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Trustees Annual Report 2004 - 2005
The Trustees present their report for the year to 31st March 2005. The Trustee Members elected for the year were:- The Medical Director: Dr Beryl Beynon; The Treasurer: Mrs Colette Beynon, Chairman: Dr Peter Beynon, Members of the Executive Committee: Dr Claire Barchard, Mr Robert Byass, Mrs Elizabeth Everingham, Mr Harry Flynn, Mrs Josephine Mant (retired October 05), Miss Margaret Ruxton, Miss Dorothy Walker, Mrs Margaret Wells. Other Officers: Secretary: Mrs Heather Saltonstall, Administrator: Mr Mike Greatorex.
The Charity benefits from professional advice as follows:-
Accountant: Mr Brian Elvidge
Auditor: Messrs Smailes, Goldie & Co
Solicitor: Mr Michael Adams RHA International Mr Mike Freeman
Bankers: HSBC, (main bankers) Barclays (transport) and Lloyds TSB (Orchard Park Shop)
Insurers: Transport: Norwich Union, Other: Ansvar & Royal Sun Alliance
The Registered Aims of Jacob’s Well Appeal are
a) To relieve need, hardship, sickness or distress of persons resident in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Asia or Africa and to assist persons in need of emergency disaster relief wherever they may be.
b) To relieve need, hardship, sickness or distress of those persons who are handicapped.
c) To promote the Christian faith.
d) To promote and support medical research and facilitate the work of researchers of which the results of such research will be made publicly available.
e) To promote and advance education and facilitate teaching.
As our registered aims indicate Jacob's Well Appeal, which has an ecumenical Christian background, seeks to show the love of God through practical action - the "living water" of life freely offered to all people regardless of ethnicity or religious belief who are in need, by any volunteers willing to help. We aim to supply humanitarian aid and medical relief to the needy in Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa and to help those with disabilities providing necessities which would not otherwise be available. During this year we have co-operated with the Red Crescent/Red Cross Societies of Afghanistan, Bulgaria, and other charities including Help - Kiev, the Lady Dufferin Trust, Help of Stuttgart, the Soroptimists, Diabetes UK, the Ileostomy Association, Rotary and Inner Wheel Clubs, International Aid Trust, and the International Assistance Mission. We have met with other charities at the British Agencies in Afghanistan (BAAG) group which meets monthly to share information and discuss problems. Areas of activity are outlined below. We endeavour to respond to emergency needs particularly in areas with which we are currently involved, but our main aim is to continue working in needy places which are not in the headlines even when political pressures and media generated money has moved on.
Over the rooftops from the clinic to
Koala Pushta
Pakistan
The Lady Dufferin Hospital for women received two containers of aid, the first sent in April and a second in August, both with supplies of equipment for their hospital’s new wing. Baby resuscitation equipment and delivery beds for the labour rooms were amongst the gifts sent to us from St Mary’s Hospital in Manchester and St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington, London. The new wing is now in full swing and full of mothers and their babies. Some further supplies of clothing and bedding went to the Darul Sekun, a home for handicapped adults and children. This home provided a gap year placement for one girl volunteer, prior to her medical studies, for two months.
Afghanistan
In August we said goodbye to our clinic in street number 8, Taimani, Kabul and moved to street number 5 where Dr Nasrin had managed to acquire an old house. It needed some renovation but the building was sound and we managed to open a well with a good water supply in the back garden. The house has no front garden and it has proved to be much more difficult to control the crowds of women and children who gather and spill over onto the street on clinic days. Now we are free from the ever rising rent situation. However in March the clinic was attacked by insurgents and armed guards had to be called to rescue the staff. For security reasons the clinic was closed for the following two months but has managed to reopen and start again to care for the sick. There is still no electricity except for two hours in the evenings in Kabul. Four containers of precious aid have been sent to Kabul this year with gifts for the Red Crescent, hospitals in Kabul, Charikar and Puli Khumri as well as our own clinic and one in the Chalsestoon district of Kabul. We have also flown in a supply of insulin for the Avicenna Emergency Hospital. Poverty, malnutrition, unemployment and homelessness are big problems still but there are signs of an improving economy and rebuilding is proceeding at quite a pace.
We are thankful that our containers are still able to get through with the help of Janet Naqvi in Karachi and Hassan Naz in Peshawar, who have to fight to move each one, and to Dr Farid who has been able to sort out the paperwork needed in Kabul, hire cranes, trucks and men when necessary and generally keep things moving. We are thankful also for our brave and dedicated staff of three ladies who staff our clinic and for our caretaker and his family who cope with the crowds.
Bulgaria
This year three containers have been delivered, one each to the municipalities of Dupnitsa, Sofia and Gotze Delchev. Tourism is beginning to thrive again and the Bulgarians are looking forward to 2007 with great expectations, when they are scheduled to join the European Union. It is a very beautiful country and should do well.
Ukraine
Our links with the Mohyla Academy’s biological science department are continuing and we were able to send them another container of precious laboratory equipment in the spring of 2004. This has enabled the laboratory work to grow giving greater opportunity for research. Since the “orange revolution” last winter there is more hope that the future will bring their country closer to the west with increased freedom for the people.
Poland
In February we renewed our links with the charity Fundacja Pomoc Spoleczna SOS in Warsaw, when they requested further help. We were able to supply one 40' container of aid to help them with the care of needy families. There are still many families needing help, especially the families of prisoners, single parent families and pensioners. There are now many possibilities for the Poles to find work abroad and many are coming to England as they enter the EU. Travel is now not too expensive and a job in the UK will bring riches to the families back in Poland. They take jobs as bus drivers, dentists, plumbers and other skills.
The Bikes on the Landrover. Where are
the sponsored riders?
Romania
Titi and Brandusa, our Romanian leaders have worked hard to try to finish the new building at the R ehabilitation Unit. The ground floor now has a magnificent shop, well fitted and stocked and a small room for our watchman. The first floor is also almost completed and there is good accommodation for volunteers or visitors and a new office for Brandusa. The large room which we had planned to use as a workshop is now a recreation room as all our young people have jobs in the community now. The top floor is still waiting to be finished. The good news is that the new boiler, a wood burner, is working well and heats all the buildings adequately. We are very keen to see our twelve young people make the final step out into the community and we have now purchased a field on the road that leads to Botosani. It is about one kilometre from the nearest building and two kilometres from the centre of Siret. We are now trying to contract an architect, sort out the services such as water, drainage and electricity and hope to start to build in the spring of 2006.
There will be two blocks of four houses for the first phase but there is enough land for expansion as well as cultivation. The future looks good but I am sure that some support will be needed and Titi and Brandusa will be arranging weddings soon as well as supervising ( not subsidising) the paying of the bills.
The Day Centre has struggled for staff this year as the teachers have been tempted by the more lucrative jobs, such as waitresses in Portugal and the watchmen have also left for Germany. The numbers in the Casa de Copii have grown however and there is no shortage of work for the Day Centre. Five container loads of aid have been donated, four from our warehouse in Beverley and one from a charity called Help in Stuttgart, Germany. There are many people struggling to live in the Siret district and our aid is very thankfully received, especially the medicines. Tuberculosis is rife and many families cannot afford to feed and clothe their children. It is a struggle to pay their heating bills. This is why so many are moving west to try to survive and improve their life styles.
The Tsunami
Just after Christmas an earthquake off the coast of Indonesia caused a huge tidal wave which caused devastation to the surrounding countries. Everybody wanted to help and it was difficult for us to cope with all the phone calls and the offers of gifts that poured in on us at a time when all our staff and volunteers were on holiday. We made links with the Embassy of the Maldives and we prepared a load of medical supplies for them but the promised air lift never arrived and when it became clear that we had no transport we diverted the money donations to the Church Missionary Society who had workers already out in Indonesia and Sri Lanka and could see that the money was spent on helping in the disaster area.
Financial and General Situation
We are grateful to the many people and groups who have donated both money and goods to fill our containers and pay the transport bills. Our main sources of income are from our 2 charity shops, and fund raising events such as second hand book sales, money raised by our volunteer fund raiser Margaret Ruxton and donations from the public. Our gift aided income was approximately £12,000 less than the previous year mainly due to 2 large exceptional donations in that year. The total value of material donations has been at a similar value and volume to the previous year with one significant difference. The value of donated medical supplies has fallen considerably, partly because many recipients now require medication to have a longer shelf life so that less is suitable to send, and partly because of the changing nature of the items received. Other donated goods such as warm clothing, bedding, equipment, and general supplies have been maintained at a good level. A sack of good clothes weighing about 7 kg is valued at £5. Valuation of medical items when second hand, some of which is functional but old, and some of which is good as new is related to its original cost depreciated according to expected life. Supplying these items is increasingly expensive including charges such as at the ports, and the requirement of many countries that the whole container should be sterilised and of course transport. We continue to review our methods of collection and distribution using volunteers, rail freight or shipping where this is cheaper than by road. The value of the aid donated and delivered abroad in 16 containers (average content 10 tons) during the last year was £635,366. Our other two major financial commitments continue to be the Rehabilitation Unit in Romania now supporting 12 handicapped young people and supplies for Afghanistan and the Mother and Child Health Clinic in Kabul. The work in Romania is partly funded by charity shops there and some costs for food are saved by what the residents grow.
Achieving required standards in vehicle maintenance, training, health and safety, risk assessment, waste disposal, documentation, and report writing is increasingly time consuming and costly so that more and more resources of money, volunteer and administrative time are required. We just hope that the demands of the bureaucrats will not become all consuming. Spare finance is used to purchase new medicines and equipment.
The Charity is required to hold reserve funds in order to hold TIR carnets to transit goods across certain countries in the course of delivery, and in order to hold an Operators Licence for the two large goods vehicles which collect and deliver. The reserves are held in the Charities Aid Gold Fund - a high interest deposit fund which provides a good balance between accessibility and returns.
Logistics
This January we replaced our old Mitsubishi van with a four year old Nissan Vanette. It has a good diesel engine and a low mileage. We have still not managed to change Titi’s truck, a “G” reg left hand drive Scania He is hoping that we will be able to do this soon. Our oldest truck is an “E” reg Leyland 7.5 ton, now at the end of its life and costing a lot to run. It has given us ten years of good service. Peter and Cedric, our two HGV drivers here in the UK, are both seventy next year and we shall have to find a replacement driver for our Scania here in Beverley very soon. Our left hand drive Landrover Defender, an “H” reg., is also needing some major repairs if it is to be safely used in Siret. It is extremely useful and we shall miss it if we are unable to replace it. Our Mercedes mini bus is in excellent form and it is very much appreciated by our Romanian kids.
Staffing and Volunteers
In December Susan Leeding retired and Mike Greatorex has been appointed to join Heather on our administration staff. Following the resignation of Anne Woodfield, the manager of the Christian book shop side of Jacob’s Well, Melanie Patrick joined me as a part time personal assistant to help with the shop management and logistics, but the shop has taken most of her time. Our team of volunteers continues to ebb and flow. This year we have sadly lost Tony Barry, our volunteer driver for many years and courier of Polish loads in the past. We miss his lively visits, loud laughter and friendship. We have also lost suddenly George Johnston, who helped us at book sales for many years. We miss him too.
Volunteer hours in the warehouse for the year 2004-5 were over 3,000, and in the two charity shops in excess of 7,000. Sorting, selling, packing and listing donated goods and medicines is a major, labour intensive task. Bric-a-brac, second hand books, and some clothing is sold to raise funds but a large proportion is sent abroad as aid. This has not been achieved without a tremendous amount of work from our volunteers both here in the UK, and abroad. The Trustees sincerely thank them all for their devoted hard labour.
The Jacob’s Well Appeal had 3 part time employees at the end of the Charity year. Our teams of warehouse workers and medicine sorters are now all volunteers and we are very grateful for the many hours of work without which the Charity would grind to a halt. The part time post of volunteer co-ordinator which was funded from the beginning of 2002 by the Lloyds TSB Trust has now come to an end. Brian Buckley made a valuable contribution particularly in the warehouse with our volunteers. Sadly our hope that the post would become self-funding was not fulfilled. The Charity has continued to provide regular support and supervision for volunteers with additional needs in the warehouse and shop settings. This has opened doors to people who would otherwise be unable to take part in everyday life and activities. This has been beneficial for the Charity also.
The Trustees are appointed for 3 year terms renewable and the Officers are appointed for 1 year terms renewable. Executive decisions are made by the Medical Director who is a Trustee and answerable to the board of Trustees who usually meet 5 times a year. Several of our Trustees have medical or other relevant expertise and are actively involved in various aspects of the Charity’s activities.
Future Plans
Discussions which were under way with the Local Authority to relocate the local Outreach Centre for learning disabilities on to the Jacob’s Well Site where a wider range of activities could be available have come to nothing. The warehouse and land which the charity occupies has been put into a discretionary trust which is offering a lease to the Charity to provide long term security of tenure. Previously the arrangement was purely informal. It is planned to move the Charity’s administration and the non-shop sorting on to the warehouse site.
The Trustees would like to thank all who share the burdens of responsibility and have nobly helped to make Jacob’s Well Appeal the thriving charity it is today. Everyone involved can be proud of the work which the Lord has so richly blessed and we look for His presence with us in the years ahead.
Beryl Beynon (on behalf of the Trustees)