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Final push for Beds to Ghana

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Junior Chamber International (JCI) Aberdeen ran a very successful children’s fun day at the 50th anniversary of the Highland Games in Aberdeen’s Hazlehead park on Sunday 20 June 2010.
Over £600 was raised on the day in the final push to ship hospital beds from across NHS Grampian to a children’s hospital in Ghana where they are desperately needed. JCI Aberdeen launched this project in January this year and has been kindly supported by generous donations and sponsors as well as fundraising activities by JCI Aberdeen. The organisation held a very successful race night last month at Kippie Lodge which raised just over £1000.
Oil services company Aker Qserv came on board as principal sponsor of the project which started when ex president of JCI Aberdeen and Chairman of the Unicef fund raising committee in Aberdeen, Sam Murray, visited Ghana last year to see how the money raised was put to use. Mr. Murray identified an opportunity to engage JCI Aberdeen to manage the process of shipping old beds, which were no longer required by hospitals across NHS Grampian to Accra, the capital city of Ghana.
Activities included a ‘football shoot’ competition where children and adults scored points by kicking a football through different sized holes which represented varying levels of difficulty. Congratulations goes to Peter Murray of Bridge of Don, Aberdeen who won the highest score of 6 points and won the prize of a VIP day out at AFC for 12 children plus himself and another adult. Peter will be very popular with his nephews, to whom he is donating the prize, and their friends as they get to meet members of the 1st team, have lunch and get shown round AFC as well as receiving some AFC goodies.
Other activities included a face painter, a balloon artist and magician shows by Bill Duncan which went down extremely well with children.
JCI Aberdeen ‘Beds to Ghana’ Project Manager Steven Wilson said: “I am delighted with how today went and I would like to thank everyone involved in the project and in particular those who have contributed by sponsoring or donating. We are now in a position to ship these beds to Ghana which will greatly increase the quality of care delivered to children at this particular hospital.”
Natalie Landsdell of Aker Qserv, who are the principal sponsor, said: “This has been a fantastic project to be involved in and has brought the community in Aberdeen together whilst raising awareness of a very worthwhile project. We are delighted to have been involved in a campaign which will make a real difference to the lives of a great many children and their families in Ghana.”
JCI Aberdeen which is part of an International organization of some 200,000 young people all over the world, aims to develop the leadership skills of its members whilst promoting entrepreneurship, social activities and benefit for the local community. It provides the opportunity to come along and try something new, such as project management or public speaking, whilst developing skills in a relaxed and enjoyable environment. The organisation develops its own programme of events by reflecting four areas of interest: community, business, international and personal and professional development.
JCI Aberdeen could have the potential to send further items to the hospital. If you would like to become involved please contact Steven Wilson at vice-president@jciaberdeen.org.uk