Last week we had our Lush international meeting. I was asked to give a presentation about charitable giving and decided to invite Lamin Daffeh from the Fresh Start Foundation to speak too, since he was such a great hit at our store managers’ meeting in June (more…). What happened after his presentation was really incredible, and way beyond what I had ever imagined!
The Fresh Start Foundation was set up by Lamin and his wife Rebecca in 2006 and works in The Gambia, West Africa, to improve education, sanitation and access to water with a particular focus on orphaned children who are vulnerable to exploitation and often end up in the sex trade. Lamin and Rebecca have funded most of the work themselves since the charity was founded and when their beautiful baby, Safia, came along a year ago they were unsure whether they would be able to continue. As a last resort Lamin took part in the TV game show Deal or No Deal but went away with just £20. We gave them a grant from our Charity Pot of £6,500 to help them renovate the school and have also given them a pallet of soap to send over, but there is so much more than needs to be done to help this community, the very same community Lamin grew up in.
Our lovely director Ro was so inspired by Lamin’s story and his work in The Gambia that she decided to run a raffle and ran around getting Lush bags signed by the founders and all other sorts of Lush goodies from around the world. In my experience, you’re lucky to raise a few hundred pounds with a raffle, but this was a raffle with a difference! Ro and her team of eager raffle ticket sellers managed to persuade people to buy £10, £20, £50, and even for one person, £104 worth of raffle tickets! A note for any fundraisers out there, the best line for selling raffle tickets has to be “I’ve just bought £50 worth, how many are you going to buy?” It worked an absolute treat! Before long over a thousand pounds had been raised, and then our friends at Lush in Japan offered to match the total sum raised for the evening!
By around 10.30pm, we called Lamin and Rebecca to let them know that we had raised an amazing £4,000! Last year, the Fresh Start Foundation’s total income was £10,000, which was mostly their own money, so you can imagine what £4,000 meant to them. They were totally speechless. It was also brilliant timing as just a couple of weeks ago a storm hit the school in The Gambia and some of the buildings due to be renovated were practically knocked to the ground.
But it didn’t end there! Ro then came up with the brilliant idea of running an auction. All kinds of crazy things were on offer; a kiss from our North American director Mark Wolverton, a lock of hair from our campaign manager Andrew Butler, Aunty Pamela’s bag woven from old plastic bags… People were bidding like mad, I dare say perhaps something to do with a belly full of beer by that point! And finally, past midnight, the auction came to and end and the total raised was over £16,500!! I couldn’t believe it!
When Lamin and Rebecca got the news they were in tears – their dreams to dramatically improve the lives of children in The Gambia had just taken a massive step forward. For a start, the Kwinella School is sure to be one of the best in the country! But most importantly, their plans to set up the first ever community centre for orphans and other vulnerable children is now almost within reach.
No-one imagined that so much would be raised, least of all Lamin and Rebecca. It just goes to show how generous people can be when they are touched and inspired by others who go to such great lengths to make the world a better place. It’s a great feeling to know we were able to help.
We’re now planning a Lush trip out to The Gambia so we can help as volunteers to renovate the school and other projects, such as helping out in the vegetable garden, teaching english and planting trees. Already we have double the amount of staff on the list that we can actually take! It’s sure to be a life-changing experience and I can’t wait!
Please join us in our support of the Fresh Start Foundation by visiting www.justgiving.com/lushfreshstartfoundation. Anything you can give will be greatly appreciated.
Sophie xx
PS If you want to read about how we first met Lamin and what happened the first time he came to talk to us at Lush please visit; www.lushcharitypot.co.uk/2009/06/26/fresh-start-foundation
