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Dear <<First name>>,

As the end of the year approaches and we enjoy a bit of down time for Christmas and New Year, we have been taking some time to reflect on this our 10th full year as a charity.


After a record-breaking year of firsts in 2016, it was always going to be tough to make this year even bigger and better, but there is still so much for us, and you, to be proud of from the last 12 months and we are incredibly grateful to everybody that has supported us in the year and helped us achieve what we have. In our final newsletter of 2017 we have picked out a few highlights...
 

1.5 millionth lunch served

In the year we provided almost half a million lunchtime meals, including the 1.5 millionth since we launched our lunch programme in September 2013.

For much of the year, this guaranteed meal has been a vital lifeline for children in our partner schools as our project area, along with vast swathes of East Africa, suffered the effects of a severe and prolonged drought. Unfortunately, because of rocketing food prices, we were forced to take the difficult decision to reduce portion sizes in May as well as to abandon plans to implement a school-wide breakfast club which we had been piloting.

We currently provide a daily term-time meal to around 2,750 children across our partner schools and beyond.

 
Support our lunch programme in 2018...

New film launched

This year, as part of our on-going strategic efforts to raise our profile, we worked with videographer Ben Sherlock to document our work in a series of short films. Filmed over four busy but fun-filled days towards the end of July, these films feature stunning footage (including from drones) of two of our most recent partner schools at Ngambenyi Primary and Kisimenyi Primary, as well as interviews with headteachers, staff and parents. Ben has done an incredible job of capturing the soul and spirit of AP and the films illustrate our work in a way that has never been seen before.
 
Not seen our film yet? Watch it here...

Other highlights from 2017

In response to the drought and severe water shortages in our partner schools and the wider community, we delivered 250,000 litres of water in order to maintain supplies for drinking and cooking. We have also been investing in further rainwater storage for our partner schools to build resilience to future droughts.

Our new Chairman visited Kenya for a few days in January. He wrote about his experiences and observations seeing our work first-hand for the first time in a blog post on our website.

We appointed our second charity ambassador in July. Carrie Hall Schalter, from Detroit, USA, is a great friend and long-time supporter of AP and the Kasigau community. Read more about Carrie's appointment.

 
Fundraising year in review

We have had another tremendously successful twelve months on the fundraising front, raising almost £175,000, including £75,000 in the final quarter of the year.

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Over one week in late November/early December we raised £5,000 in donations from 26 individuals in this year's BigGive Christmas Challenge. Every penny of this has been matched £-for-£ by our Trustees, a major supporter and our 'Charity Champion' the Coles-Medlock Foundation, giving a fantastic total of £11,900 including Gift Aid.

Nearly 200 guests joined us at our second Christmas Carol Service in London for an evening of carols, readings and music, helping us to raise almost £5,000 after costs. See more photos on our Facebook page.
Staff at our long-time partner Aspect Capital voted us their Charity of the Year for 2017 ahead of major UK charities Place2Be and Magic Breakfast. They raised an incredible £24,835 from clients, friends and family for their ultra iron man style challenge on their fundraising day in September. This has been matched £-for-£ by the company, giving an incredible final total of just under £50,000!

Two great friends of the charity, Kat Coldman and her
fiancé Mark Richardson, celebrated their engagement by running a three-legged Royal Parks Half marathon dressed as colouring crayons, raising more than £10,000 in the process.

 

*** Join Team AP in 2018! ***
We have six places in the Royal Parks Half as well as a single remaining place in RideLondon in 2018. Please get in touch if you are interested in participating in either event or visit our website for further information.
 

We have been generously supported this year by so many amazing individuals and groups but we would like to pay particular thanks to the following:

Aspect Capital | Baskets4Bread | Kat Coldman & Mark Richardson | Herrod Foundation | Souter Charitable Trust | Kids4Kenya | One World Centre | Coles-Medlock Foundation | Hugh Symons Charitable Trust | Ian McMonagle | Carrie Hall Schalter | Patrick Bromley | PF Charitable Trust | Ernest Ingham Charitable Trust | Aon | Artisans & Adventurers | Hampden Capital | Great Northern Hotel | Hortons | Tory Family Foundation | and all our regular donors.
Looking ahead to 2018...

Next year promises to be another exciting one for the charity. We turn 10 years old as a registered charity in January, a milestone which we plan to mark later in 2018 with an event to celebrate all that we have achieved over the last decade.

To coincide with this, we will also launch a major fundraising appeal for the redevelopment of an eighth partner school where we hope to begin work towards the end of the year.

We look forward to updating you on our plans; in the meantime, very best wishes from all of us at African Promise for the new year ahead.

 

African Promise is a small charity working to improve the quality and provision of primary education in rural Kenya by ensuring schools are equipped to deliver an education worth having.

Watch a short film about our work at www.africanpromise.org.uk/walktoschool

 
Support our work with a donation...
Our registered address is
African Promise
97a Stormont Road
London, SW11 5EJ
United Kingdom

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