Earlier this month, Lily Newman, Co-Founder of the Act4Africa charity will deliver her 1000th ‘Cake of Kindness’ to NHS workers and vulnerable people in her community. The Northwich businesswoman launched the initiative at the start of the COVID-19 lockdown, baking over 100 cakes a week in her spare time. Originally inspired by a viral video of a nurse breaking down in tears at ransacked supermarket shelves when shoppers were stockpiling food – she has given a day and a half every week to bake and deliver cakes in Cheshire.
However; on the 8th June, rather than hanging up her apron, Lily ramped up the campaign with the help of Perfectus Biomed and is inviting 100 businesses and individuals to bake 100 cakes each for those most in need in their own communities. Together they are inviting people to join a campaign to help vulnerable girls and families on the other side of the world too.
Lily explained; “I am a founder member of Act4Africa – a charity that provides holistic and long-lasting support to women and girls in East Africa through education, healthcare provision and vocational training. Today we have learnt that 7 of our girls in Uganda, who are already losing their education because of the Covid-19 lockdown, have now lost their homes due to the worst floods that Uganda has experienced in a lifetime.”
“They are surviving in displacement camps which makes them particularly vulnerable. Our Act4Africa team had already been distributing food parcels, sanitary products and PPE in Mayuge and Kasese before the torrential rains. In Uganda, there is no DSS, no NHS, no furlough provisions and for many, if you can’t work, you can’t eat. These communities, home to the poorest of the poor, are where the floods have hit hardest. We are so thrilled that Perfectus Biomed has offered to support us in our pledge to raise £10,000 (one for every cake distributed through #CakesofKindness).”
Through Lily’s
fundraising, she aims to provide:
1) Emergency aid, including food parcels learning
resources, sanitary products, soap, radios (for hearing government produced
school lessons) and clothes;
2) Better sanitation: New latrines and permanent hand washing facilities;
3) Health education programmes to reduce the threat of the spread of life limiting diseases;
4) Training to help people to become employment ready. Many livelihoods have been ruined by the lockdown and we want to help them regain employment. There are huge issues with hunger and malnutrition – any crops or vegetables that the families and girls Act4Africa supports had grown were destroyed by the floods.
Perfectus Biomed Group is supporting Act4Africa’s emergency appeal by offering a generous donation to support Lily’s efforts.
Lily went on, “Whilst Perfectus Biomed has always been proactive in Cheshire, it is wonderful to see that they also care about some of the poorest of the poor on our planet too”.
Dr Sam Westgate PhD, CEO of Perfectus Biomed Group said, “We are delighted to support Lily Newman in her campaign, and through all of the great work Act4Africa are doing to help vulnerable young women growing up in East Africa. Improving quality of life has always been at the core of what Perfectus Biomed stands for; a mutual goal we share with this great charity. We look forward to being an Act4Africa ambassador and will share our stories of support through our social media in the coming weeks and months.”
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