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RTU supporters around
the world are
always coming up with bright ideas for raising funds
or providing help for the work of RTU in other ways.
This page is a showcase for just some of them!
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Scroll down to view
other activities. |
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This example
highlights what a small group of enthusiasts can
achieve, and is also an introduction to a growing
RTU presence in Belgium. Any other takers for the
'RTU Fashion' idea? |
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Children
newly admitted to an RTU Children's Village often benefit from the comfort
that a soft toy can provide, at least for their
first few weeks. A supporter in Stroud, in
Gloucestershire, has been regularly sending supplies bought in
the town. In addition a local primary school organised a
collection which provided 3 large bags of toys,
mostly unused. Here some children at
Sirumalar, the Children's Village which cares for
all the HIV+ children, hold up their new cuddly
friends!
Dinky Toys - an old favourite for
British boys - have also been popular amongst RTU's
children. A box was sent regularly from Stroud!
Unfortunately, Indian customs
regulations mean that bulk supplies can no longer be
sent, as they require the same source and safety
documentation as we would in the UK. Understandable,
but a shame for the children. |
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One
of our trustees, James Playfair, dances for RTU! October
2009
Having returned from a trip
to RTU about a year ago I wanted to come up with some sort
of fund-raising event which might catch people’s
imagination. Preferably, I hoped, one that would not
involve any form of strenuous activity or sponsorship!
As it happens, Mrs Playfair
and I have been going to ballroom dancing classes since
Natasha Kaplinsky won the big prize all
 those
years ago. We are still light-years away from dancing as
she did but maybe there was an idea there. It would look
good on the poster: Tea Dance for India……..
So, on October 3rd, in St
Michaels Church, Broad Street, Bath we had tea and cakes,
a raffle (with prizes given by local
businesses), live music and amazingly – lots of ballroom
dancing!
St Michaels has close
connections to Bath Abbey. As a city centre church it has
been modernized both in appearance and in its
ministry and so can be rented for events such as concerts,
book launches and on this occasion - dancing. If all the
pews are taken out you are left with a large space as big
as a ... ballroom. Having used as many connections
as we could (all our friends, our work, the Abbey
community, book club even!) and made a pain of ourselves
we were at one stage concerned that we might have sold too
many tickets.
 Some
people we know, we now find, can dance beautifully. Most
though just came along for the sake of RTU and to have
some fun. And they all joined in (really they did)
even though most of them had never even tried anything
like it before!
No problem. Our dance
teacher had very kindly agreed to give her time and gave
lessons so that everybody could
have a go!
So, with 150 of us trying the basic steps to the
cha-cha-cha... we
really did have dancing in the aisles – sadly, maybe, not
a sight you often
see in church!
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The
team behind RTU Belgium send their greetings. November
2008
“Hello to everyone in RTU UK. We've just had the
pleasure of meeting a trustee of RTU in the UK, and are
delighted to be in touch with you.
Our
charitable foundation, RTU Belgium, was created in May
2006 after a stay at Kallupatti, and up till now just has
three active members: Patrick, Brigitte and Suzy. We're
all volunteers, and at the moment we take on ourselves all
the administrative and travel.
After various events - lunch, film presentations, a
restaurant dinner - sponsored by ourselves, we've brought
together more than a hundred child sponsors. Another
activity is collecting towards day care support. As we're
not very practical ourselves, Suzy had the idea of
creating ' RTU Fashion '. It's a very simple principle -
we just sell on all the things that have been donated to
us (mostly women's fashions and accessories
 ).
But Suzy is both hard working and talented, so she's been
very busy cleaning, mending, sorting, changing, sewing,
and selling - with more and more success. The result of
the last sale - 5000 Euros profit! It may not seem
so very much, but the euros add up, and there's no end to
her commitment!
Patrick looks after the contacts with India, and the
financial end of things - this year he managed to arrange
for donations to be tax-deductible. We also collect and
take to India small presents for the children (limited by
luggage allowance but...) and we work to maintain the
contacts between sponsors and children. And we've produced
at our own cost a brochure in French about RTU (it's
printed in Pondicherry).
It
may all seem a bit rough, but our enthusiasm overcomes the
many gaps!
Our
best wishes to you all
Brigitte, Patrick and Suzy.”
The RTU Belgium website is available by clicking
here.
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