Simon's charity cash challenge
A DEDICATED Normanton man hopes to raise millions of pounds this summer to bring a new lease of life to Africans struggling with disease.
Simon Teece, 23, of Fairway, raised his first 700 at a launch event for his new charity at Stanley Community Centre, on Lake Lock Road, last weekend.
He turned the venue into a candle lit cafe, spoke to guests and local residents about his plans, and was backed by performances from Leeds-based singer Abbe Smith and a popular spoken-word poet from New York City, Sarah Kay.
His dream is to form an organisation that can build hospitals to cater for the needs of sufferers in the most poverty-stricken areas of Africa.
The ambitious plans rely on him being able to raise 5,000 to register as a charity, and then 23,000 for each hospital.
But with singer Abbe Smith having agreed to donate all the profits from the first week of sales of her new album, due to be released later this year, Mr Teece is feeling confident. He said: “It’s a lot of money but I know if I can raise enough awareness for this then it will be possible.”
Mr Teece is officially running the charity on his own, but will call on volunteers once it gets off the ground. Ultimately, he wants to provide long-term health care and treat conditions ranging from infected cuts to debilitating diseases.
He said: “We are going to start in Kenya. We will go into that community and work with the people there to develop a proper medical facility to suit all the medical needs that they have.”
Mr Teece came up with the idea two years ago when he met a PR worker for the Save the Children charity and oversaw the work they were doing.
He said: “I’ve always wanted to be part of a big campaign and this is a really important cause that needs a long-term solution.”
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Friday 25 May 2012
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