Applegreen - helping in Uganda
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| RTE’s Geri Maye helps Applegreen celebrate the success of their charity ‘You Buy, we Give’ campaign. The forecourt retailer managed to donate a fantastic €146,138 towards GOAL’s housing support programme for vulnerable communities in Uganda |
Over the past two years, Applegreen, one of Ireland's leading independent forecourt retailers, has donated more than €140,000 towards GOAL’s housing support programme for orphans and vulnerable families affected by HIV and Aids in Uganda.
Since their innovative ‘You Buy, We Give’ campaign commenced in December 2009, Applegreen has donated one cent of every in-store purchase to GOAL, and to their other charity partner, The LauraLynn House.
Donations received by Applegreen have helped GOAL to re-house families in Uganda, including Kezironi Dhabanji, who is now living in a new house provided to him by GOAL in the village of Kigulu, in the district of Bugiri in south-east Uganda.
Like many poor people in the region, Kezironi was living in a mud-hut, which was prone to leaking. He also had no kitchen or latrine, and he could not afford to pay for grass for new thatching.
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Kezironi Dhabanji outside his new home with GOAL's |
Thanks to the funding provided by Applegreen, Kezironi is now the proud owner of a warm, brick-built two-room house, complete with a kitchen and a latrine. Even better, he says the children will now be able to live with him in his new home.
GOAL’s Uganda housing programme was launched in 2004 and since that time, we have managed to build more than 1,050 houses, each with an average occupancy of 5-6 persons.
We build new two and four-roomed homes and rehabilitate others to cater for orphans and vulnerable families affected by HIV and Aids.
All building materials are, of course, sourced in Uganda, and local people are employed at every phase of the construction process.
Incorporated within the programme is training in house construction for the local employees to ensure the long term sustainability of local house provision.
The new dwellings are solid, brick-built structures to give shelter against the elements. Each is complete with its own water and sanitation facilities.
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| Kezironi outside his former home |
The programme was launched in Masaka in the south of the country and has since moved to Bugiri.
The Applegreen Charitable Fund has been extremely popular with customers since it was launched. The ‘You buy, We give’ campaign means that there is no need for people to request that the donation be added to the receipt; it is done automatically, with no additional cost to the customer.
“Thanks to the people using Applegreen stores throughout the country, a real difference has been made to the lives of some of Uganda’s most vulnerable families,” said GOAL’s Head of Fundraising and Marketing, Lisa O’Shea.
“On behalf of everyone in GOAL - and the vulnerable men, women and children who we help on a daily basis - I’d like to thank the management, the staff and all the customers, for their support.”
If you would like to find out more about GOAL’s work in Uganda, click here.