Solar Lanterns arrive in Liberia.

The Long Journey!

We previously reported that we were purchasing 200 lanterns to help our children’s education in Liberia and we are delighted to tell you that they are now in Liberia.

Packed and ready to go in Accra.

The lanterns have had a 1500 km road journey and have arrived in Liberia today (15/11) and it was all hands on deck to pick them up at the warehouse.

They will be very soon illuminating the lives of young children and their families in Monrovia.

Bringing light where there is darkness

The Sean Devereux Children’s Fund is delighted to announce that, through the kind support of the Derek Moore Foundation, we are about to transform the lives of many students and their families by providing Solar Lanterns.

For many years we have wanted to provide solar lanterns to some of our students in Liberia, a country where continuous and reliable power cannot be taken for granted. The objective being 2 fold:

• To allow students to be able to read and study at home when they would not otherwise do so

• To increase the safety and security of our families, particularly young girls

Now, thanks to the external financial support of the Derek Moore Foundation, we are committed to the supply of 200 solar lanterns to students at our Brewerville school and other VOS schools in the Monrovia area. The lanterns are robust and proven in similar environments and, with the management of our local colleagues, we anticipate the lanterns benefiting hundreds of families over the next few years.

We will bring you some news and photos as soon as they arrive in Liberia!

The Derek Moore Foundation was founded by Derek “to promote sustainable economic growth and empowerment in socially and economically disadvantaged communities”.

Please do take a look at the website where you can see the many similar projects supported by the Foundation.

We express our gratitude for their support in enabling this project that has been on our wish list for some time.

“Walk For Sean” Re-Scheduled-March 5th 2023

We are pleased to tell you that we have re-scheduled the “Walk for Sean”, previously planned for September 18th, to March 5th 2023.

The date has been arrived at bearing in mind that we are moving into the Autumn/Winter months and the various commitments of all those involved.

We really appreciate those who who were committed to September 18th and indeed had already started their “30 for 30” activity.

Please be assured that all your activity and sponsor monies (whether paid or unpaid) can carry over to March.

If anyone who has committed sponsorship for the September event would like to be reimbursed this can of course happen, please contact us via the website.

Finally, the theme for the walk remains as “30 for 30”. A reminder that this theme is because in January 2023 we commemorate 30 years since Sean’s passing and the Walk will be one of many activities throughout the year.

Walk for Sean 2022-Postponed

Following the news that Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth passed away on Thursday, we have taken the decision to postpone the “Walk for Sean” 2022 which was scheduled for Sunday 18th September.

At the time of writing there is a period of mourning in the UK and a likelihood that the funeral will take place on or around that weekend. We therefore feel it is appropriate to postpone the Walk which we will seek to reschedule as soon as practical.

We would like to place on record our respects for the late Queen and sympathies with her family at this time.

For those who have contributed, sponsored or helped in any way with the now postponed WFS we are of course grateful.

We will update everyone as soon as possible on all administrative arrangements and the new date and thank you for your forbearance.

"30 for 30"- Let's get Walking!

We already have a number of volunteers to walk 30 miles and raise at least £100 as part of our 2022 Walk for Sean.

Thank you to them all, including Anne Wardle, who is walking 30m miles along the Thames Path in tyhe UK’s blistering heat.

If you can volunteer, please email us via the website and we will add you to the list!

Thank you

Class of '82 takes the prize!

Once again the annual quiz night [proved to be a hugely enjoyable evening and, once again, the Class of ‘82 (pictured above) ended up taking the plaudits.

The quiz has been an annual event for a number of years and it was great to be back on track after the cancellation of the last couple of years.

Over 200 people took part in a night of intense quizzing competition, fueled by a fine menu and the odd libation. Despite a fine effort by previous winners, ‘Don’t Forget the Nuts’, the Class of ‘82 held on to top the leaderboard by a handful of points.

We hope you enjoy the gallery below and our thanks go to Salesian College, the Salesian PTA, Theresa and Mark, whose collective efforts and support made this success happen.

Of course no quiz could take place without the esteemed quiz master; think of a cross between Bamber Gascoigne, Clive Myrie and Richard Osman and you undoubtedly arrive at Nick Crean. Thank you Nick (and your team) for your sterling efforts.

Finally, the biggest thanks to all who attended and supported this fundraising event. We are delighted to announce that the fund has raised over £2000 to assist the work in Liberia. We are very grateful for your continued commitment and support.

Online Donations up and running

We are delighted to advise that we are now back up and running with secure online donations!

Our new partner is CAF (Charities Aid Foundation) and we are sure you will find it easy to use for any donation of any size.

If you want to put it to the test, it is not too late to purchase the ideal Christmas present, an SDCF Hoody at just £23 or a SDCF Walk for Sean 2021 t-shirt at just £13 (all postage included).

Remember to email your size requirement when you make the payment.

Change to Online Donations

Change to Online Donations:

In common with many charities, when you click DONATE on this website, your online donation is processed securely by our processing company, Virgin.

Sadly, from 30th November 2021, Virgin are withdrawing this service to all charities (up to 20,000). There are 2 very important points to note:

• All monies raised and collected via this route up to 30th November will be securely transferred to the Fund following closure

• From 30th November 2021, it will no longer be possible to donate or raise money for the fund using this route.

SDCF have chosen CAF (Charities Aid Foundation) to replace the current provider. We had hoped to do this seamlessly from 1st December but are currently awaiting finalisation of our application. Put simply, they are extremely busy.

We anticipate this process resolving in the next week or so but until then we cannot take online donations via this website. We will of course announce on this site and via other social media when the new system is fully operational.

• The new CAF processing system will of course be secure

• They are well-respected, as a Charity themselves, and also as a development-based charity bank

Please note, this does not affect in any way those who contribute via Direct Debit to our Sponsor Programme.

We apologise for this slight hiatus and will resolve the matter as soon as the CAF process is finalised.

Thank you for your support as ever.

Move away from Virgin Money-Donations

Virgin Money has been the platform we have used for the last 3 years to receive your online donations..

Unfortunately, VM announced that they would stop providing this service to all charities with effect from 30th November 2021.

In common with all affected charities, we have evaluated options as secure online donations are vital to the Fund.

We are therefore moving over to CAF (Charities Aid Foundation).

This process is underway but will take a week or two as CAF are under great pressure due to the closure of VM.

Up until 30/11, if you wish to make a donation on this site, you can still do so. All funds will be received by SDCF from VM in the normal manner.

Once we have finalised the arrangements with CAF, online donations will switch securely to that platform. We hope this will be with effect from the 1st December but will keep you informed via this website.

Thank you for your continued support.

and now the "Run for Sean 2021"

Hot on the heels of our recent success at the Walk for Sean, 90 boys from year 7 at Salesian Farnborough took part in their Annual Run for Sean 2021.

Pictured below you can see below you can see eager runners sporting this year’s fashionable “Run for Sean” t-shirts as they embarked on this fun fundraising activity.

We are hugely grateful to Assistant Head, Mr Dalgas and the boys of year 7 for their time and energy in helping to maintain Sean’s legacy in the school where it all started. In the near future we will tell you how much money they raised by their efforts.