Devon couple agree to raise £100,000 over a beer
When Bob Prior caught up with friend and part-time neighbour Geoff at a party last year, little did he know their night out would end with a pledge to raise a six figure sum, a trip to Tanzania with a 1975 Land Rover ambulance and a determination to help children orphaned by AIDS.
As a result of his promise to help his old friend source four ambulances to help children orphaned by AIDS victims in Tanzania, Bob is now trying to raise £100,000 to support the charity Orphans in the Wild.
Orphans in the Wild is a charity set up by Vicky and Geoff Fox, who moved to Tanzania from Tavistock over 50 years ago. In their time there, they have set up a successful private sector company – Foxes Safari Camps – and an impactful NGO called Foxes Community and Wildlife Trust.
They have made it their mission to change the lives of those around them. The local economy benefits greatly from the safari camps business they have run as the first private sector organisation in safari land in that part of Africa. Foxes Community and Wildlife Trust runs projects that protect the environment whilst improving poverty. As an NGO it ensures that 100% of pledges to directly to support its cause.
Despite all this work, the couple then felt they could not turn a blind eye to the devastating impact AIDS was having in the 13th poorest country in the world. Orphans in the Wild was born to give hope to children orphaned as a result of the AIDS epidemic.
Friends and former neighbours in Tavistock, Elaine and Bob Prior have agreed to help raise £100,000 needed to buy four ambulances and provide additional training to improve the level of primary health care available to further this project.
And, as the saying goes, “you get what you give” - and for one lucky donor, that will be the case as anyone giving more than £20 to the cause will be entered into a prize draw to win a trip of a lifetime to Africa, complete with Safari.
The appeal takes place throughout 2014 but the appeal page is live now for those wishing to make a donation and enter the prize draw.
A Facebook page has been set up to track the Priors journey and aims to help donors understand more about where the money raised will be going. You can also follow the charity on Twitter (@AmbulanceAppeal) and indeed find out more about the overall cause by visiting http://www.wildorphans.org
