LEAVES OF HOPE

For Belarusian Children

Registered Charity Number: 1077872

For Belarusian Children

Registered Charity Number: 1077872

Designed and Managed by Matt Capel

Leave of Hope ©

LEAVES OF HOPE

Hosted and IT Managed by Dave Cox dave@coxyco.com

‘Leaves of Hope’ was founded on 24th May 1999 and since its inception has grown from strength to strength.  This would not have been achieved without the great number of volunteers that have joined us over the years and we have a group of dedicated trustees, some of whom have been with us for a number of years, who work tirelessly behind the scenes.  All of our trustees work entirely voluntarily.

Margaret Bamford OBE DL has now retired from the charity as the Fostering and Prevention projects have come to their natural conclusion. Margaret achieved such a lot during her 15 years with ‘Leaves of Hope’ and her legacy lives on with the charity through the thousands of children who have been fostered and the many who have been saved from abandonment.

Tina Donovan is our new Chair and has already settled into her new role with fresh ideas and a great deal of enthusiasm.  Tina, is a Director of New Bridges Specialist Care, a Newport based company that is a specialist residential and outreach service provider for individuals who have acquired brain injury, complex needs and learning disabilities

‘Leaves of Hope’ continues to work with young people from Britain, offering the ‘Belarus Experience’ where the young people travel to Minsk to work in orphanages and children’s hospitals. We offer decorating projects, where we brighten the children’s environment with lively and stimulating murals on freshly decorated walls. We also offer involvement in a play scheme, where the team teaches the orphans and their teachers how to play – a very popular activity at present!

We no longer drive to Belarus, the 3,000 mile journey from Cardiff to Minsk and return became too much for us older members! The sad thing about this is that we no longer have the 3 days of bonding on the journey out. However, that wonderful team building experience has been replaced with something equally exciting – a team building weekend with the Army. Major Ray Jolly of the RAMC offers a team building exercise with volunteers from the 207 Field Army Hospital. A brilliant weekend enjoyed by the young people and adults alike.

We hope you enjoy our new website and hope it inspires newcomers to join us and old timers to come back. Without you we could do nothing. The celebration of our achievements is your celebration and your achievement. We thank you all and hope we can continue to count on your help.

‘Leaves of Hope’ - where does the name come from?

When ‘Leaves of Hope’ was first formed, we travelled to the Novinki Orphanage in Minsk mainly in the spring and the autumn. The children in the orphanages have no real sense of time - they measure it by seasons. When the leaves started to appear on the trees they knew we would be coming to them and when the leaves started to fall they knew we would be back again.

It is our ambition to give every child their own ‘Leaf of Hope’