MAYOR'S BALL RAISES £8000 FOR COCO
Monday 21st June 2010
Thank you to the outgoing Mayor of Bournemouth, Beryl Baxter and the Can't Walk Away team, Ben and Jilly Grower of their donation of £8000 which was raised at the recent Mayor's Ball.
COCO works in partnership with voluntary organisation Can't Walk Away (CWA), run by former Mayor of Bournemouth Ben Grower and his wife Jilly.
After visiting COCO's projects in Romania whilst Ben was Mayor, the pair set up CWA which aims to raise funds for the Rhema Foundation year on year. COCO work with CWA to ensure that we are doing all we can for children who are affected by HIV/AIDS and provide them with an education and the care they so desparately need.
Back in 2002 it was estimated that approximately 8,700 Romanian children were HIV positive, the highest number in Europe. Shockingly most of the children were infected with the virus during basic hospital procedures in the early to mid eighties. In a town called Targu Mures, abandoned by their parents, HIV infected children used to lie all day in tiny cots in a terribly quiet hospital ward for people with infectious diseases. When anyone walked through the ward the children would stretch their arms through the bars of their cots desperate for human touch.
Following a visit by Steve and COCO in 2001 COCO joined forces with Scottish International Relief (SIR) to take all the children out of the hospital ward and house them in a spacious care home where each child would have their own room and a much brighter future ahead.
We are so grateful to the Mayor of Bournemouth and CWA for their support and dedication to the great work of the Rhema Foundation.
Back to Main