Long Live (in) Lewisham
Howard Lake | 30 January 2009 | News
Fundraiser makes living the issue to increase awareness for charity.
Rather than spend time discussing the situation in Gaza, Chris Boddington of Lewisham decided to be pro-active and create an inspiring fundraising campaign to encourage others to donate to his chosen charity, MAP (Medical Aid for Palestinians). Chris, 40, co-owner with his wife Kiri Lewin, of Cafe Crema in New Cross has taken the unusual step of asking friends and family to sponsor him to live in Lewisham for the next five years.
The cafe has been running benefit gigs but Chris wanted something more on going and unusual to encourage donors to continue to give and others to sign up to their own campaigns. Working through Bmycharity, Chris has set up a fundraising page, www.bmycharity.com/palestinefundraiser that gives all the details of his campaign and the work undertaken by MAP.
Ben Brabyn, MD of Bmycharity said “Chris is a fine example of a dedicated fundraiser who has thought of an imaginative project to fundraise for a cause close to his heart. I hope that Chris will inspire others as he has proved that fundraisers with passionate ideas can go ahead and successfully set up a campaign. Organising a page on Bmycharity is very quick and easy, fundraising can begin immediately. You would have to ask yourself why not!”
In October 2007 Chris visited Palestine in response to an email asking for help with the Olive harvest – he sells Palestinian olive oil at his cafe. To have Westerners present when collecting the harvest reduces the intimidation and violence the farmers receive from the Israeli soldiers and settlers. Chris said “I stayed in Nablus and saw the devastation (loads of buildings destroyed by the Israelis, with neatly dressed school children picking their way through the rubble) and daily humiliations (particularly at the checkpoints; soldiers, with fingers on triggers, aiming their guns at very patient civilians who are just trying to get to work or college) that the people have to suffer. And that’s just the West Bank. I’m too chicken to go to Gaza. So I chose MAP because they’re evidently very active there, and they must need all the money they can get. I’m not very impartial.”
With the estimated cost of rebuilding Gaza after recent events running into the billions, charities working in the region are currently running extensive fundraising programmes just to bring aid to the affected Palestinians. Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) is a British charity that operates in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Lebanon. They deliver health and medical care to vulnerable Palestinians and strive to establish a permanent medical infrastructure in Palestinian communities by training health care practitioners, teaching medical vocational skills and addressing the requirements of particularly vulnerable groups such as people with disabilities.
MAP offers practical medical support to Palestinians, and other victims of conflict and displacement, by working with local non-governmental organisations and the Palestinian Health Service.
Bmycharity is a unique website that offers fundraisers the ability to run their own fundraising campaign through the site or choose the appropriate event to fundraise for the charity of their choice. Their system is entirely automated showing a real-time fundraising total on every fundraisers page. Through the Bmycharity website it has been proven that charities can recruit new supporters. Chris hopes to do just that through his campaign for MAP as well as increase awareness of the work they do and encourage others to fundraise.
For further information on how to fundraise for charity with Bmycharity, please visit www.bmycharity.com or call 0845 058 0549.
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For further press information and photography, please contact:
Emma Walton, Walton Public Relations, 86 Roman Way, Bourton-on-the-Water, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire GL54 2HD Tel: 01451 821800 Mobile: 07515 357842 Email:
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Notes to Editors:
• Bmycharity was founded in 2000 by Ben Brabyn and Matt Cooper.
• Bmycharity is unique website that offers charities the opportunity to recruit fundraisers and collect sponsorship and fundraisers the ability to choose the appropriate event to fundraise for the charity of their choice.
• The new automated system shows one total in real time on every fundraisers page, reducing administration for both the charity and the fundraiser.
• Once the fundraising target is reached the place on the chosen challenge is confirmed.
• Fees are 20%-30% lower than other fundraising websites.
• Bmycharity gives fundraisers a lifetime experience whilst helping their favourite charity.
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About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.