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For more information contact:
Paul Wenden
Tel: +44 1206 222 633
paul.wenden@flaktwoods.com
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José Figueira’s good will trip to Bulgaria was made easier this year, thanks in part to the support of his employer, Fläkt Woods, for his charitable work.
José full of festive fun with children from the orphanage.
Travelling to Bulgaria as part of the 'Harvest 4 the Hungry' (H4H) group, is an annual event for José, car park sales engineer at Fläkt Woods, and when he approached the Company for backing, they were more than happy to assist, funding his week off on full pay.
Formed in 1999, H4H is organised by the Springfield Park Baptist Church, in Chelmsford, Essex. It has now grown into the "Springfield Associated Churches" working together - Baptist, Anglican and United Reformed - each bringing their own resources and contacts to the project.
José has been going to Bulgaria since 2004 and this year a group of 12 people journeyed to an area north of Sofia called Berkovitsa working at the Hristo Botev Orphanage. They organised and undertook general maintenance work as well as arranging for repairs to be done by local builders utilising the additional funds gathered in the previous year.
From the small beginnings, the project has snowballed, today over 100 schools are participating and around 45 churches. With the full endorsement of Essex County Council, the charity gathers charity boxes from local schools and transports them on the November trips.
These boxes contain general foods, sugar, flour and pasta generously given by parents and friends of the children to send over on articulated lorries and be distributed to local orphanages and mental institutions in the Berkovitsa area, some in desperate need of food and accommodation maintenance. The team also help physically load and distribute these 6000+ boxes.
"When we found out that all the accommodation and travel costs were met exclusively by the volunteers themselves, we wanted to do the best we could, and offered José an additional 5 days annual leave to be used for these charitable works." says Neil Yule, Sales and Marketing Director of Fläkt Woods Ltd.
H4H this year collected and delivered over six thousand boxes, an ex-Essex ambulance to replace a 40 year old one, a minibus to the Hristo Botev orphanage, an ex-Broomfield Hospital X-ray light box viewer and an operating table from 'Tools with a Mission' of Ipswich to the local hospital there.
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