Operation Orphan's 15th Anniversary Ball
Thank you to those of you who travelled to be with us for our celebratory ball on Friday eve. What an incredible evening we had together. The fact so many of you came, made it so special and really helped to mark the moment as we celebrated 15 years of Operation Orphan being an official registered charity.
For those of you who couldn’t make it – we actually saw you too! Your photos were on the big screens, with memories from our incredible times together – it was very special.
Huge thanks to every single one of you who have supported in some way, this really has been one huge TEAM effort where lots of people play a part. Everything we have achieved over the past 15 years is not because of ‘us’, it’s because of all of us! And look at what we have achieved TOGETHER.
Many travelled to be with us, from Texas, Turkey, Lancashire, Yorkshire, Manchester Scotland, Cambridge, Northampton, Dorset and apparently New Zealand! Wow!
Alina joined us from Moldova. She has been our key person from the time we met. She has led long-term support for single young women and children fleeing the war in Ukraine. She embodies what this mission is all about—compassion across borders, unity across cultures, and a relentless commitment to the children.
Nurdeniz joined us from Istanbul. Nurdeniz is an incredible woman, she’s lawyer and she started the first guide dog association in Turkey. She’s a real world changer. Look her up online and be amazed. Nurdeniz introduced us to the Governor of Hatay who subsequently allowed us to continue working with the orphans we located during the disaster response. Through her we were able to deliver 36 laptops, prepared for us by Smellie Savage, to the teenagers we located.
Ann and Terry Carpenter who worked with Ben and Marion to start the Nutrition Centre at the Kings Village in Ghana. This centre has literally rescued 10 thousand children from the brink of death. We had the opportunity to honour them.
Victor and Yolanda we also with us. These amazing people have supported the people of Moldova for years and we have worked together to clothe thousands of children for winter.
Our good friend Ann Dudley was in the room. Ann is founder of Kids League, this partner project is providing educational scholarships to vulnerable children in Kenya.
Anthea, the original founder of Founder of Forget me Notts came along and it was so wonderful to premiere the special video on the topic of bed poverty, made for us by Jade Vowles.
The engine behind our incredible Hope Alive Tour, Michael Scott, was with us and wearing a very special tie with photos of the children the Hope Alive Tour has supported. If you enjoy running, please explore this incredible challenge.
As we looked around the room we saw so many of our past and present volunteers. It really was fantastic to see so many reunions in the room.
We were also overjoyed to welcome some corporate guests from Xylem, Silver X, Smellie Savage, The Media Collective, Danbro who have so kindly deployed the resources of their businesses to help the children.
Jez Currin and some of his incredible team joined us too. They actually created this website for us and they design all our Noows booklets & promotional/fundraising materials for free as their charitable contribution. Incredible!
We made new friends too and met some of you for the first time – it was a super special evening.
It’s essential to highlight that the care of the children has only been possible because of our partners and the incredible people in each country who have chosen to step forward and be a critical part of the children’s support network and care structure. Empowering local people to care for the children is the way we have been able to be a part of so many children’s stories. These people are the real heroes. Although they weren’t able to be with us in person, they were very much on the forefront of our minds. They are the hands and feet, helping daily with no recognition or accolade – we honour them.
This evening was professionally organised for us by Mike and his team at MJP Events & Media. We would like to say a huge thank you to them for sponsoring the event, along with On Event production company who provided all the media at cost and ran the entire evenings audio and visuals for us. Also big thanks to Geoff and Emma from Incognito Artists who elevated the event with their incredible talent. They treated us to some stunning performances and managed to get most of the room on the dance floor after the speeches!
We were able to honour some people who have been the bedrock of the charity since the start. Patricia Jayne, Helen Broughton MBE, Damian Broughton MBE & Jez Currin all received the first ‘Legacy of Hope’ award. This is in recognition of their long term and extraordinary commitment to the vision and work of Operation Orphan.
