Project HappyChild NEWS

1^st May 2001

[for ongoing updates, see Latest Site News]

For the time being this service is available only from the "shadow" page at Project HappyChild - click here - the Shadow page is a back-up of the main welcome page and is used as a "re-direct" page for the site (when visitors come in to an expired page address, from the search engines) and appears instead of a "404" error. We'll add the language links to more pages whenever time allows, although as each page has to be coded individually this will be a long-term project; however a "translate-another-page" facility appears at the foot of each page that's been translated using their service.

Because InterTran is becoming so widely used, they do make a charge once a given amount of "free translations" have been used by any IP address. However we felt the benefits outweighed the minimal-charge-factor, and that this facility should therefore be included. Regardless we will maintain the links to the entirely-free grammar-aware translation facilities for the seven languages available through Systran and FreeTranslation.com and have clarified this on the text which accompanies the translation facilities - click here.

FUNDRAISING: Chapter 4 of Lance Winslow III's acclaimed book, "How to run a Successful Car Wash Fundraiser" has just gone on line at the site here. Lance has kindly given permission for this book to be serialised at Project HappyChild and this month's chapter is about PUBLICITY. Lance is a highly successful businessman and this chapter is packed with dynamic ideas for successful publicity - whatever type of fundraising event you're planning, this chapter is well worth a read.

We'd like to thank Michael for his ongoing support for Project HappyChild - not only by adding new material each month to the Accelerated Learning resource on this site, but also his shop advertisement now and his financial help back in November 1999 towards internet access costs and an upgrade of our bandwidth to deal with increasing traffic levels [see our Sponsors page].

19th April: Humanitarian Aid Transport Services (HATS) specialise in the transportation of Humanitarian Aid and Emergency Relief goods worldwide via road, sea, and air - from a few small cartons to full loads in containers or by trailer. Their e-mail addresses have been modified on their advertisement page in the Project HappyChild Shop - click here for details. If you have a cached or printed-out version of this page, you may wish to update this.

We'd like to extend our thanks to HATS and to PDG (Pathways Design Group, whose remarkable inventions make it possible for disabled children to use Nintendo consoles) for their continued advertising which makes it possible for the Project HappyChild website to stay on line, linking children across the world. Your support for our advertisers would be much appreciated.

The National Blind Children's Society helps visually impaired children and young adults up to the age of 25, providing grants for essential IT equipment; professional, free of charge advocacy and IT training services, and a customised large print book service. Their other programmes include activity holidays, grants for recreational activities such as horse riding and music lessons, and holidays for low-income families.

The second new entry in the Directory is a little unusual - the Haven House Foundation. Ten years of planning and fundraising has made it possible for the Haven House Foundation to take a 60-year lease on The White House with the aim of providing hospice care for terminally-ill children and their families, as well as short-term respite care for children with severe life-limiting conditions. They now need to raise Ł2.9m to carry out refurbishments and allow them to open their doors to sick children.

Other amendments to the Directory this month include:
A direct e-mail address and a website link for WellBeing [1002];
a direct e-mail address for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust [1007];
all contact details including the freephone Cerebral Palsy helpline, for SCOPE [1026],
the addition of a direct e-mail address and a website link for KIDS [1074], which helps children with disabilities and special needs;
and a change to the contact e-mail address for Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital [1016].
If you have a cached or printed-out version of the Directory, you may wish to update this.

More immediately, a Leo Sayer concert has been added to the General Events calendar - on 15th MAY "Leo Sayer & Friends" will be in concert, benefitting the Haven House Foundation and Anti-Slavery, both charities in the Project HappyChild Directory. Tickets are available *now* (three price levels) - Ł25 tickets include an after-show buffet where Leo Sayer (and possibly other celebs) should be present. Details of where to get your tickets are on the General Events page.

APPEALS & PROJECTS WORLDWIDE: We're very aware that at this time of heavy pagebuilding for the remaining supplementary resources, there are a number of hyperlinks from the site as a whole which need renewing (where sites linked to have changed page addresses but not passed on details). Doing both the building and full maintenance is a physical impossibility (otherwise the new resources will never get finished!) so we'd ask for your patience whilst we get the rest of the new pages built over the next few months, and then gradually bring the whole site up to date again. We've made a start by updating the listings for the Salvation Army in this area - the SA work in around 100 countries and the links from here for each individual country page have now been renewed. We'll deal with other mass listings like this as soon as time allows, as these modifications are relatively straightforward and would appreciate any organizations working to help children overseas, whose page addresses have changed recently, advising us of the new page addresses so that we can update the links.

So please bear with us for the time being! The feedback to the site as a whole is much appreciated, as are the increasing numbers of site links from many of our visitors, but the sheer "load" factor here will be very heavy whilst the new pagebuilding is in progress. Currently we have almost 1750 pages on line, but there are still about 750 left to build and we would value your support whilst we get the rest of the supplementary resources completed.

Best regards,

Penny.

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