Newsletter 16 - September
Newsletter
Our latest newsletter has been uploaded onto our main site. Have a look and see what progress Little Stars has made with the new clinic and how the other projects are developing.
Oct 2, 2008 at 20:41 o\clock
Sep 27, 2008 at 09:48 o\clock
Mr. Col's Coffee Shop
Mr. Col'sCoffee Shop - Drop Off Point for donated items
We are delighted to advise you that Col of Mr. Col's coffee shop has agreed that he will accept donated bags of clothes, stationery and other items on Little Stars' behalf.
Our Distribution Centre will be open on a regular basis shortly but until then we cannot thank Col enough for his offer.
If you are going to Luxor soon and can squeeze some things in your bag then please do so. Col will store them for us until they can be added to our stocks.
Col's coffee shop is in a prominent position half way along Television Street and is a good place to have coffee or cold drink and watch the world go by.
Sep 27, 2008 at 09:35 o\clock
Generous Benefactor
Generous Benefactor
Little Stars would like to thank Mr. Charles Woods of Luxor for his immensely generous donation of £2,000 sterling. Mr. Woods has not given the donation for any specific purpose and, as the cost of the new clinic in Qurna has already been covered, Little Stars will put this sum to towards the development of the new Hadana (Nursery School) for needy children at Seul.
Mr. Woods' generosity has been overwhelming and we are very grateful both for the donation and for his interest in our work.
Please also help if you can.
Sep 19, 2008 at 20:58 o\clock
Donations and Gifts
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Donations and Gifts
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Little Stars would like to thank the owners of the Lantern Restaurant in luxor for their very generous donation towards the new school in Seul. We would also like to thank Mr. and Mrs. Harding of the UK for bringing a whole suitcase of children's clothes out to Luxor this week. We are extremely grateful to all concerned.
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With you we can do so much.
Without you we can do nothing.
Sep 17, 2008 at 02:00 o\clock
Ramadan Food Parcels
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Ramadan Food Parcels
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Ramadan is a month of fasting and remembering those who do not have enough to eat. During Ramadan, food parcels are taken to the mosques by individuals to be passed on as alms for the poor which is one of the pillars of Islam.
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In addition to its usual provision, Little Stars has donated 20 large food parcels to the mosque closest to the site of the new clinic in Qurna on the west bank of the River Nile on your behalf.
Sep 10, 2008 at 15:52 o\clock
Clinic Update 2
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Clinic Update 2
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The floors have now been laid in the new clinic and the doors and window frames are in place. Glass still has to be added to the window frames and the electrical items have to be installed but apart from that the clinic is almost ready to have furniture moved in.
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The old clinic in Seul will continue to take patients until the 22nd October 2008 and it is intended that the new clinic will open on the 1st November 2008. This will leave the children without treatment only for one week during which time the staff will be retrained by Dr. Mohammed and Dr. Ahmed who are in charge of the two present clinics.
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Work will start converting the old clinic into a Hadana (Nursery School) at the end of November with the hope of starting the new school at the beginning of January. Some funds are available for this conversion but we will need your help if the project is to progress as planned.
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Education has always been high on the agenda for Little Stars and this will give an introduction to education that many children, especially girls, might never have had. Jane Nash is fund raising for this project and has already been offered help from an international company.
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Aug 25, 2008 at 07:10 o\clock
Progress with new Clinic
CLINIC UPDATE
Work on the new children's clinic is progressing and the tiles for the floors have been delivered along with the bathroom suites and a host of electrical items. Workmen have already started putting things in place. This is a very exciting time for us as we watch things take shape.
The reward money that was donated to us by the Claxton family has been spent on wound dressings, digitial thermomenters and sturdy toys for the clinic which are being taken to Luxor by a supporter this week. The heat lamps and massagers are being bought in Cairo rather than being imported from the UK as it is more cost effective.
We will post lots of photos of the clinic on the Blog and in the next Newsletter next week.
Wth you we can do so much.
Without you we can do nothing.
Aug 20, 2008 at 10:32 o\clock
Unusual Event
Unauthorised Direct Debits
This is just a note to warn people to check their bank statements carefully as we have just had three unauthorised direct debits appear on our bank account to be taken from the account not paid into it. The bank's indemnity has covered the incident and the loss has been recovered but it is something that should never have occurred as there are no outgoing direct debits on the charity's accounts.
The direct debits were for unwanted magazines and did not follow the usual pattern of fraud, so may have been someone playing a rather peurile joke on us. We have taken steps to ensure that it cannot be repeated.
Jul 26, 2008 at 08:54 o\clock
Another Red Letter Day
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ANOTHER RED LETTER DAY
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It has been another Red Letter Day for Little Stars. A lease has been signed on premises for the new clinic on the West Bank of the River Nile.
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The premises consist of two ground floor flats on the main "Sugar Cane Road" close the Gurna Hospital. It is an ideal position and fulfils all our needs as it gives us five treatment/consulting rooms and further space for the storage of food parcels. Work on converting the flats has already started.
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Unfortunately, our Lottery Bid for funding of the running costs for this new clinic was not successful but we had sufficient funds already for the project to start. Opening the new clinic will double our monthly expenditure and we will need your support more than ever. As the new clinic will be able to treat children who are chronically sick as well as those who are disabled and is in a more central position than the clinic at Suel, Little Stars will withdraw funding from the Suel Clinic when the new clinic is finished.
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This new clinic was in our initial list of aims for Little Stars but we could not have imagined that we would be able to make this provision after only being in operation for one year. It is you who have made this possible.
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With you we can do so much.
Jul 19, 2008 at 10:29 o\clock
Little Stars Scholarships
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Little Stars Scholarships
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At the last Trustees' Meeting Jane Nash made a proposal that Little Stars offers scholarship grants to orphaned and disadvantaged children who without support would not be able to continue their education beyond the basics of primary schooling. The proposal was accepted and to start the scheme £1,000 was transferred to a deposit account which will be used specifically for this purpose. Jane will co-ordinate fund raising for this project.
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Planning for the scheme will start immediately and we hope that it will be implemented in September 2009. Grants will be means tested and will be by application only. All the headmasters of schools in the Luxor area will be contacted and given details of the scheme. Initially, for financial reasons, places will be very limited and applicants will have to prove both their ability and their regular attendance at school.
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The payment of school fees at lower levels will continue but this will be through the general hardship fund. The way in which these fees are paid will change. Last year block payments were made at several schools and fees were paid for approximately 200 children. This has meant that some children, who were perhaps more deserving but were not in schools covered, may have missed the opportunity to continue their basic education. In the coming year, fees will only be paid for children who have shown enthusiasm for education and all of Luxor's schools will be incorporated into the scheme. Ability is not a requirement at this level, but a willingness to learn is vital. Recommendations will come from headmasters and all Headmasters will be contacted regarding the scheme. Again this will be means tested to ensure the need for assistance.
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This is a very exciting development for Little Stars, and the scheme will be implemented by Jane Nash who is now Little Stars' Honorary Secretary. Jane has extensive experience in education and is a trained counsellor and therapist who is at present working towards her PhD.
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With you we can do so much.
Without you we can do nothing.
Jul 9, 2008 at 12:06 o\clock
New Financial Year
Five weeks have passed since the end of our financial year and we are delighted that over those weeks we have received £6,796 in donations, which brings our total donations since we started to £42,103. This is an amazing level of support for any charity and we cannot thank you enough.
Each pound we receive not only supports our present programme but brings the new children's clinic on the West Bank that bit closer to reality. Next week we shall be inspecting properties so that we can begin. Initially we shall rent property so that the clinic can be up and running as soon as possible. Everything we buy will be movable so that when we have sufficient funds to buy land and make a purpose built centre, we can just move everything into it as soon as it is finished.
The East Bank Distribution Centre is proving very useful and soon we shall buy our stock of blankets ready for the start of the cold weather. It is wonderful to have somewhere to put them all.
Thank you. With you we can do so much.
Jun 23, 2008 at 13:37 o\clock
Newsletters
June Newsletter
Over the past year, we have had very positive feedback about our Newsletters and shall continue to produce them on a monthly basis.
The Newsletter for June has been uploaded onto our main site and has photos of our new Distribution Centre. Have a look and find out what we are achieving on your behalf.
Jun 21, 2008 at 09:08 o\clock
Access to Website
After regaining access to our old domains, Little Stars has five ways of bringing information to you through the internet about our work with children in Egypt.
In order to make this work more efficiently, we are moving our accounts into our own hosting space. This might mean that access to the sites is restricted for a short time while the transfer is taking place.
www.Streamline.net has made this possible through their offer of a fifty per cent charity discount. We are very grateful to them for their support in regaining access to our sites and for their help in maintaining them.
Update 23rd June - the work is now complete and all our sites and up and running. Thank you for your patience.
Jun 9, 2008 at 14:05 o\clock
End of Year Accounts
End of Year Accounts
Our completed end of year accounts, which have been submitted for approval, show that cash donations to the charity amounted to £35,306.85 between 1st June 2007 and 31st May 2008. In addition, clothing and footwear items that have been donated with a value of several thousand pounds.
Total expenditure amounted to £17.941 which means we have more than £17,000 left in the bank. £15,000 of which is earmarked for the new West Bank Clinic. Little Stars has done a great deal to relieve poverty through the distribution of food parcels, has paid education fees, has given medical assistance by providing wheelchairs and financing two clinics in Luxor, and has supported other charities and individuals through donations and payment of medical bills. In addition we have opened a Distribution Centre on the East Bank on which the rent has been paid for the coming year. We feel therefore that your donations have been used effectively and wisely. A summary of our accounts will be published here when they have been approved and submitted to the Charity Commission.
Without your donations we could not have achieved anything. We have now moved into another year and have wide ranging plans for the future but without your help they will come to nothing.
Thank you for your support.
Jun 6, 2008 at 09:27 o\clock
New year and New Distribution Centre
New Distribution Centre Luxor Egypt
There has been a flurry of activity in our new East Bank Distribution Centre. It is no longer a dust filled dilapidated dairy, it now has a new coat of paint, clothes racks, storage baskets, palettes, wheelchairs and sufficient food items to make up 250 food parcels for the relief of poverty in those who are in the most need.
There is still more work to be done and volunteers are needed but Little Stars has already been given tremendous support in getting the centre ready and and we wish to thank Mr. Col of Col’s coffee shop for his donation of racking that will make a big difference to the centre’s office.
We are still looking for premises for the new West Bank Clinic and we have high hopes for a new building that is being inspected this week. We are still waiting to hear from the Lottery Commission but are making plans anyway so that things can move forward quickly if the bid is successful.
On the 1st June we entered our second year and would have liked to celebrate it with balloons and a party of our own instead we were invited to a children’s party at Karnak Charity where the East Bank clinic is situated. It was a wonderful afternoon.
Photos of the Distribution Centre and the party will be uploaded in our next newsletter.
