Kingsley Christmas card promotes international charity
Kingsley Healthcare has again touched the lives of children thousands of miles away through its Christmas card. For the bright Christmas tree design, created by Colombian school pupil Susan Montoya Garxon, symbolises the latest project undertaken by Lotus Children’s Foundation, a charity set up by Kingsley Healthcare founders, Daya and Sumi Thayan, to support children and families at home and abroad.
Two years ago, the Kingsley Christmas card was designed by a young student in Sri Lanka where the foundation’s first projects aided orphans and displaced families after the 2004 tsunami. Now, following a visit to Colombia by Kingsley CEO Daya Thayan and his family last year, the foundation is supporting schools in the South American country’s Pijao region.
Children from the schools were invited to take part in a competition to design a card and Susan was judged to be the winner. The design has been used on Kingsley’s corporate Christmas card which will be sent out by the company’s 30 care homes as well as staff at its head office in Lowestoft, Suffolk.
Kingsley CEO Daya Thayan said: “The card is a great way to raise awareness of the tremendous work being done by our foundation in other parts of the world as well as the UK. “I am proud that Kingsley staff play an active role in charity work; two of our homes, Allonsfield House and Hadleigh Nursing Home, in Suffolk, have taken on fund-raising for our projects in Pijao and staff from the homes will be visiting Colombia to see progress for themselves.”
The first phase of support involved improving school buildings, fixing leaking roofs and replacing unhealthy mattresses and blankets. The next phase will include the installation of solar panels to provide a reliable electricity supply for schools and the development of an orchard.
The orchard will be run as an education resource as well as producing a commercial crop to provide further funds. Alison Fallowfield, manager at Allonsfield House, near Woodbridge, said: “When I heard about the project I really wanted us to get involved.
