Margaret Curness – Purple Community Fund
Thu, Apr 19th 2018 at 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm
Margaret Curness will address the members on the work of the Purple Community Fund in the Philippines and, more recently, the UK
H&R: Jim Robertson & John Robson
VoT: Des Donnelly
The guest speaker at tonight's meeting of the Rotary Club of Motherwell and Wishaw was Margaret Curness, a local volunteer for the charity Purple Community Fund (PCF) which was founded, in 1996, by Jane Walker, M.B.E.
Margaret informed the members that, disillusioned with her with her career in the newspaper industry, Jane Walker headed over to the Philippines for a rethink about her future. What was supposed to be a short break ended up being the start of a brand new life. Jane heard of the horrendous conditions in which families were living and working on rubbish dumps in Manila, and on arrival asked a taxi driver to take her to the worst slum areas he knew, so she could see for herself. It was the most pivotal moment of her life and the start of a 20-year crusade to try to assist in breaking the cycle of poverty through education, welfare and livelihood programs.
After building the world’s first school out of recycled shipping containers and transforming the lives of thousands of families, the charity is without question, a remarkable success.
Margaret said that she herself is a long standing supporter of PCF and has been making it her mission to spread the PCF message in Scotland. As well as sponsoring two of charity's children, Margaret has also raised thousands of pounds for the charity over the years and is a shining example of why the charity is grateful for the amazing kind hearted individuals like her who help the charity to continue its work transforming lives in the Philippines and elsewhere.
Margaret was moved to help following a visit to the PCF school in Manila, with her daughter Brooke, to meet their sponsored children. From that day forward they have helped out in all aspects of our work from collecting ring pulls to speaking to various groups such as Rotary Clubs, as well as selling PCF products at every available opportunity. Margaret had brought along a selection of jewellery, bags and purses all made out of recycled materials such as ring pulls and toothpaste tubes for members to look at and possibly buy.
Margaret answered a number of questions put to her by the members with the vote of thanks proposed by Des Donnelly.
Hugh Graham was the winner of the weekly bonus ball.'What We Do' Main Pages:
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