MacMillan Cancer Foundation
Making Dental Care Accessible with Cally Walker
The team at Zircon Medical recently hosted Cally Walker, the Executive Director of Dental Mavericks, on the Zircon Medical Podcast to discuss the importance of making dental care accessible to vulnerable communities.
Secret Santa For Dogs In Need
For Secret Santa we decided that instead of buying presents for each other, we would each buy one for a dog at Marra’s Legacy Bully Rescue, ran by Laura Gibbins.
Laura rescues bully dogs that have been abandoned or abused and helps them get healthy again and then tries to find them their forever home.
Several years ago we started the Connect Foundation to focus on local charity within and around our “Pueblo”.
We needed a sustainable and easy to implement system that gave back to our local area, meant something to our team and actively helped us become aware of our surroundings.
We set up this foundation and here’s the big idea. Each quarter the team are invited to nominate a local charity which they feel needs our help.
We then contact them offer a donation of 100 Euros and a chance to meet and get involved for half a day voluntary either in our own time or on a team training day depending on how it works.
The CONNECT Foundation Donates 100 Euros To Help Dr. Bayan Change the World
Connect My Marketing and Dental Mavericks are helping Dr Bayan continue with her Education and help her change the world.
Dr. Bayan was born and raised in Homs, Syria. Despite the harsh conditions of the war, she received her BA degree in medicine from Al Baath university in 2016. Achieving this extraordinary goal to become a doctor during wartime, was only the beginning of her life journey. Bayan has lived in Lebanon as a refugee since 2017, where unfortunately, the legal restrictions prevent her from practicing medicine. However, she still remains determined and inspired to improve vulnerable communities access to health care. For this reason, she applied for a Master’s in Public Health at the American University of Beirut. Due to her high academic qualification, she was accepted. She almost completed her first semester with a high academic progress. However, she is unable to afford the high cost and register in the semester of spring 2021. She needs your help to achieve her goals to make the world a better place.
Dr Bayan has been an integral part of the building of our work in Lebanon for Dental Mavericks. She volunteered her time to help and advise on many projects with us and any volunteer who had the pleasure of working with her knows that her advice and skills were key to our success in this region.
The CONNECT Foundation Donates 400 Euros To RifCom
Well done to CONNECT’s Cally Walker, co-founder and director of Dental Mavericks who has just completed a gruelling challenge, trekking through the Atlas Mountains to raise money for RIFCOMs charity work in Morocco!
The Rif Community Foundation or “RifCom” is a non-profit charitable organisation run by volunteers from Gibraltar and Spain who are committed to making a real difference to their neighbouring communities in the Rif Mountains of Northern Morocco, living within their sight and yet living in poverty.
RifCom, a Gibraltar registered charity, was established in 2009 and its members work tirelessly to build solid relationships with the communities it endeavours to assist in the province of Chefchaouen, in the heart of the Rif. All projects are undertaken with the advice and participation of the local people, thus allowing communities to help themselves gain a better standard of living.
Some of the key projects the team are currently working on in the rural areas surrounding Chefchaouen are as follows:
A pre-school and a tutorial support programme in the villages of Kliaa and Izarhan, with vocational training programmes in electrical and dressmaking for the youth. This project benefits approximately 200 children/youths and was started in November 2013; RifCom has partnered with Fondation Zakoura Education and Fondation Societe Generale por Solidarite (via SG Hambros Gibraltar) in making this project happen.
Building a new school in the remote village of Benizayed, where the current school is considered structurally unsafe and dangerous for its 120 students; the RifCom team are currently exploring the possibility of partnering with two local village associations and the Bab Taza council to realise this project.
The construction of an accommodation block for the teachers of Khizana primary school, together with the renovation of the outdoor play area for the students and construction of a perimeter school wall (project completed Oct 2014);
The accommodation block will house six teachers with female teachers given priority. It is essential that rural schools have teachers’ accommodation blocks otherwise students suffer due to teacher absence. The problem the teachers face is the long distances they need to travel to reach the schools especially in bad weather conditions. Not all rural schools have the luxury of teachers’ accommodation. This school has approximately 250 students and the project was completed in partnership with the local Khizana association and the council of Bab Taza.
Khizana village also boasts a rare rural medical centre. The medical centre was refurbished in November 2013 with the help of RifCom, whereby RifCom funded and assisted in repairing the leaking roof which was causing severe damp problems, together with re-painting the interior and exterior of the building.
A local women’s co-operative, specialising in textiles, is being re-located to a brand new purpose built centre next to the medical centre. Whilst the new women’s centre has been funded by a patron from Casablanca, RifCom has funded the materials to paint and decorate the building.For further information on RifCom, please contact info@rifcom.org or visit our website www.rifcom.org
The Connect Foundation Donates £30
On Friday 27th October, 740 Dental nurses Steph, Ayeisha and the whole 740 Dental Team are holding a quiz night and raffle to raise money for Winston’s Wish a charity very close to their hearts in memory of their friend Tasha Wake.
The CONNECT Team have donated £30 towards this amazing cause to support bereaving children. If you wish to donate please click the link – https://www.justgiving.com/Ayeisha-Britton
The Connect Foundation Donates £30
On the 8th July Sandeep, Deepak & Vishal from Confidental climbed the highest mountains in Wales in 24 hours Snowdon, Cadair Idris and Pen y Fan. The guys from Confidential were climbing to support “Make a Wish Foundation” to raise awareness and donations for this amazing charity, so they can provide world class opportunities for seriously ill children in the UK.
The CONNECT Foundation Donates £30
Like Confidental, Gautam from West Earlham Dental Heath climbed the highest mountains in Wales in 24 hours Snowdon, Cadair Idris and Pen y Fan. Gautam took on the 3 Peaks Challenge in aid of the Norfolk based charity Nelson’s Journey. Nelson’s Journey supports children and young people that have experienced the death of a significant person in their life and provides a lot of support to the local people in the area.
The CONNECT Foundation Donates 250 Euros to Tomas Leighton
The TLC (Tomas Leighton Care) Charity was set up to help 9 year old disabled Tomas Leighton to get the much needed specialist medical care, now and for his future.
It was also born to give hope and inspiration to other parents of disabled children to stay strong and remain positive by providing them with help, experience and guidance tailored to their specific circumstances and needs. The TLC Charity is a non-profit making organisation so that 100% of the donations gifted go directly to the cause.
The patrons of the Tomas Leighton Care Charity are the Coronation Street actress Samia Ghadie, who plays Maria Connor and actor Sam Aston, who plays Chesney Brown.
The CONNECT Foundation Donates 250 Euros to Syrian Refugees
Half of Syria’s pre-war population has either died or fled. Nearly 4.3 million people – half of them children – are refugees in other countries. They live in tents or dilapidated buildings and are desperate for food, shelter, water and other necessities. Many parents helplessly watch while their children wither away. It’s the worst humanitarian crisis in the world today. CONNECT have helped to provide life-saving supplies in refugee camps.
The CONNECT Foundation Donates 250 Euros to Rural Village Football Tournament in Morocco
The tournament is supported by 12 village teams of boys of under 15 with around 120 players in total. Each team receives a full strip, footie boots & drink bottles together with practice footballs and kit bag.
Also throughout the day, the kids learn about dental hygiene and environmental conservation in the education tent, courtesy of Dental Mavericks and Barbary Macaque Awareness & Conservation. Each player is also awarded a medal and goodie bag, consisting of toothbrush and tooth paste amongst other educational items.
The CONNECT Foundation Donates 100 Euros to AMUSUVIG
The CONNECT Foundation donated 100 Euros to AMUSUVIG a non-profit making association started by and made up of survivors of domestic violence whose aim is to create a network of support for women who find themselves in a violent situation. The journey often begins at the police station where the victim desperately needs help and someone to talk to.
All of the women of AMUSUVIG are survivors and they are called to help at that very moment. They support and care for the victims, emotionally and in every practical way possible through this very difficult time. It takes 4 months to get to court where their case can be heard and suitable decisions and measures can be put into place to protect the woman and her children.
There is little help available to the victims of domestic violence which makes the work that AMUSUVIG do, even more important. They urgently need funds to finance projects to house and care for women and children in the most heart-breaking circumstances. AMUSUVIG is a registered charity CIF: G – 93248508 and you can help by making a donation via PayPal to amusuvigdonate@gmail.com
The CONNECT Foundation Donates 100 Euros to S.O.S Animals.
SOS UK was setup to help shelters like SOS Animals in Spain. SOS Animals in Spain and other animal welfare charities on the Costa del Sol are hugely under funded, under supported and inundated with dogs. Many of these dogs have been there for years, and are in danger of catching diseases or developing psychological problems.
With this in mind they concentrate their efforts on the ‘worst case’ animals; generally dogs that have little hope of finding a secure, loving home in Spain. To rescue, rehabilitate and re-home these neglected animals is their aim.
SOS Animals UK is a volunteer run, not for profit organisation helping stray and abandoned dogs find loving forever homes and primarily works with their sister charity in Spain (Registered number: 4513) and dedicated foster carers to help with the plight of the stray dogs in Spain. Committed to supporting crucial neutering programmes and re-homing animals in desperate need, SOS Animals UK changes one animal’s life at a time.
If you would like to donate or find out more about S.O.S Animals please visit www.sos-animals.org.uk.
THE CONNECT FOUNDATION DONATES TO A LOCAL FAMILY
A donation to a local man (in his early 30s with two young children) who was given 3 months to live. We helped fund a trip to Madrid for him and his family.
Connect also helped with a donation to a local young boy who was terminally ill and was raising money to go on holiday.
Sustainability can be difficult with local community involvement, but these small ideas might be a start?
