"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."
Kumon students volunteer for charity Link Romania
26/11/2009
Over the last few months, thousands of children across the UK and Ireland have been busy collecting shoeboxes and filling them with gifts, ready to be sent to needy families and children in Eastern Europe. The children and their families took part in a national charity initiative undertaken by leading education provider, Kumon Educational UK, who teamed up with the UK charity Link Romania.
On Weds 25 November, a group of Kumon students from the Worthing Study Centre volunteered their time to help out UK charity Link Romania, whilst discovering where the journey of their shoebox will begin. The first step of the journey is at the Link Romania warehouse in Worthing where all the shoeboxes are counted and sorted before making their way over to needy families in Eastern Europe in time for Christmas.
There were literally thousands of shoeboxes waiting at the warehouse ready to be sorted, packed and loaded on to the Link Romania trucks. The students had a great time helping to pack up the shoeboxes.
Kumon student, seven year old Louisa Margodt said:
"It's been a lot of fun today and it's very special that lots of poor children will get a nice present this Christmas."
Link Romania 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.
Lisa Hector, Link Romania General Manager says
"It was great that the children came to help out. It's really important that they understand the value of a shoebox and how it can make a huge impact on a family in Eastern Europe. We're thrilled that Kumon students got on board this year and contributed towards our whopping total so far of 32,000 shoeboxes!."
