Hello Friends,
Following on from our successful launch back in March and a very busy few months here at Selvin HQ, we thought it was about time we gave you an update on all of the latest Selvin news.
Visit Selvin’s blog
Visit Selvin’s blog
New posts have recently been added to the blog including Vicki’s training updates and final thoughts before her Edinburgh marathon, Stu’s report on the schools in Guatemala that we will be supporting this year and also a shopping list to give you an idea of how your donations can help improve the education of children in Central America.
Selvin Goes Social!
Following the great warmth and amazing feedback we have received for our website we are pleased to say we have now taken over Facebook and twitter as well!
We continue to grow our presence on social networks, which provide an excellent way for you to keep up to date with Selvin news as well as getting in touch with us.
You can find us on Twitter as @selvin_charity or on Facebook by searching for ‘Selvin & Friends Foundation’.
A Scottish affair
On 22nd May Vicki took on the challenge of running the Edinburgh marathon. She battled against high winds, sore legs and painful feet to run over 26 tough miles in an amazing 5 hours and 27 minutes! A huge well done after the many months of hard work put into training!
On the same day our Friend James Dunham made his running debut and took on the Edinburgh half marathon. James completed the 13.1 mile course in an impressive 1 hour and 49 minutes, a great achievement, congratulations James!
James’s efforts have been rewarded as he went on to raise a total of £184.50, which is massively appreciated by the Selvin & Friends Foundation and a big thank you to everyone who supported him on his challenge.
Thank you James for running for Selvin.
Keep on Running
It seems 2011 the year we run for Selvin!
We have two friends, Jane Mackey and Rachel MacGregor who are getting into the running spirit by taking part in the Grand Union Canal Half-Marathon on 13th November. Jane volunteered with the children in Guatemala so she has seen first hand the shortfalls in educational supplies in the local schools in the region. A huge thank you and good luck to you both! In true Selvin style, Stu will also be taking part in the run to lend our support.
Vicki will be completing two final runs in 2011, the British 10k in July and the Adidas 5k Woman’s challenge in September, both a little friendlier on the legs than Edinburgh!
A special thanks
We would really like to express a huge thank you to all of our friends and family who have so generously supported us. Since we have officially launched we have raised a huge amount of money for the local schools we are supporting in Guatemala.
We are well on our way to our fundraising target and following the Silverstone half marathon and Edinburgh events we have raised over 95% of our target!
We are well and truly speechless. Your kind generosity really is appreciated not only by us but also the schools that we are supporting.
News from the Schools
The schools in Guatemala that we are supporting this year are run by the Phoenix Project. We asked the project leader, Dom Williams, to share some of the positive achievements that have been seen in the past year to give you an idea of just why projects like these are vital for supporting local children’s education.
‘In 2010, the results from the children’s national school exams have seen a significant improvement for children in San Andrés Itzapa (pink pin), culminating with all the children, bar six, passing their grades in Primary school, the majority with very high scores. The advances seen in Maths and Sciences were especially noticeable. All bar one child in 6th grade Primary School passed their exams, and will start Secondary school in 2011.
Similar results were witnessed in Santa María de Jesús (green arrow) with many children scoring high with just a handful not passing the grade and having to repeat. Sciences and Maths again saw an upturn. Due to the work starting Santa María later than Itzapa, we have yet to have the children pass through to Secondary school, which will be starting the next two years.’
The Phoenix Project has enjoyed many successes during the past year, most notably:
- Over 34,000 teaching hours have been completed by volunteers to almost 600 children in both San Andrés Itzapa and Santa María de Jesús, from kindergarten through to 3rd Level Secondary School and college.
- 98% of the children passed the year in both Primary and Secondary levels.
Visit Us
Don’t forget you can find more information about the Selvin & Friends Foundation along with the latest blog updates on our website www.selvin.org.uk
Contact Us
If you have any questions, ideas or want to get involved, you can get in touch via the website, Twitter or Facebook accounts or emailing us info@selvin.org.uk
Gracias amigos de Selvin!
