Spread Some Sunshine Charity

Spread Some Sunshine

I've always had a passion for travel and an urge to explore places off the beaten track and that's why I chose to spend a year living in Mexico as part of my language degree. I ended up attending University in a great little town called Xalapa, fondly known as "The Athens of Veracruz." Lectures were few and far between and before long I was itching to find more constructive ways to spend my time. After some local research, I found out about a great little charity that ran a nursery for children who lived on the streets. It provided a safe haven for the kids while the parents went out looking for work or selling their wares around the town. I started volunteering there and loved every minute! Saying goodbye at the end of the year was heartbreaking. I’d met amazing people, built some great friendships and of course, improved my Spanish immensely.

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From that point on, any trips away or travels involved a stint of volunteering; I served in soup kitchens in Kenya, worked with women in rehab in Costa Rica and taught in an orphanage in Peru. Eventually, seeing the first hand benefits of volunteering inspired a friend and I to set up a volunteering agency called Real Volunteers.

In 2011, after a 3 year break to do my MA and some more travel, I found myself back working as cabin crew. This was a perfect opportunity for me to check out potential places which may benefit from volunteers. However, before long it became more than that. Every time I walked away from a project I felt compelled to help. So many children were living in awful conditions or struggling to survive on a day to day basis. Once their most urgent needs were  identified, I would go home and start collections to take bits out on my next trip. From toothbrushes and soap, to school bags, sheets and books, my generous friends and family tirelessly rallied around to make a difference.

Before long, I began to notice how many children in orphanages didn't even know when their birthday was as they had never had the joy of celebrating it. From there, we began a birthday sponsorship scheme where a  donor could purchase a gift for a child living in poverty and I would hand deliver it. The success of this project was overwhelming; the children experienced a kindness never received before and the donors got to see photos of their gift being delivered and the happiness it created. It felt like we were spreading some sunshine to children living in darkness.

One orphanage in Ghana desperately needed a minibus to facilitate access to school for the surrounding community and to allow the children the opportunity to escape the town with an excursion to the beach once in a while. We began fundraising to help them achieve their goal and even managed to convince my friends to pose for a caladender to boost our  income. In a moment of madness, I emailed a cheeky snap from the calendar shoot to my boss explaining what I was doing. Incredibly, he offered to match my fundraising if I hit $5000. Suddenly we had the kick up the derrière we needed to make it all official - so with 5 amazing friends and family as trustees, we set up a small charity aptly named Spread Some Sunshine.

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We have been operating "officially" now for over 2 years and have achieved a great deal. We have run marathons and tough mudders,  completed open water swims in freezing waters and even written and sold our very own charity single! We have sent desks, beds, sheets and even chickens to orphanages across the world, as well as helped with several children projects closer to home in the UK. The support we have received is overwhelming and the future of Spread Some Sunshine is very exciting. Who knows what we can achieve.

 

Looking back to my time in Mexico over ten years ago I feel very privileged that I learnt so much from the nursery and the great work they were carrying out; they opened my eyes and showed me that even the smallest act can really make a huge impact on a child's life.