Keep the school open!

My mum, Eileen and her close friend Sharon, for the last 20 years have been responsible for the running of a charity to support a small primary school in Gambia that started with just a few local children and has now grown into a thriving hub of the community, with over 600 children enrolled! It’s an amazing achievement, of which both my mum and Sharon should be hugely proud.

My mum died in December 2021 after a year long battle with cancer. When Sharon spoke at the funeral she expressed how passionate my mum was for the school and the children in the community. I then discovered that with no real fundraising activity, funds will soon run out and the school will have to close its doors.

I can’t allow this to happen to the children, teachers or the wider community who rely on the school as the epicenter of their community but also because this would have broken my mum’s heart. The school costs £7000 per year to run, for everything. That includes stationary, salaries and ingredients for school meals. I’ve increased the target to £12000 so we can, not only keep the school open, but invest in new equipment and replace broken school furniture.

Please help me keep this amazing school open for another year by giving as generously as you can. The charity is tiny and run entirely by volunteers and therefore has no paid staff. So all of the money you give, goes directly to the school - to pay teachers and catering staff, to buy equipment and ingredients for school lunch and to maintain the buildings themselves.

Thank You.

Leo Neelands