Rotarians packed the Amber Room at St Augustine’s to welcome two guests who had been invited to come and receive large donations of funds raised just before Christmas by the “Santa’s Sleigh” street collections in Westgate and Birchington.
Terrie Kennor, the East Kent Coordinator for “YouCan” received a cheque for £1000 from Westgate and Birchington Rotary President, Loraine Bant.
YouCan
YouCan is a charity which supports young people aged 10-35 years and whose lives have been impacted by cancer. They offer a range of workshops, well-being weekends with activities, support focused on regaining confidence, increasing knowledge of good nutrition and fitness to improve and protect health, therapeutic support and counselling as well as activities encouraging peer interaction and friendship.
YouCan works with experienced health professionals, qualified therapists and business experts to design specific programmes for young people. They run ‘Get Together’ workshops for young people to share their experiences and they also have a house in Westgate-on-Sea where they offer short breaks for any young person and their family or friends to get away from the stresses of cancer.
For more information about YouCan please visit: www.you-can.org.uk
East Kent Multiple Sclerosis Therapy Centre
Hilary Bryan, representing the East Kent Multiple Sclerosis Therapy Centre, also received a cheque for £1000 from President Loraine Bant. The MS Therapy Centre is a wonderful space dedicated to improving the quality of life for people with Multiple Sclerosis.
Their fantastic centre opened in January 2015, allowing them to provide a wider range of therapies and services that are vital in helping to alleviate some of the symptoms of MS. They include Acupuncture, Counselling, Gym, Hydrotherapy, Hypnotherapy, Manual Lymph Drainage, Massage, “Motomed” exercise machines, Oxygen therapy, Physiotherapy, Pilates, Podiatry, Reflexology, Reiki “laying on of hands”, Water Reiki and Yoga.
The Rotary donation will be used to provide hydrotherapy. The MS Therapy Centre provides all the necessary equipment for each therapy as well as qualified staff to administer and supervise as necessary. For more information, visit: www.kentmstc.org.uk
Fundraising
The Rotary Club was very fortunate to have a special fundraising opportunity at their annual Christmas dinner. Jean Lewis, the widow of Past President Max Lewis, kindly donated a vintage bottle of Armagnac to be raffled and the magnificent sum of £136 was raised for YouCan.
Recently, Rotarians organised a “Big Breakfast” at Kearns Hall in Minnis Bay. A large number of local people kindly supported this event and enjoyed a “Full English” in convivial company. Rotary members manned the kitchen and also acted as waiters and their efforts were rewarded with the very impressive sum of £192.10 raised to support our nominated charities.
Rotary members provide a huge amount of support to those less fortunate than themselves but at the same time enjoy great fun and fellowship in their regular meetings.
If you would like to find out more about our activities, have a look at our website: www.wb-rotary.co.uk and perhaps come along and join us one Tuesday evening at St Augustine’s. Please telephone Dave Alker on 01843 845783 to arrange a visit.
