Liz Grant, Community Fundraising Executive

Oscar was a much-loved young person from Sussex, and after he died in December 2009, his mum, family and friends decided to do something meaningful to honour his memory. 

This is how the Oscar Fund for L'Ecole Communautaire Mixte Fraternité began: a project set up to provide basic educational tools and resources for his mum's sponsored child’s school and community in Haiti.

Oscar's friends and family have been fundraising extensively by organising everything from pledges, collections and local gigs, to special events hosted by local schools and colleges. Perhaps most inspirationally, a group of Oscar’s friends created a beautiful limited edition CD; arranged, written, performed and even artworked by themselves – some of whom were only in their teens!

The school is the only one in the family’s sponsored child’s large, rural, very poor and vulnerable community, and struggles with very basic facilities in a shared-use one-room hall. It is accessible only by 4x4, and then an hour's walk. Classes are held in morning and afternoon shifts to accommodate the maximum students possible.

Oscar’s friends and family know that the Oscar Fund is doing something useful and lasting in an area that has such immense challenges and hardships.

If you’re interested in contributing to the fund, donating towards the fund by requesting a copy of the ‘Oscar Forever Young’ CD is a great way to do so. Get in touch at events@actionaid.org for details.

Jennifer Fash, community events officer

ActionAid’s York Supporter Group hosted its first craft fair this Tuesday and Wednesday at York’s Historic Guildhall.

The event was opened by the Right Honourable Lord Mayor, David Horton.

Although the group has been going for over 30 years in York, this event was a first for the group but it certainly didn’t stop them making it a success, raising £1,287.36.

The group asked the artists to make a donation to sell their work, selling refreshments including tasty homemade cakes and having an ActionAid stall with lots of bits including Christmas cards.

The proceeds from the event will go towards improving education for nomadic children in the Eastern Province of Kenya and helping vulnerable girls off the streets of Bangladesh.

“It was really good but exhausting! We’d like to thank the artists who have supported this event and have donated an item to the ActionAid table and we would like to thank the Guildhall staff, who have been very helpful and we would like to give a special thank you to the Civic Party for their support."
- Adelaide Morley, York Group and ActionAid supporter through Gifts in Action and Emergency Appeals.

• Read more about the group's up and coming events

Jennifer Fash, community events officer

Are you passionate about British companies taking responsibility for their actions?

Join ActionAid in London from 2-3pm on Wednesday 27th July outside the AGM of Vedanta Resources plc, a British-listed mining company. This is an urgent action to stop a mine being built, affecting the lives of thousands of tribal people and a unique ecosystem in India.

We will be protesting alongside Survival, Amnesty International, South Asia Solidarity Network, Foil Vedanta, and London Mining Network.

ActionAid has been campaigning here in the UK for several years in solidarity with the Kondh tribal people in the state of Orissa in India. In August 2010 we had a major breakthrough. The Government of India said that Vedanta should not have been given permission to mine and that the processing plant had been expanded illegally. This was a huge success!

However, Vedanta Resources are still pushing to build an their open-pit mine in the pristine Niyamgiri Hills.

Why target the AGM?

The AGM has been a big moment each year. In February 2010, two key investors, The Church of England and Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, withdrew their investments from the company on ethical grounds. This sends a powerful message to Vedanta’s other shareholders about the risks of investing in a company with such a poor human rights and environmental record.

Shareholders have another chance this year to refuse to allow their money to be used in this way.

Join us; 2pm Wednesday 27th July 2011 outside Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, Westminster, London.

Liz Grant, community events coordinator

Six ActionAid supporters took part in the race of a life this weekend; as they hauled a bed on four wheels across road and river in a fast-paced pursuit to raise funds for ActionAid!

The Great Knaresborough Bed Race is an annual community event run entirely by volunteers. It has become world famous for its riot of colour and pageantry, the courage and endurance of its teams, and the glorious eccentricity of its entrants.

The team, from Wetherby based company, Avacta, successfully built a rolling, floating bed and decorated it in the race’s theme of “British History”, before physically pushing it (and one helmeted passenger) round a course of 3km. The team managed to get the 3rd fastest time for a new team, despite their fears that their bed was significantly heavier than their competition!

Team organiser, Rob Harrand, enthused that the event had a “great atmosphere and a colossal turnout!”

The team were even interviewed by BBC Radio York where their hastily nominated spokesperson, Steve, mentioned that they were running for ActionAid. The team raised a fantastic amount!

Visit their MyActionAid Page to sponsor them for all their hard work!