CWU Humanitarian Aid’s plans to mark its 20th anniversary year by creating a permanent rehabilitation facility for disabled children and young people in Moldova has been given a massive boost thanks to a generous donation from BT.

Yesterday (Monday) BT presented a £10,000 cheque to the union’s unique international relief organisation in the latest demonstration of the company’s unstinting support for CWUHA which dates right back to the charity’s inception in 1995.

The cheque was handed over to CWUHA chair Carl Webb and vice chair Mark Kirkby by BT Group employee relations director Tom Keeney in a ceremony at BT Centre in London that was also attended by CWU deputy general secretary Andy Kerr and BT HR manager Chris Amos.

Thanking BT for its magnificent contribution to the anniversary project – for which CWUHA recently launched an appeal to raise the £60,000 it needs for building work, phase one of which is already underway – Carl Webb said: “Every penny of this very generous donation will be spent on CWUHA’s 20^th Anniversary Project that will focus on assisting needy children with plans to renovate a rundown school in Moldova into an activity centre for disabled children

“BT has supported CWUHA from day one; in fact the very first mission we ran was in a old BT vehicle to war torn Bosnia. Thanks to CWU DGS Andy Kerr, Tom and Chris this support is even greater 20 years on.”

CWUHA’s anniversary project is the charity’s most ambitious single initiative in 15 years and is targeted at one group of Moldovan society that has been largely bypassed by the vast improvements in social care that have been instituted in recent years.

Working in partnership with Isle of Wight-based charity MAD-Aid, CWUHA intends the new rehabilitation facility to provide an early intervention unit for under-fives with physical disabilities. A separate but linked section will help disabled teenagers learn how to live independently. The new facility will also act as a central point for regional wheelchair distribution and provide a wide range of rehabilitation services that are simply not available to most disabled youngsters in Moldova.

“This mission will transform the quality of life for many disabled children and their families who currently don’t have access to the help and support they need,” stresses Carl. “It will, however, be quite costly to achieve – though this fantastic donation from BT has set us well in the right direction.”

Appeals have already gone out to branches and donations are now starting to come in. Carl is quietly confident that the national army of regular CWUHA supporters will come up trumps, as they have so many times before, but is also hoping the project inspires new supporters to come forward.

Also, watch out for a major retrospective of CWUHA’s remarkable humanitarian endeavours over the last 20 years in the next issue of Voice (due out at the end of April).