info@hlmt.org.uk

HLMT Newsletter May 2021

Mailchimp, Conference Presentation, positive events and WANTED – SOCIAL MEDIA HELP please!

Dear supporters

It has been a busy and productive April and early May for HLMT, as you will see below. Thanks to everyone who has continued to support the Trust in different ways.

  1. Receiving HLMT Newsletters via Mailchimp

You may also have received the newsletter via Mailchimp. It may, however, have landed in your Spam box. Could you please check your Spam box, and if it is there, then please do two things:

  1. move that email to your Inbox;
  2. click on the link in the  Mailchimp email that says, “Add us to your address book”.

That should ensure that future emails you receive via Mailchimp should arrive in your Inbox. Always check your Spam box for misdirected emails though, not just those from Mailchimp. Thanks.

2. Please come to the HLMT Presentation at the Virtual International Day of the Midwife Conference on 5th May

5th May is the International Day of the Midwife, and an international online conference is being held to mark the day. HLMT Trustee Stella Nickolay will be presenting an illustrated talk at the conference on “Reducing maternal and child mortality in Liberia by supporting midwifery training” from 18:00 – 18:50 (6.00 – 6.50 p.m.) UK time.

To access the conference free of charge please click on https://vidm.org/accessing-the-conference-2021/ Stella’s presentation is No. 20 at https://vidm.org/vidm-2021/vidm2021-programme/ and will be held in “Room 2.”

 “The UK-based Helen Loewenstein Memorial Trust (HLMT) makes grants to student midwives in Liberia who would not otherwise have sufficient funds to train, by covering course-fees and essential study expenses. Liberia has the world’s third-lowest GDP. Its rate of maternal mortality is 80 times higher than the UK, and its proportion of qualified midwives 24 times lower. 44% of Liberian women give birth without professional help. The presentation will outline how HLMT has raised funds and twinned with a midwifery training institute in Zorza, Liberia, and is sponsoring students. Key issues include:

• Building trust with key stakeholders in Liberia ;

• Ensuring that HLMT supports the school’s and students’ needs rather than impose its agendas from afar ;

• Ensuring that its funds are spent for the purposes intended. In exploring HLMT’s work, the presentation will cover these ethical and logistical issues and will enable participants to engage in active discussion”.

3. Plant and Craft Stall 17th April 2021 (Outside Crimson Tree, Sherwood, Nottingham)

On a sunny day, HLMT trustees Carol McCormick, Charm Daley, Pippa MacKeith, Roger Williams and a number of brilliant supporters held a wonderfully successful stall. It attracted dozens of buyers and raised over £1500, sufficient to fund a trainee midwife’s training fees for two years!

A BIG thank you to Carol McCormick and everyone else who helped stock, organise, run and support the event, including Shai from Crimson Tree. Watch this space for similar events in the future.

4. Jenny Jackson – Captain Tom 100 Challenge for HLMT

Jenny is a supporter of The Helen Loewenstein Memorial Trust and a longstanding friend of Helen’s family.

She accepted HLMT’s invitation to fundraise over the Mayday bank holiday weekend by joining the Captain Tom 100 Challenge – by baking 100 biscuits. Anyone who lives near enough was invited to drop in on Sunday 2nd or Monday 3rd May to sample the biscuits provided by Jenny and Jake. In advance of the event, Jenny had already raised over £400 for HLMT. Brilliant!

Imagine if all our 400+ supporters had done a Captain Tom 100 challenge for HLMT and not just Jenny and Jake! Next time hopefully…

5. Appeal for social media volunteers

The Helen Loewenstein Memorial Trust wants to set up Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages. If you can help us to set up our presence on Facebook or Twitter , please contact us and let us know.

Also, as the year progresses we hope to be running or supporting more events where our stall will need to be set up. If you are willing to spend a couple of hours from time to time helping at the stall, again please contact us.

Supporters have organised their own fundraising events, such as walks, runs, coffee mornings and house concerts. It would be wonderful if you could set up a fundraising event, no matter how small. The HLMT can help with publicity, collecting donations and ideas about doing it. Please let us know if you might be interested.

6. Standing orders, donations and bequeaths in wills

HLMT plans are to increase the number of Liberian midwifery students it sponsors from year to year. One bedrock of our fundraising is the regular Standing Orders and one-off donations from supporters, for which we are so grateful. Whilst hoping that all of our supporters have long and happy lives, we would also be very grateful if you feel able to include HLMT in your will! For now, it would be tremendous if you can please set up a Standing Order, no matter how small or large, if you have not already done so. https://hlmt.org.uk/hlmt-Standing-Order-Mandate.pdf 
Please return the form to us and not to your bank.
We depend on this regular income to do our work – in the last Covid-limited year, this has been crucial.

As always, massive thanks to all who support the work of The Helen Loewenstein Memorial Trust.

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