Once again thanks are due to all those who helped to prepare and load the latest lorry from Billingshurst. Enough material remains to give a start to next year’s loads and the next loading day at Billingshurst is anticipated to be on 11th January. Before then the Horley-based team will be taking a break over Christmas; the final packing day for this year will be on Friday 20th December and the warehouse will close after normal hours on the following day. The team will resume normal activities on the 3rd and 4th of January respectively. Rumour has it that the south Wales team does not understand the concept of a break and will continue to be active!
We were shocked and deeply saddened to hear of the death of Costel Punga aged 30. Costel was one of our “ex-orphange boys” who enjoyed working hard and was a great help with the more manual aspects of AN’s work. Photos of him at work appeared quite frequently in our publications, most recently in last month’s edition of these Notes when he was helping to unload the sunflower seeds. He will be sorely missed by those of us who became his substitute family.
Costel was officially regarded as having no fixed abode. The lack of appropriate documentation is a problem for many of the families that we help but it is particularly so for those young people who have grown up in similar circumstances. Without the relevant paperwork it becomes difficult to get access to state services and this is an area where AN and our colleagues are able to help by negotiating with the authorities.
One notable event of the coming month is the distribution of Christmas gift boxes. We have been doing this for some twenty years and, since January 2011 (when detailed records began) we have given out a total of over 18,000 boxes. Our thanks go to those to have donated these boxes and to those who check, pack and label them so diligently. The requests for these gifts always exceeds the supply and a certain amount of wisdom is required in managing expectations that exceed available resources. Whilst it would be fair to say that the number of people who receive nothing else at Christmas is much less than when we started, nonetheless the boxes still bring joy to the faces of those who receive them.
Many rural kindergartens have a period during the final week of November when the children are encouraged to visit some of the elderly or disadvantaged in their village. They may take groceries, simple household necessities and some flowers, and sing to those they visit. AN has been able to contribute to those gifts from the supplies that we receive.
This month’s featured photos
- Costel Punga – In Memoriam
- More stuff!
- Children’s visit to disadvantaged villagers
Photo Gallery: Click on any of the photos for enlargements, more details or similar photos.
Last month’s performance statistics
These statistics give a snapshot of our aid-related activities last month.
[table id=<21> /]
Stats notes:
– Joiners are new registrants this month, Leavers are are those whose latest recorded donation was 12 months ago.
– Some households may receive more than one donation during a month (eg, repeat donations of food).
– Items shown as 0 or as “…” are awaiting final returns for the month.
