Stevenage Football Club Foundation has today revealed exciting plans to send a group of 14 volunteers to Sitanuku in Gambia in April 2014, where they will teach, coach and install solar panels, an irrigation system and a chicken coop at a local medical centre and school.
The announcement of the international development project comes just six months after the Foundation returned from Nakuru in Kenya, where they took 24 volunteers to coach, teach and build an adventure playground.
Included in the volunteers who travelled to Kenya were two nPower members of staff who were given the opportunity to attend, following the company’s commitment to support development projects in the Global South.
As a result of the success of last year’s trip nPower have once again chosen to work with the Foundation on an international development project, with two more of its staff attending.
Clare McDougall, Head of Community at nPower, said "The nPower volunteers that participated in last year's Kenya trip with Stevenage Football Club Foundation gained so much from their experience. We are delighted to be sending two more employees along again in 2014, Stevenage Football Club Foundation do an amazing job with these projects and we are proud to be involved."
The seven day trip, which sets off on the 1st April, will see the Foundation and club-based volunteers travel to the country’s capital Banjul, before making their way to the township of Sitanuku. It is here they will undertake the building, education and coaching projects at a local medical centre and school owned by UK based charity Football Gambia, who alongside nPower has helped to fund, organise and facilitate the trip.
Head of Foundation Alex Tunbridge (pictured centre above) stated, “Despite the success of our trip to Kenya this year we had not anticipated undertaking another international development trip until 2015. However the opportunity to work with nPower again to make a positive difference in Gambia is one we couldn’t say no to.”
He continued, ”This is a great opportunity to utilise the skills, expertise and personalities of the Foundation and club’s staff and volunteers to help accelerate developments in an area of Gambia which is in a high area of poverty. The trip will also allow us to implement a schools twining programme with local schools in Stevenage and deliver workshops to both sets of schools, both before and after the trip.”
Whilst the volunteers for the 2014 trip have already been selected from within the Foundation and club’s own staff and volunteers, plans are already in place to run an open trip back to Gambia in May 2015. Details of the trip, a date for an information evening, as well on details on how to apply will be released in mid-April following the Foundation’s return from Gambia.
Check out www.stevenagefc.com and @BoroFoundation throughout April 2014 to keep up to date with the volunteers in Gambia.
Stevenage Football Club Foundation (Charity No: 1140006) is the official community scheme and charity of Stevenage Football Club, which delivers a variety of sporting and educational based activities in order to help to improve the standard of living within the local community. On a weekly basis the scheme engages with over 2,000 people through the delivery of sports, education, health, social inclusion and disability based provision programmes.