The future is a little brighter and the future is purple, thanks to Fareham Rotarians in Hampshire.
The Purple Community Fund in the Philippines supports women and children living and working on the rubbish dumps in Tondo, Manila.
As if life isn’t difficult enough they have had additional problems with food supplies and medical facilities because of the COVID-19 virus and this was followed by a devastating fire earlier this year.
Rotarians at the Fareham club have sent out ÂŁ1,445 as part of their ongoing support to assist at this difficult time for them.
The Fareham club has a long-standing relationship with the Purple Community Fund (PCF). In 2016, the club was instrumental in providing solar panels on the roof of the PCF School in Tondo as an ongoing economy initiative.
The Purple Community Fund was started in 1996 by Rotarian Jane Walker MBE and the charity is based in Hedge End, Hampshire.
It supports women and children living and working on the rubbish dumps of Manilla in the Philippines.
“Looking around at our own children close by, it is unthinkable to have youngsters in such terrible surroundings,” said Pam Marsden, Fareham Rotary Secretary.
The Purple Community Fund in the Philippines supports women and children living and working on the rubbish dumps in Tondo, Manila.”
“Jane decided to do something to make their lives better. They recycle everything imaginable from truck tyres to drinks can ring-pulls.”
Before the added pressures of the coronavirus, Jane and her team supported those working as waste pickers and set up a feeding programme for undernourished children.
PCF has educated over 10,000 children and provided health and welfare education.
Fareham Rotary heard that the families supported by PCF were receiving necessary food stocks, but then further disaster struck. A devastating fire swept through the community last April when 1,055 people lost their homes, possessions, food and even clothes.
Before the added pressures of the coronavirus, Jane and her team supported those working as waste pickers and set up a feeding programme for undernourished children.”
Rotarian John Rowlinson, who liaises with the Purple Community Fund for the club, said: “PCF were able to open their centres to help the affected families to give them a place to stay.
“They opened a community kitchen to feed children and their parents with three meals a day. When I heard of this, I knew that the Rotary Club of Fareham could once again offer help during this current crisis.”
Members of the club and Rotary charities were able to raise funds between them and sent out ÂŁ1,445 to the Philippines for PCF.
Some of that was used immediately to buy 55 sacks of rice providing 10kg bags of rice for 138 families. PCF then added donations of vegetables and canned goods giving cooked meals for the families while they were rebuilding their homes after the fire had left them homeless.
Purple Community Fund: www.p-c-f.org
