Newsletter 03 - January 2005
Dear All,
Hope this finds you all well and prosperous. Jobs have started well. Houses are good etc. Alasdair has finally wrenched himself away from thecomfort of Maggie’s bosom and has hauled his cheesy poofs and chinchilladown to London. Big round of applause in order I reckon. Fuller has no job and hasn't paid rent for 2 months. What are the odds. Enough.
Things are going really well with 1%. Encouraging feedback from our causes and financially we're moving towards our 1000/yr target that will enableus to register with the charities commission. The website is up andrunning in fine style. For those who haven't checked it out do so at www.onepercentscheme.org. Note the change to 'org'. It has all the information about how we run the scheme, who we give to and how to get involved. And it looks quite nice.
Ross has recently had a highly successful meeting with the two main trustees from the White Cross Mission. As he put it 'over tea and biscuits in their incredibly warm living-room’ (old people and heating, may they never be parted). As a result of this The One Percent Scheme is now the official sponsor of Casa Sfintul Nicolae (Saint Nicholas' Farm Home) in Suncuius, Romania. What's happened is that now that the majority of orphans have come of age, the WCM have set up five farm homes where those children who were simply too traumatised to be reintegrated into general society live and work. Up until now, four of these farm homes have had specific sponsors - organisations whose donations have gone straight to their farm home. Now, all of the donations made by us will go straight to Saint Nicholas. As we are now the official sponsor, we will be able to have direct contact with the home and feedback from the kids themselves (apparently, they often like to write letters to their sponsors). For more information on this check out the WCM page or email ross@onepercentscheme.org
Rwanda Development Trust. I spoke to the main trustee from RDT at length a few weeks ago and he seemed very impressed and enthusiastic about what we are doing. He confirmed that all of our cash is going to the Disabled Persons Association of Rwanda. The association is focusing on rebuilding the livelihoods of those severely injured in the genocide - helping to purchase prosthetic limbs to improve people’s opportunities for employment. For more info check out the RDT page or email marcus@onepercentscheme.org
The last issue we would like to raise concerns a topic that we are all fully aware of and most probably have strong feelings about; the Tsunami.The disaster has destroyed thousands of communities and left some of the world’s poorest people without any income or shelter. The world has responded generously - the DEC (the people responsible for coordinatingm the fundraising in the UK) have officially stopped their appeal because enough money has been raised. However, we are still considering giving half of next quarters donation to a worthwhile cause related to the Tsunami.
Please email with your views on this to tsunami@onepercentscheme.org. If you can express any preferences or suggest any specific causes this would be great. We will seriously consider any suggestions (except the arsenal goal keepers fund, sorry jim.) and inform you all of the decision before the donation is made.
We do now have quite a few people on regular Standing Orders – thankyou to those who which is fantastic. Although the philosophy behind the scheme is that members should donate 1% of their income, we also realise that everybody is stacked with debt and in the middle of sorting out houses and jobs. So if you want to set up for any amount, however small then great.It is important that we get as many people involved as possible in these early stages. To find out about setting up a standing order visit the website or contact ross@onepercentscheme.
Look foward to hearing from you.
Best Wishes. Marcus, Johnzon and Rod for the 1% Scheme.