Hello and thank you for looking at my JustGiving page. As you can see I am raising money for Chain of Hope - a cause I found out about at a Rotary International meeting. I am a member of the Rotary Club of Lichfield St Chad in the Heart of England near to Birmingham where I was born.  Our priority in Rotary is to rid the world of polio and we are working hard with the Gates Foundation to achieve this.

However, all Rotary Clubs are free to do their own thing and individual members like me can choose to support local and international charities as they think fit. The Chain of Hope project is being endorsed by Rotary International and all money raised by me will go towards this project.

What appealed to me about Chain of Hope is that the surgery needed for these sick children is carried out by surgeons from Birmingham Children's Hospital (as well as other UK medical Centres) who give their time freely and fly out to third world countries to save and improve lives as well as train people locally to carry out this same work in the future. They then move on to other places and other Countries to do the same.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

Why £1,500?  That's the cost of a magic wand to transform the life of a sick child in under 24 hours. A hole in the heart operation in the UK costs the NHS £15,000 but a hole in the heart operation in a third world country costs the equivalent of £1,500 where a UK surgeon gives his time for free. Wherever possible all drugs and equipment are purchased locally therby giving an added boost to the local economy.

I can raise money here in the UK knowing it's worth ten times as much in other parts of the world such as Kenya or Ethiopia.

Imagine a sick child doing virtually nothing for possibly many years, perhaps hardly able to get out of bed - what must that be like? Then imagine that same child and a dozen others leading a normal childhood starting a day or two after a visit from Chain of Hope.

Please read some more about Chain of Hope and thanks again for visiting this page.

Rotary and Peace the World Over.

Peter Fox