Hi All

We are Claire, Nicola & Gareth, for some mad reason we have agreed to dive with Sharks, Fish, Rays and Eels for this great charity foundation.

We are aiming to raise a minimum of £780.00 between us and to have the dive complete before Nov.

We choose The Rangers Charity Foundation as it gives all donations to three equaliy important charities. Also one of these charities is local to us.

The Rangers Charity Foundation (Scottish Charity Number SC033287) exists to bring Club, supporters, staff and players together in a unique way to help make the world of difference to thousands of lives through a range of charitable work.  Being a champion of charitable giving is our goal, and since our creation in 2002 we have donated over £640,000 in cash awards and over £825,000 of in-kind support to hundreds of groups and individuals, making a combined total of over £1,465,000.

For season 2009/10 the Foundation will work with three Charity Partners - our Community Partner, Glasgow Old People's Welfare Association, our National Partner, Teenage Cancer Trust and finally, our International Partner, UNICEF.  The Foundation also aims to assist other charities and charitable causes where possible – particularly those which address our key priority areas which are: The needs of children, Education, Social inclusion, Tolerance and understanding of the beliefs of all sectors of the community, Health and well-being. In addition, the Foundation makes the dreams of hundreds of sick, disabled and disadvantaged children come true by arranging for them to meet the players and attend matches and tours at Ibrox. 

Teenage Cancer Trust is the Rangers Charity Foundation’s National Charity Partner for season 2009/10.  The charity builds specialist units in NHS hospitals which improve the quality of life and chances of survival for young people with cancer. Over the course of the season, the Rangers Charity Foundation will aim to raise £30,000 for Teenage Cancer Trust to equip specialist facilities at the new Children’s Hospital in Glasgow and at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh. A kitchen/eating area will be created at Teenage Cancer Trust’s unit in Glasgow and a chill-out room at the Edinburgh unit. These will bring young people with cancer together, helping them to make new friends of their own age so they can support each other. Teenage Cancer Trust understands that teenage cancer requires specialist care and that young people have a much better chance if they are treated by teenage cancer experts, in an environment tailored to their needs. At a time when a teenage's body is changing, their social life is everything and they are still trying to figure out who they are, getting cancer can seem like an impossible blow to take. There’s never a good time to get cancer, but for a teenager the timing seems particularly cruel. Young people can get some of the most rare and aggressive forms of cancer. The emotional upheaval of adolescence can make a cancer diagnosis even harder to cope with. The charity estimates that only half of the teenagers diagnosed with cancer in the UK currently have access to dedicated, specialist support. The charity aims to build enough units so that, by 2012, every single teenager with cancer will be treated in a specialist unit.

Glasgow Old People’s Welfare Association (GOPWA) is the Rangers Charity Foundation's Community Partner for season 2009/10.  The Foundation work with the organisation to raise £15,000 for a project set to benefit hundreds of Glasgow’s senior citizens. GOPWA provides a wealth of support to Glasgow’s old people.  With five day care centres, over one hundred and twenty affiliated clubs and two thousand volunteers, GOPWA is able to have a tremendous impact in helping to reduce the feelings of isolation often experienced by old people.  The Rangers Charity Foundation will support the purchase of a new bus for the Temple Day Care Centre in the west of Glasgow to ensure that the lonely, housebound and frail have the opportunity to attend the day centre on a regular basis.  In addition, the bus will be used by old people’s groups across Glasgow for day trips out of the city and other activities such as special shopping trips at Christmas.  

The Foundation has pledged to raise £300,000 to fund a UNICEF education project in India across 15 states, reaching over 45,000 children in over 200 schools. In India, approximately 5 million children aged between 6 and 11 miss out on a school education. The majority of these are girls with many of them coming from poor, disadvantaged communities. Many schools have inadequate learning facilities and teaching materials, with classrooms often over crowded and children unable to complete their studies. Money raised by the partnership will support a public campaign aimed at increasing school admissions, buy books, teaching materials and classroom materials, improve the learning environment and teaching facilities in over 150 schools, fund a campaign that identifies and helps young girls who have been unable to complete primary school, provide training to teachers and improve the water and sanitation facilities in over 200 schools. The Foundation hopes to visit the project in India with a first team player during 2010 to see first hand the work UNICEF and the Rangers Charity Foundation are doing together.

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So please dig deep and donate now.