The speaker at tonight's meeting of the Rotary Club of Motherwell and Wishaw was Frank Devine, the co-founder of the charity Project Gambia: People Feeding People.
Frank works full time, for Skills Development Scotland, as a careers adviser in Uddingston Grammar School. In his spare time, Frank is studying a PhD in Critical Media Studies.
He, with Paul Lafferty, started the charity in 2012 and Frank is the Chairperson overseeing the daily operations of the charity, as well as being heavily involved in other aspects of the charity. The Charity was initially founded by a group of parishioners in the West of Scotland, principally from the Holy Family, in Mossend, and St. John the Baptist, in Uddingston. Now, they are a dedicated and close-knit team spread across the UK (and further afield) working to support some of the world’s most disadvantaged and marginalised children using the principles of their faith.
Project Gambia: People Feeding People is a Scottish Charity, set up, initially, to support St. John’s School for the Deaf in Serrekunda and, over time, it has expanded to include St. Patrick’s Lower Basic School and St. Joseph’s Nursery School. When their volunteers first visited St. John’s, in 2012, they were shocked to find that the only food the school had for the children was half a bag of rice, a bag of onions & some oil. After walking around the school, and meeting the children, it was decided that something had to be done. The Depute Head Teacher said that it was a blessing that help arrived at the time when the school needed it most.
When the charity began supporting the schools, the initial focus was the feeding programme. For the past four years, they have been able to raise enough funds to give every child in St. John’s a meal every day that they attend school, increasing school attendance and improving the pupils’ focus and concentration. Now, the charity is also able to offer other support, supplying school uniforms, school bags containing stationary and educational material, hearing aids and, in November 2017, a school bus was provided to allow children to travel safely to and from school.
After Frank answered a number of questions, Past President Jane Allan proposed a comprehensive vote of thanks.
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