"It is highly rewarding to be a part of young people's success and to hear reports from school of how they are advancing and often outperforming their peers."
Link Romania and the Kumon Family Shoebox Appeal 2009
16/08/2009
As part of our corporate social responsibility programme, Kumon Educational UK, one of the leading providers of maths and English supplementary education, has joined forces with the charity Link Romania to launch the Kumon Family Shoebox Appeal in aid of families in need in Eastern Europe.
Kumon students, Instructors and staff are donating shoeboxes filled with simple, everyday items such as stationery, warm clothes, toys and gifts that will be sent to poor families in Romania, Moldova and Albania in time for Christmas.
Link Romania is a UK based charity that brings poverty alleviation and humanitarian aid to the poorest and most marginalised people in Eastern Europe. In 1991, the founder, Mark Shipperley was horrified when he saw images of children in Romanian orphanages on television. He desperately wanted to help these children, so he hired a HGV lorry and drove over to Romania with supplies, and that was how Link Romania began.
Today, Link Romania run a number of different initiatives focusing on education, community development and project work to impact the lives of disadvantaged communities. They have been running the Family Shoebox Appeal since 1992 and last year successfully delivered over 42,664 shoeboxes to the most needy families in Romania, Albania and Moldova. This year with the support of Kumon they could double that figure!
Our mission highlights our desire to contribute to the global community, and taking part in this appeal is a great step towards achieving that. The appeal will also serve as an excellent opportunity for our students to learn about a different culture and the daily challenges faced by other communities.
We want to make an impact on the lives of children we are not reaching with our current work, and aim to harness the collective power of the Kumon network to make a real difference to the lives of disadvantaged families in Eastern Europe this Christmas.
For more information about Link Romania or to make a donation to this worthy cause please visit www.linkromania.co.uk
Other charitable activities
Throughout the year many of our centres and staff run their own fundraising activities to support both local and national charities. Some of the charities who have benefited are: Save The Children, Jeans for Genes, Whizz-Kidz and Cancer Research.
