march 2021 newsletter
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teech plans for 2021
Spring is nearly here and TEECH are now making plans for the summer.
During the Christmas trip to Moldova, the team visited a school in the village of Slobozia-Sirauti, which is located in the North-West corner of the country near to the Romanian border. The population of the village is approx. 1000, with 97 pupils ranging in age from 6 to 16 years, attending the school. The picture top right shows the community hall in the village.
The school currently has outside long drop style toilets only (the photo top left shows the small 'out' building which houses the holes) within a brick built building in the school grounds. TEECH are looking to create bathrooms in the school for the girls and boys, providing hot running water and proper hygienic and private conditions for the children to use. The new bathrooms will be located in the school close to the dining hall, therefore also providing hand washing facilities for the children to use prior to meal time. As we all know hand washing and hygiene is even more important for staff and students, so this will be a vital project to aim to achieve in 2021.
Due to the current pandemic situation TEECH are unclear whether volunteers and a team will be able to travel to Moldova in August, but the aim will be to fundraise and either carry out the project with a team or fund the project similar to 2020, when a project still went ahead even with the travel restrictions, therefore more news will be coming in future months.
If a team travels they will take two lorries and the van with aid, therefore all general donations will be used towards the cost of the transport, including ferry, fuel, road tolls, customs etc.
During the Christmas trip to Moldova, the team visited a school in the village of Slobozia-Sirauti, which is located in the North-West corner of the country near to the Romanian border. The population of the village is approx. 1000, with 97 pupils ranging in age from 6 to 16 years, attending the school. The picture top right shows the community hall in the village.
The school currently has outside long drop style toilets only (the photo top left shows the small 'out' building which houses the holes) within a brick built building in the school grounds. TEECH are looking to create bathrooms in the school for the girls and boys, providing hot running water and proper hygienic and private conditions for the children to use. The new bathrooms will be located in the school close to the dining hall, therefore also providing hand washing facilities for the children to use prior to meal time. As we all know hand washing and hygiene is even more important for staff and students, so this will be a vital project to aim to achieve in 2021.
Due to the current pandemic situation TEECH are unclear whether volunteers and a team will be able to travel to Moldova in August, but the aim will be to fundraise and either carry out the project with a team or fund the project similar to 2020, when a project still went ahead even with the travel restrictions, therefore more news will be coming in future months.
If a team travels they will take two lorries and the van with aid, therefore all general donations will be used towards the cost of the transport, including ferry, fuel, road tolls, customs etc.
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TEECH now have a 2021 fundraising page set up on Golden Giving for general donations:
TEECH fundraiser (goldengiving.com) The photo to the right shows the inside of one of the long drop toilets. Past volunteers will reflect and think this is one of the nicer ones they have seen, as it is tiled and clean (and they would be right). They would also reflect and remember how much they would prefer to be sat on a toilet, in the warm, with privacy and with hand washing facilities! |
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clothing & other donations reminder
Throughout 2020 TEECH received clothing donations, with sorting and boxing occurring in gardens and garages and it looks like this will continue for a few more months in 2021. Of the clothing received, a lot is ladies, with mens, boys and girls all considerably less, therefore please consider donating clothing for children, ready for the summer. If you have clothing to donate, then get in touch and we can work out a way to pass it through to us in Essex.
Please note: TEECH are no longer able to accept large or bulky medical aids. The charity will still take foldable wheelchairs, walking sticks, crutches but not walking frames, zimmer frames, commodes because they are too bulky to store and transport. If you are offered anything, then please ensure it is foldable/easily transportable and in good condition.
Now the UK has left the EU, the charity can no longer take used shoes, as these can not be imported into Moldova and delivering aid on route to Romania would require customs clearance which is not possible.
Please note: TEECH are no longer able to accept large or bulky medical aids. The charity will still take foldable wheelchairs, walking sticks, crutches but not walking frames, zimmer frames, commodes because they are too bulky to store and transport. If you are offered anything, then please ensure it is foldable/easily transportable and in good condition.
Now the UK has left the EU, the charity can no longer take used shoes, as these can not be imported into Moldova and delivering aid on route to Romania would require customs clearance which is not possible.
WONDERFUL – Donation Platform - coming soon
The charity has just completed the process to sign up with the donation platform Wonderful. At the current time donations can be made using mobile banking but at the current time we will not encouraging the use of the platform until further improvements are made, for example, it currently doesn't tell us who has donated, so we can't thank people or track volunteer monies. Wonderful will provide a cheaper, lower fee way for donations to be made, so we will update in a months time as to weather we are using it!!
Wonderful make this statement:
Although fundraisers and donors may not appreciate the impact of card-processing fees, UK charities are acutely aware of transaction costs. For example, the amount deducted from donations made via the UK's largest fundraising platform is 1.9% + 20p per transaction. For the average donation of £40, card-processing fees are close to £1.00. For a £500 donation, the charity loses £9.70 in card fees. At Wonderful Payments, we've slashed the cost of payment processing to a flat-rate 10p per transaction with no percentage charges - that's a 90% saving on the cost of processing an average donation.
As of week commencing 15th March, individual fundraising pages can be set up linked to TEECH.
The charity has just completed the process to sign up with the donation platform Wonderful. At the current time donations can be made using mobile banking but at the current time we will not encouraging the use of the platform until further improvements are made, for example, it currently doesn't tell us who has donated, so we can't thank people or track volunteer monies. Wonderful will provide a cheaper, lower fee way for donations to be made, so we will update in a months time as to weather we are using it!!
Wonderful make this statement:
Although fundraisers and donors may not appreciate the impact of card-processing fees, UK charities are acutely aware of transaction costs. For example, the amount deducted from donations made via the UK's largest fundraising platform is 1.9% + 20p per transaction. For the average donation of £40, card-processing fees are close to £1.00. For a £500 donation, the charity loses £9.70 in card fees. At Wonderful Payments, we've slashed the cost of payment processing to a flat-rate 10p per transaction with no percentage charges - that's a 90% saving on the cost of processing an average donation.
As of week commencing 15th March, individual fundraising pages can be set up linked to TEECH.
