What is the Purple Community Fund?
It’s a charity that helps children and families in the Philippines. The children can go to school, the parents can earn money to keep their families.
The Purple Community Fund was set up by Jane Walker MBE. She saw children scavenging in rubbish dumps -looking for things to take home and use or sell – when she visited Manila. She wanted to do something to make their lives better. So she started a school in a warehouse at the dumpsite for the children. They needed to learn everything – not only to read and write, but also basic living and social skills.
How does it work?
The parents agreed to send their children to the school because the children were given food credits to take home. The parents were able to use the vouchers to buy food every week. Then the mother were shown how to use the ringpulls and glossy magazines found on the rubbish dumps to make things to sell. For example, the children’s mothers learned to crochet using the ringpulls. Now they make Christmas tree decorations, costume jewellery and bags and purses. The Purple Community Fund helps them to find people who will buy what they make.
What good does the Purple Community Fund do?
Since the Purple Community Fund started working with the community in Manila, health and sanitation have improved, as well as the education of the children.
What have Woking Soroptimists done to help recently?
Now the Purple Community Fund is not getting so many donations because of the Covid-19 pandemic. So Woking Soroptimists helped out by selling some lovely gifts made by the community in the Philippines.
We raised a total of £297 and thank all our supporters for their generosity.
If you want to help, take a look at what’s on offer on the The Purple Community Fund website. There is a variety of items, including Christmas tree decorations , jewellery, handbags and purses.
Contact us here if you would like to get involved with what we do.