The Sunshine Appeal donated to both Welsh and Irish charities in May 2011 as part of the Carling Nations Cup. On this occasion the Sunshine Appeal cooperated with the Welsh fans group, the Dragon has Landed in a joint venture to help our Celtic neighbours.

First, the Welsh charity Tŷ Hafan received a £1000 donation. The charity offers comfort, care and support for life-limited children and young people and is dedicated to improving the quality of life of their whole family.

Secondly, the Irish charity Jack and Jill received £2000. Jack and Jill provides direct funding to families with brain damaged children up to the age of 4 to allow them to purchase home respite care. Families call it the ‘Gift of Time’. Time to do the things we take for granted, like taking your healthy children to the park, a night’s sleep, doing the grocery shopping etc.   The £2000 was used to provide nursing hours for a family. The maximum donation per family per month is £1024 which is 64 hours so £2000 would provide nursing care for 1 Jack & Jill baby for just under 2 months.

A group of Scotland fans went along to O’Connell street on the day of the Wales match to meet representatives from the charity and hand over the cheques. Both Welsh and Irish fans were also in attendance and a fair few beverages were drank afterwards as fans of all three teams came together to share their experiences from travelling around the world.
Full Story Here…

The Tartan Army Sunshine Appeal chose to make a donation to Task Brasil to commemorate Scotland’s friendly with Brazil at the Emirates Stadium in London, 27 March 2011.  The donation was something of a conundrum for us.  We donate in every country we play, but usually it means you’re playing against the country you are visiting at the time!  Donating to a Brazilian charity based in London seemed to be the best solution.

Task Brasil Trust was established in the UK in 1992 in response to the situation of the street children of Brazil. Its projects improve the lives and support the needs of children and pregnant girls living on the streets.  There are many terrifying realities that force countless children onto the streets: domestic violence, being orphaned or abandoned, or simply belonging to dysfunctional families.  For most, there is no way back.

We visited the offices of Task Brasil on the morning of the game and presented a cheque for £1000 to the officials of the organisation.

Everywhere We Go!

Scotland took part in a four-cornered competition in 2011 which included all of the Celtic nations – Northern Ireland, Wales and the hosts, Ireland.  All matches were played in Dublin.

Our chosen charity was “Shine A Light” who are a voluntary organisation focused on improving the “Quality of Life” of young children diagnosed with cancer and who operate in Northern Ireland.

When Scotland last played the Czech Republic in 2008, the TA Sunshine Appeal gave a donation to the Nadacni fond Klicek Foundation.  The charity does an amazing amount of work to support terminally ill children and their families. They also work hard to raise awareness of the issues surrounding the care of terminally ill children across the Czech Republic.  Having built up that friendship only two years ago, it made sense that the TA Sunshine Appeal should again make a donation to the Foundation.

The charity told us that they needed new tipi tents that sleep five people and are crucial during the charity’s summer camps which are organised every year.  The tipi tents offer fun and casual accommodation for the kids.

One of the major aims of the charity is to provide fun for those children that are terminally ill, so the charity also asked for funds to buy go-karts which could be used all year round at summer camps and other homes that the charity operates. As the charity has little in the way of facilities in Prague itself, members of the TA Sunshine Appeal met with Jiri Kralovec from the charity at the ATAC Fans Embassy, held at the Dubliner Pub in Prague.  In a typically low-key affair, the group held a cheque presentation ceremony in the Old Town Square in Prague – surrounded by about a few thousand Scots fans enjoying the sunshine and atmosphere of this picturesque square.  Full story and more pictures here…

Everywhere We Go!