Hello to all of you wonderful people,
2020 has been an incredibly difficult year for so many people. Loss and loneliness alongside all the financial challenges being faced by many individuals and businesses. We send love out to all of you and yours, and hope that you all know that you have 499 people wishing you well.
Our recipient this week has experienced incredible loss this year and yet he continues to work tirelessly running a chimpanzee project in Uganda. We send Matt our love and hope that this gift and the thought that we are all wishing him well helps him through what must be an impossible time. Big thanks to Michelle Farr-Scott for this nomination from back in April.
Dear 500 reasons team
Two days ago we sadly lost a wonderful woman, a dear old pal of mine, Jacqueline 'Jax' Rohen. She died so suddenly in Uganda, and we don't even know how yet, but her heart stopped in the ambulance on the way to the hospital from the clinic when the unknown infection she was fighting got too much for them to manage. Her debut novel is released tomorrow and we are all heartbroken that she will never get to see that.
Obviously in these times it will be even more difficult for her family to arrange repatriation, funerals and all that goes with losing a loved one, but there is another huge concern right now and that is the hole that she leaves in the Bilundi Chimpanzee Project. Jax moved to Uganda to work with her fiancé running this project, and a huge part of her role was to raise funds and grants to keep the community and the project up and running. Her fiancé is of course broken, so the project is in real danger financially right now with the raising funds burden solely on his shoulders, whist he also deals with his grief. Here is the link to the project: https://bulindichimpanzees.weebly.com
They are currently trying to raise $5000 to expand the programme to a new area, providing school fee assistance belonging to 11 to 13 new families, so that they agree not to cut down forests for the chimps to live in. Details are here www.friendsofchimps.org
I wonder if our £500 could go to the project to help her fiancé, Matt, at this terrible time. He is so far away, dealing with this alone, so I am sure it would mean so much to know he was being thought of and ease the burden of financial stress significantly.
Please help. I know you have so many nominations to consider, but I hope you consider the urgency of this one - I would really love to give Matt reassurance.
Thanks so much
Michelle x
