tirelessly ensuring that preloved sports kit can be reused and reaches those who need it most. Some of the donations of sports kit are kept at the Foundation we support as they help hundreds of children and young people. However, other kits are distributed to school teams and grassroots sports clubs.

    When we hosted the two week Rugby Festival in October, every school team taking part was gifted a new kit to play in and then take back to their school. Gifts, like sports kits, mean so much to children and young people who have nothing. They are able to identify as part of a team that is proud of their uniform. Their self-esteem improves because they look the part. They also know that people who have never met them care enough about them to gift these sports kits. On behalf of all those who will benefit from these generous donations -THANK YOU. To Ambleside Junior Football Club, Collingham Football Club, and Market Rasen Town Football Club – Thank you for making a difference. Enjoy the photos, Sarah x

    Julian Chenery (left) from Wear A Sports Shirt Day charity with Mark Meekings from Kitz4kids.
    Collingham Football Club kit
    Market Rasen Town Football kit
    Collingham Football Club Kit
    Ambleside Juniors Football Club kit

    Netball Posts

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    Sarah’s blog 29/09/22

    One of the great team sports that the children and young people enjoy is netball. It is really popular in Malawi. We are fortunate to have other charities partnering with us and The Foundation. Community Sports Leaders Africa is one such small charity. They have paid to have netball posts made for The Foundation and Levison was able to collect them today.

    Thank you so much to Andy Bottomer of Community Sports Leaders Africa for his continued support. We really appreciate your help, and the young people will be delighted to have these posts.

    Football Tournament

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    Sarah’s blog 22/9/22

    This is only a short post…it’s been a hugely busy week in Malawi (and also here).

    The young people are on holiday from school and Levison and team thought a football tournament between local teams would be a good idea. So that is what has been happening today and will conclude tomorrow.

    Unfortunately, Levison has been busy with other things today so there is just one short video clip of a match, however I have been promised more photos tomorrow!

    This is going to be an annual event and we decided that it would be nice to name it after someone who has been very good to The Foundation. Julian Chenery, whose charity is Wear a Sports Shirt Day, works tirelessly every weekend (and sometimes midweek too) going to football clubs, schools, other sports clubs etc to collect preloved sports kit that can be reused by those who need it. He supports lots of organisations. Julian has supplied the Foundation with football kit, hockey kit, tracksuits, Christmas jumpers and Santa hats over the few years we have known him.

    So, this is another opportunity to say thank you to Julian for supporting us and The Foundation. More photos and videos from ‘Wear a Sports Shirt Day Football Tournament’ will follow. Sarah x

    Bright Futures Fundraiser – join in!

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    Sarah’s blog 30/6/22

    Every child, no matter where they are in the world, deserves an education. Let’s build a school! We need you on our team.

    Here is the link with the information you need to join in our challenge! https://forms.gle/twQYfx7LRRrtvdhx9 It is a huge challenge for our team to travel the 13,144 km that is one of the routes the container travels. It also includes the journey from here (Balfron, Scotland) to Dundee to the Bananabox Trust warehouse and in Malawi the distance from Ekwendeni which is the final destination of the container back to Chitipa that Levison will make. We have used Chitipa as the nearest destination on all maps to The Foundation.

    https://forms.gle/twQYfx7LRRrtvdhx9

    So we are looking for families to join in as well as serious athletes and gentle walkers. Oh and bored teenagers who would like to keep their fitness up over the school holidays – we’d love to hear from you too! Maybe you could have an element of competition with your friends? Do you need to learn something new for your Duke of Edinburgh Award? Or do some volunteering? This challenge could be used for either of those.

    The more people who help us, the quicker we can do this challenge. The more people that take part and are sponsored, the more money we raise. The more people who share our posts then the wider the audience so we aren’t always asking the same people. We would absolutely love people right across the world to take part in our challenge. This is a challenge to raise funds to build a secondary school for some of the most vulnerable children in Northern Malawi. It would be fantastic to have people from our global community taking part and raising funds to build a school and give the gift of education.

    The challenge starts tomorrow, 1st July, and you can do as many or as few kms as you want. Please ask your friends to join in and please ask people to sponsor you. Together we can keep Changing Lives Malawi. Together we can build a school. Land clearing has already started and bricks are being made. Thanks so much for your continued support and let me know if you have any questions, thank you, Sarah x

    https://forms.gle/twQYfx7LRRrtvdhx9

    https://gofund.me/44a92444

    some of the first bricks being made for Bright Futures Secondary School

    Rugby Camp – w/c 21/3/22

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    Last week we found out that Malawi International Rugly player, Jack Mphande, is heading north to introduce rugby to the young people. Thanks to Sports Leaders Africa for sponsoring his trip.

    The children start two weeks school holiday tomorrow. There is a four day course starting on 21/3/22 to which 6 young people from The Foundation can attend. On the Friday, Jack is spending a day at The Foundation supporting the 6 young sports leaders to put their new skills into practice with some of the younger children. Strathendrick RFC donated rugby balls for which we are very thankful. A plan is coming together!

    We have had 3 generous donations to fund 3 young people to attend this course. We would love 3 more rugby fans to sponsor a child each to attend the course. Their total expenses will be £40. So if you are a rugby fan and would like to encourage future rugby fans in the far north of Malawi we’d love for you to support a future sports leader to attend the course. If you can gift £40 that would be amazing or even £10 would be a great help if a few people donated. contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com

    Victoria and Elisha are two of the young people who have already been selected. Hopefully, another 4 will be going with them. Thank you rugby fans, Sarah x

    “Actions speak louder than words”

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    Sarah’s blog 24/11/21

    I’ve been reviewing and editing some documents today for Levison in which he was mentioning some of the projects and it’s made me think. It’s also made me thankful. Because of my involvement in this little charity, I have met some wonderful people. I’ve also met many more brilliant people ‘virtually’. There are so many people doing their bit to help others and making the world a better place.

    Whether it’s some of the ladies in Malawi that volunteer to help at The Foundation to cook the food for hundreds of children, someone taking an orphan into their home and helping them through the trauma of losing a loved one or volunteer sports coaches or Levison working every waking minute to help those in his village so they don’t go through what he did. So many people in Malawi care and want to improve the lives of the most vulnerable. All are part of a bigger team and show by their actions their care for others.

    Here, we have more caring people, also part of that team. People contacting us to donate pre-loved clothes and shoes, knitting beautiful baby clothes or blankets. People bringing books that their children have finished reading to help the literacy project or sponsoring a young person to go to school. There are people giving time and talents and money. We have volunteers packing boxes and driving them to Dundee to the container. All are showing by their actions that they care.

    Then there are the people I’ve been lucky enough to meet who are also volunteering their time with other charities and organisations; The Bananabox Trust who organise and pack the container is just one of the charities who are part of our team. There are people and organisations who collect sports kit and have made donations, people who have helped with fundraising, and many, many more lovely people who I would never have met if it hadn’t been for Changing Lives Malawi.

    So thank you all for your support and care. Your actions speak louder than words and the orphans and other vulnerable children supported by The Foundation know that people care about them. If you would like to help us then please do get in touch contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com . Thanks for reading and thanks for supporting us. Sarah x

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