For the love of a child

On Thursday 8 February Donna Jennings of Scottish charity For the Love of a Child was a guest of the Rotary Club of Dundee at their weekly lunchtime meeting at the Invercarse Hotel, hosted by Past President Derek Shaw. Donna, who with her husband founded the charity in 2010 after the death of their little boy Samuel, wanted to find ways of bringing hope and love into the lives of children who would otherwise have none. The charity runs a number of projects and programmes at home in Scotland and overseas, with an emphasis on developing safe therapeutic spaces for children and their families to process their trauma through play, art, music, stories and drama, helping them to feel protected, happy and loved.

The current focus of the charity is on establishing a project based in the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon, close to the border with Syria, for up to 60 children, displaced by the war in Syria, aged 2 years to 5 years: the project is called Sam’s House in memory of Donna’s son. Local partner organisations include respected charity Middle East Revive and Thrive and the Cedars Of Lebanon Rotary Club. The Dundee Rotarians presented Donna with a cheque for £1000 to provide toilets, sinks and plumbing for Sam’s House. The Club is now exploring the potential of making this an international partnered project.

Watch a video about the project here; https://youtu.be/8--3Jzd5yQ8