Charity for poor wins royal honour

A Lancaster charity has '¨received the royal seal '¨of approval.
Helen Bingley CEO and Nicola Lowe Co Chair were honoured to share tea at Buckingham Palace with the Queen.Helen Bingley CEO and Nicola Lowe Co Chair were honoured to share tea at Buckingham Palace with the Queen.
Helen Bingley CEO and Nicola Lowe Co Chair were honoured to share tea at Buckingham Palace with the Queen.

The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service – an MBE for voluntary groups – has been given to the Caton-based Abaseen Foundation. The charity’s excellence in voluntary service was very much admiredby the independent assessment committee chaired by Sir Martyn Lewis CBE.

Helen Bingley CEO and co-chairman Nicola Lowe were honoured to share tea at Buckingham Palace with the Queen and the award will be officially presented later in the summer.

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Helen said: “ We are deeply honoured to receive this award in recognition of our efforts over the last 20 years.

Some of the children being educated in Pakistan with the help of the Abaseen Foundation.Some of the children being educated in Pakistan with the help of the Abaseen Foundation.
Some of the children being educated in Pakistan with the help of the Abaseen Foundation.

“I have always been deeply impressed and moved by the motivation of the voluntary efforts of all the people who support our cause. I am sure that this recognition will take their motivation to another level”.

Since 2002 volunteers have worked tirelessly to grow and develop the Abaseen Foundation to provide education,health, research and humanitarian relief to some of the poorest people in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in North West Pakistan. The Abaseen Foundation currently educates 1000 children, mostly girls, sponsored by people in the North West of England through the ‘sponsor a child to go to school scheme’. Literacy rates for girls in this area are lower than three per cent.

One of the Abaseen Foundation schools, Noor Model, is situated on one of 700 brick kilns surrounding Peshawar where children are born into bonded labour. Sixty eight per cent of the children are severely malnourished and their life expectancy is age 38.

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Through education the Abaseen Foundation gives these families hope, and if one educated child gains employment they take the whole family away from the brick kiln and out of severe poverty.

Some of the children being educated in Pakistan with the help of the Abaseen Foundation.Some of the children being educated in Pakistan with the help of the Abaseen Foundation.
Some of the children being educated in Pakistan with the help of the Abaseen Foundation.

A few days ago supporters returned from the first international fundraising trek to Gilgit and Hunza and the most northerly part of Pakistan. They successfully raised £30,000.

For more information or to get involved visit http://www.abaseenfoundation.org.uk.

Or telephone Helen Bingley on 07838369652