Charity Sponsorship
The Silk Road Express team is aiming to raise valuable funds for three charities through sponsorship. Two of these have been nominated by our core sponsor Standard Life plc charity funds and the third by Charity Rallies – the organisers of the rally event.
100% of all donations to the official charities we are supporting will go directly to the official charities.
The split between the two charities supported by Standard Life plc charity funds is as follows:
- British Lung Foundation (Cancer research) – (70%)
- Places2Be (Vulnerable children) – (30%)
Further information on the work of these charities is given below.
The third charity we are supporting is CAMDA.
Whatever amount we raise Standard Life plc will double match it!
For example, if we raise £5,000 then Standard Life plc will donate £10,000, total amount donated to charity will be £15,000!
In order for the supported charities to take advantage of the Standard Life plc double match scheme, any donations for the British Lung Foundation and Places2Be should be made by clicking on the ‘Donate Now’ links on this 
secured website and selecting ‘Silk Road Express’ in the ‘Support’ drop down box.
( don’t forget to select Silk Road Express)
More information
Cancer Research
Which Charity
The cancer research based charity is the British Lung Foundation. This project will receive 70% of the funds raised (and Standard Life plc double- matches) for the Standard Life plc charity fund in 2008.
Background
More people die from lung cancer than from all other cancers put together. It therefore seems a logical choice for us to support this.
The British Lung Foundation project we have chosen to support is a new research project within the University of Edinburgh, based at the new unit at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary that will begin in 2008 and last for 24 months.
Most current lung cancer therapies focus on treatments that directly target the cancer cell. However, there is increasing evidence that tumour cells can subvert the immune system and prevent the body from effectively defending itself against the cancer. Manipulating the ‘micro-environment’ around the tumour to make the body’s own cancer-killing activity more effective is an approach that has not yet been fully explored for lung cancer.
The research project Standard Life plc is sponsoring will investigate this, looking at the contribution of the inflammatory environment around “non small cell lung cancer” (NSCLC) tumours during their progression, focussing on galectin-3, a binding protein that appears to be strongly linked to the tumour’s ability to grow and counteract the body’s usual immune response.
More information
Vulnerable children
Which Charity
The Vulnerable Children base charity is an organisation called The Place2Be. The Place2Be is a pioneer in the field of children’s emotional health.
Background
Places2Be help around 40,000 primary school children in 120 schools across the UK each year to deal with their problems through talking, creative work and play.
As a core activity, The Place2Be provides one-to-one and group counselling sessions, plus a lunchtime drop-in service inside schools, “A place where you can talk to people about something that’s been stuck inside you” says Jasmine, aged nine. They also support parents, carers and school staff members with dedicated support and training.
The Place2Be currently operates 14 “Hubs” around the UK. Each Hub comprises around 10 schools who share the initiative. The only Hub that currently operates in Scotland is in Edinburgh but it is hoped that with further funding this service can be extended.
The Place2Be currently supports 3,000 children in Edinburgh and 40,000 children across the UK. With the support of Standard Life, they hope to reach 10,000 children in Scotland and 80,000 children across the UK by 2010.
More information
CAMDA
We have exceeded our target by £100.
In addition to supporting Cancer Research and Vulnerable Children based charities, we are also supporting a third charity, CAMDA (Cambridge Mongolian Disaster Appeal). It is stipulated in the rules as a condition by the organisers of the rally event, Charity Rallies that all event participants raise a minimum of £500 for CAMDA. So far we have exceeded the minimum donation by nearly £100.
CAMDA is a charity organisation with few voluntary members and offers aid stretching several thousand miles in remote areas of Mongolia. The aid ranges from provision of grass cutting machinery, to water well refurbishment and veterinary aid for horses and camels.
More information
