Charities
TEAM PISSOURI and this website are an informal, self-funding group which exists to support the community we love. It is only possible to produce these services because of the dedicated voluntary input from Team members.
Associated with this is our wish to maximise the potential from this effort in support of charities, and we do this both through free publicity and asking for donations through our circulation list and this website.
All the charities listed below need fund-raising and hands-on help. Contact them direct if you are looking for somewhere to channel your energy!
Last Army Benevolent Fund Concert of 2011
The Band of the Army Air Corps performed with great precision and style at the pissouri open-air theatre last saturday evening in support of the ABF the Soldiers' Charity.
As a large audience settled down and relaxed with their cool-boxes in the warmth of a beautiful autumn evening, the musicians in their immaculate white tunics played a wide selection of popular marches and classical music with a few theme tunes from the more well known movies. The Director of Music Captain Justin Matthews, looking resplendent in his well starched uniform had chosen the right balance of music to show the versatility of the band, and with the able support of the band-master, WO1 Peter Bede they deserved the tremendous applause from the delighted audience who appreciated a magnificent performance.
Prior to the second half commencing, Bob Bensley from Pissouri held an auction for a bottle of malt whisky labeled and boxed for the ' Black Watch' to raise much needed funds for the ABF, after some fierce bidding the bottle was sold for €115 and is destined to become a Christmas present to an Old Soldier.
The ABF has a mission that proudly promises to look after soldiers and their families for life, so Saturday night's contribution was well reseved and helps towards the several million pounds needed each year by our charity.
For those that missed this concert the Army Air Corps will be playing once again for the ABF on 12th November at the Markedeion Theatre, Paphos commencing at 7.30pm. Full details of the abf programme can be found on our wesite www.abfcyprus.com and should you wish to join our emailing list please contact abfsecretary@gmail.com or ring 99934668.
Many thanks to Claudine Snell, an avid Pissouri fan, for these photos of the ABF Band of the Army Air Corps concert on 22nd October 2011, and many others she has shared with us. There are some more with the Radiomarathon article in the Charities section, and others will be uploaded shortly.
RADIOMARATHON
www.radiomarathonios.com/ 22 879518
Together with a blood donation session in the Village Square, Radiomarathon has become an important event in the Village's annual calendar. It deserves all the support we can give it.
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RADIOMARATHON PISSOURI 2011
Everyone who contributed to today's successful Village Radiomarathon and blood-doning event is to be congratulated on a very successful day. A total of €2500 was raised for the Radiomarathon charity, and 53 people donated blood.
From a report in the Cyprus Mail by Alex Pantelides:
FINANCIAL aid of over €2.5 million was distributed to people with special needs and relative institutions by the Radiomarathon Foundation during the year 2010; an increase of approximately €40,000 from the previous year according to the foundation’s management committee.
Radiomarathon provides financial aid and support to children up to the age of 18 suffering from any illness and also people with special needs of any age. Its annual October fund-raiser is by far the biggest fund-raising event in Cyprus’ calendar and aims at raising awareness on the issues faced by people with special needs.
Radiomarathon supports both individual cases and other institutions that take care of people with special needs.
Rea Georgiou, the state’s accountant and foundation’s treasurer, said that for the year 2011, the foundation had already splashed out €2 million in financial aid, while it was able to amass around €2.5 million in donations for 2010.
Radiomarathon was launched in 1990, after an initiative from the private radio station Super FM and Laiki Popular Bank. Since its inception, it has given over €24 million in aid to special needs children and almost €7 million in support to institutions, while it has raised over €38 million in donations.
Georgiou explained that the financial aid is given to address specific needs of entitled children such as the purchase of special equipment and the enhancement of specific school programmes. Speech therapists and physiotherapists are also employed.
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October 2010 saw this important national charity in support of children with special needs come to Pissouri for a major event which also let people donate blood. The event will now become annual.
See the Executive Secretary to the Council's letter below:
Cans for Kids
We now have 5 large can banks for the Village:
By the Chemist down near Papantoniou on the B6
By the Bus Stop at the Olympus Palace
In the car park next to the Two Friends Restaurant
In the Amphitheatre Car Park
At the new Primary School
Pissouri is doing a brilliant job recycling cans for this charity.
Please make full use of these banks, and encourage business and anyone you know to use them for this very good cause.
Rosie Charalambous, caracal@cytanet.com.cy, or, for the Village, Daintre on 25 222 802.
PISSOURI CAN BANKS
It seemed to be going so well, but the news is bad.
For the volunteers who drive from Nicosia to empty the Cans for Kids can banks all over this end of the Island, it is immeasurably frustrating to have to spend a great deal of time sorting the contents – mostly plastic bottles – of the large bank down by the Police Station. Someone clearly feels very strongly that plastic needs recycling. So do most of the rest of us. But these banks are for recycling drinks cans ONLY. The fact is that Cans for Kids are utterly fed up and will remove this Bank – one of our few Village recycling facilities – it this doesn’t stop.
Because the can bank, in its new location down at the Bay, has also been misused it has been removed. Come on folks, surely we can do better than that!
October 2011.
Riding for the Disabled
The Riding for the Disabled Association is a voluntary organisation based in Happy Valley. The RDA provides weekly riding for children and adults from Limassol-based facilities.
Horse riding for the disabled is a progressive form of therapy. The ability to control a horse as well as one's own body inspires self-confidence, responsibility and teamwork. Best of all, it is a thoroughly enjoyable experience for riders and volunteers alike.
Rides take place in Happy Valley between 0830 – 1000 every Thursday morning during school term time. Rides vary and may entail a walk around the valley or gymkhana games in the field.
The RDA is made possible by a dedicated team of volunteers, who either walk alongside and aid the rider or lead the horse. Fun training days are held and volunteers are always desperately needed and do not need to have any experience with horses. Drinks and bacon sandwiches are available after each ride giving an opportunity for volunteers to meet socially and get to know one another. Many social events are held during the year including picnics, barbeques and Christmas/ Easter parties for the riders and volunteers alike. The RDA also hold an annual boat trip round Limassol Bay which is always great fun for everybody.
The RDA owns and maintains its own horses and ponies, the running cost of the charity is in the region of 8,500 euros per year making fundraising a high priority.
The RDA starts again every September after their summer break. If you are interested in becoming a volunteer please call Carol Hicks on 25773058 or join us one Thursday morning on the field in front of the stables in Happy Valley.
Friends of Guiding
is a group of active women who are the fund-raising branch which supports the Guiding movement on the island. There are units on every base and also at Paphos and Nicosia. Meetings are usually held on the first Monday morning of each month, from October through to June. We also get together to support the units in outdoor activities and if anyone has a particular skill, they can help out in units who want to take a particular badge. The emphasis is on having fun whilst supporting the youngsters: if it ain't fun, FOG doesn't do it - well, not often. We can be serious some times! Nikki Dake, cnndake@spidernet.com.cy .
Hospice Charity Shop:
The ‘Friends Hospice, Paphos’
Provides palliative care for people with terminal illnesses, as well as respite care and pain relief, to a high standard of comfort and professionalism and is reliant solely on the generosity of donations and support of fund raising events.
See www.paphoshospice.org, or phone Sue: 26 65 34223.
Paws Dog Shelter, Achelia
(near Paphos Airport)
PAWS (Capca) are always looking for helping hands so that they can make the lives of their rescue dogs even more comfortable and enjoyable.
They need a variety of volunteers to help both at the Shelter and in their two Charity Shops. You can help at the Shelter with:
- cleaning the dogs pens and compounds;
- maintenance - anyone who can wield a hammer or a screwdriver or a paintbrush, who has skills in electrical or plumbing work, or carpentry - in fact anyone who can do anything;
- cleaning up the kitchen where we prepare the dogs' food;
- greeting people as they arrive and dealing with visitors to the shelter and showing them round;
- playing with the dogs and bringing some variety to their lives.
In fact - anything you can think of...
If you would like to help at the Shelter please call 99683775. You can help at our shops by helping us to prepare and/or sell the goods donated. If you would like to help at either of our Shops please call 99108224. http://www.dogscyprus.org.
To find the Shelter, take the Ayia Varvara exit from the motorway to Paphos, turn left. When you get to the old Limassol-Paphos road turn left again, then immediately right. After 100m there is a left hand bend, follow the lane to the shelter.
Malcolm Cat Protection Society
Anyone is welcome to visit the sanctuary. It is open every day, 9-11am and 2-4pm. Follow signs for Kolossi Castle, then carry on towards Akrotiri. You will see a sign on the left hand side and MCPS is on the right.
They are always looking for volunteers for feeding and caring for the many residents, if you feel you can help them please contact them on catsanctuary@hotmail.com or look at the website, www.malcolmcat.org.
WHO IS MY NEIGHBOUR?
Kinkiizi Mission - Pissouri's Link with Africa
We’re always very grateful for the opportunity to be able to publicise the work which Sue and I share with friends in Uganda – because the needs of people there are so great!
During my time as the Anglican priest in Paphos we formed a link with Bishop John and his people in Kinkiizi Diocese – a link which is deeply appreciated by the lovely people in Uganda. Over the past 5 years we have become deeply involved in two projects in Uganda – raising funds to help young people with their school fees, a SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM; and a new initiative to set up a Diocesan Pension Scheme for retired church workers. Support for these projects has come from across the world, for in addition to wonderful help from Cyprus, donations have come from the UK, mainland Europe, the Middle East, Japan, and the USA. Being involved in this work helps us to realise that there are very many kind and generous people around the world! We are very, very THANKFUL for every gift to these two projects including one or two from locals in Pissouri. Donations in 2008 of over £40,000 enabled us to meet the needs of some 250 sponsored students through the SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM. The Pension Scheme has accrued £25,000 to provide a sum which has now been used to pay for a commercial building to be rented out so as to provide a regular source of income for retired church workers who presently receive the equivalent of £70 a year!
We make an annual visit to Kinkiizi to check on the use of funding given and were out there for 8 weeks February-April this year. Our visits, to what is a truly beautiful region of Africa, are memorable, heart-rending, emotional and not a little stressful, but also truly inspirational. Most Ugandans cope with everyday problems which would ‘sink’ me! Whilst they usually have enough to eat, the supply of water fluctuates, simple medication cannot always be afforded, in the rural areas mains electricity is not affordable for most people, the roads are unpredictable, and most rural parents simply cannot afford for their children to have secondary education. It has not hit the news but recent spells of very dry weather across East Africa including Uganda have seriously affected harvests causing widespread starvation for thousands of people. Last year it was exactly the opposite problem with TOO MUCH WATER – including “our” area in Uganda – with many of the fields having been literally washed away and hence crops were lost! Our dear friends in Uganda remain so determined to do the best they can in often extremely difficult circumstances – we find this very humbling and a challenge to our own fairly comfortable lives.
Some of you will have seen me around the village in the Mission to Seafarers truck which I use in connection with my part-time work serving seafarers down in Limassol New Port. MtS allow me 3 months unpaid leave each year so that we can do our work in Uganda and so my salary along with a small C of E pension pays the bills!
Our main tasks are to run the Scholarship Program and Pension Scheme but we are also involved in two other projects: Paphos-Aphrodite Rotary Club is funding improvements to the water supply for several Kinkiizi schools and villages during 2009; and the U.K. Mothers Union has recently completed the setting up a Women’s Centre which is now open and offering training in tailoring, knitting, and I.T.
If you would like to help us then please ring us on 99-539144 (if in Cyprus) or email: marvinandsue@cytanet.com.cy Please let us know if you would like a copy of our recently published Summer Newsletter. Sue has also completed our 2008 accounts which have been duly audited and if anyone would like a copy do let us know.
Sue and I are so very grateful for our lives here in Pissouri. Our work in Uganda is an expression of our THANKFULNESS for all we share and experience and if you would like to express similar gratitude by supporting what we do then please be in touch. We’re especially THANKFUL for the tremendous privilege we share in working with our dear friends in Uganda and for the inspiration which they give us in the way in which they cope with so many challenges.
Marvin Bamforth