Fay Greenwood, OTF's treasurer, and her work colleague Michael Fletcher from the head office of Bon Marche in Huddersfield, are to run in this years 'Jane Thomlinson's Run for All 10K Road Race' at Leeds in June.
Faye and Michael are busy training for this event and hope to raise lots of money for the Oak Tree Foundation by way of personal sponsorship.
Faye has stated that she is hoping to complete the course in under 1 hr 15minutes but it will depend on the weather.
Good Luck to the pair of them.
If you would like to sponsor Faye and/or Michael please go to the
CONTACT US & DONATIONS page on this web site.
Article from the Maia Singers Newsletter March 2009.

Short Article from 'Vision' the staff magazine of Bon Marche Autumn/Winter 2008
reproduce by kind permission

23rd November 2008
A small number of photographs from the Drop in the Ocean Humanitarian Aid Trip November 2008 can be found on the Gallery pages. ( click on Gallery on the menue on the left to access this page)
Further photographs will be added over the following weeks, along with a summary report, and will give a view of the life, the dirt, the squalor and the sheer helplessness of the poor families in these rural villages of Romania in the run up to Christmas 2008.
Sample photograph:
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Young Romanian boy in the village of Danes, Transylvania. His trousers are wet as he had been playing in the river that runs between the group of 'houses' on the hillside above the village. Nov 2008.
17th November 2008 final message from Romania
This is the last message from Romania before we fly back to the UK tomorrow.
After loading all the remaining aid that was to be delivered to the Prahova area into the four vehicles on the morning of the 14th the road journey back over two mountains ranges from Sighisoara to Ploiesti went without any problems and we arrived in the city of Ploiesti in the late afternoon.
We made directly to the offices of the disabled association in the city centre and after going round the block several times we eventually managed to park the one van containing the aid for the association close by to unload.
A speach therapy class in operation with a number of the children and we stayed for a short while to observe what was going on. The children were being read to from a book and then the teacher had them repeating various words and sounds described in the story.
We then set off for Paulesti where we understood rooms had been booked at the only pension (hotel) in the area. However when we arrived, in the dark, we learned that there had been a mix up over dates and there was no room.
After several phone calls we were able to accomodate everyone in the team with a bed for a night and we all retired to await a busy schedule of deliveries the following day.
Friday saw us bright and early at the school in Gageni where all the educational supplies and sports equipment was unloaded. We then had a delightfull hour giving out the goodie bags to each of the children in their respective class rooms.
The big hits from the goodie bags were the T shirts, again, the Yo Yo's and skipping ropes.
Just before midday we began to distibute the Family Aid Boxes to the recipients arround the village.
Several years ago the houses in the whole of the village were re-numbered but many of the houses had not changed the sign on the gates with the new numbers which made life just a little difficult. In some of the areas the house numbers were not consecutive and finding some of the houses proved a little difficult.
One address was 'the house in the middle of the field'. We had been to this house before but 12 months ago but finding it again took time.
By the end of the day, as the light faded and the temperature dropped, we had delivered the boxes to several of the families. The next problem to resolve was find somewhere for us all to sleep that night.
Luck was on our side and we found a hotel close by that had accomodation for us.
Over the next couple of days we continued to deliver the Family Aid Boxes and obtaining new Family Information Sheets and photographs for next years project.
Work started at first light and went on until the light disapeared around 5pm. Until today, when it started raining, the weather had been good allowing us to complete more of the work each day.
By 4pm today, Monday, we had delivered all the aid to the Prahova area and had added several more poor families to our ever growing list.
Tomorrow morning with sad hearts in leaving our many friends and helpers we will head back to the airport at Otopeni for the flight home to the UK.
All the team are tired but they have all seen for themselves that together - and with your help - we are making a difference.
Roy Bowden reporting from the city of Ploiesti, Jud Prahova Romania - 2300hrs Monday 17th November 2008.
One of the many poor children on the hillside above the village of Danes Transyvania.
Check later in the week for further photographs of the families you have been helping....................
12th November 2008 message from Romania
This is just a short message written at an internet cafe in the citadel city of Sighisoara on the last evening in Transyvania before moving off to the Ploiesti area for our final part of our aid trip.
Our flight from Manchester to Bucharesti last Saturday went without any problems and we were on time to pick up the four rental vehicles to make the overland journey to Sighisoara. Having left the airport at 1530hrs we eventually arrived in the city at 2030hrs, in the cold and dark but grateful that we had all arrived safely.
The team was up early next morning and we drove to the school hall in the village of Danes. The wagon arrived intact as did some twenty or so pupils and teachers to help unload the wagon.
The children were very enthusiastic and we made terrific time with all 7 tons unloaded and placed into set piles on the floor of the hall in just over 1 hour.
We spend the next few hours sorting through the many boxes and items of aid sepreating the aid for the Danes area and that for the Gageni area.
It had been a very long day the day before and by late afternoon we were all desperately tired so we called it a day, returned to the hotel for a shower and then out for the first proper meal of the day.
That night it turned very cold, -6, but Monday morning found a very cold but bright and cheerful day with all the team in good spirits.
Some of the goods for the school were carried to the main school building and then we loaded the aid boxes for the families on the hill behind the village centre.
The ground was dry and hard, far better than last November when we had knee deep mud, and so we were able to get one of the vans and the 4x4 right up to the families homes at the group of houses on the hillside above the main village.
In the sun it was warm although there was still some ice about, There seemed to be dozens of kids of all ages playing in the dirt,and refuse with some having fun running down the river embankment and jumping accross - some missing or playing with the many dogs, chickens, ducks and pigs that were running about.
We were able to deliver all the Family Aid boxes to the various familes who greeted us with warm smiles and recognition that we had fulfilled our promise of last November that we would bring them some help.
We have some wonderful photographsand stories to share with you later and some that will shock you.
The last few days have seen all the families on our list having their Family Aid Boxes delivered, the school has received the sports equipment, furniture and educational supplies. The local kindergarten has received furniture and toys and some of the specialised disabled equipment has been delivered to units in Sighisoara, Albesti and to the local Veritas charity.
The director and the authorities in the special unit in Sighisoara were in near panic mode due to the programme on TV last week when the Duches of York did some secret filming in the orphanges in Bucharesti. So much so that were have no pictures at all from this govenment run unit.
By 1800hrs tonight, Wednesday everything for this area has been delivered and tomorrow, bright and early we set off to the city of Ploiesti to start the next round of deliveries. This will be a drive of 5-6 hours over two mountain ranges with the possibility of snow en route.
I will try and report again on how we are going on if I can get internet access.
I know that many people back in the UK are wishing us well on this venture and I can tell you that the team appreciate all the support we have been given.
Roy Bowden - Co-ordinator Oak Tree Foundation reporting from the citadel city of Sighisoara, Transylvania, Romania - 1830hrs Wednesday 12th November 2008.
4th November 2008
Drop in the Ocean Humanitarian Aid Trip 2008
Wagon Loaded and On its Way.
At 9am this morning our 16 strong loading team, aided by Dorel the Romanian driver, started the ardous and back breaking job of loading the artic will all the aid for this years trip.
Everything from the 'Adopt a Family' Clothing Boxes, Educational Supplies, School Furniture, Specialist Disabled Equipment to Musical Instruments and Sports Equipment were carefully packed to make the 2000 mile journey across Europe to Romania.
The inside of the artic with all the Adopt a Family Clothing Boxes Loaded
Over 7 tons of goods were loaded by hand into the Romanian wagon supplied by Mission & Relief Transport of Holland an international company specialising in the worlwide transportation of aid.
Dorel explained that he was so happy to be a driver for Mission & Relief Transport as it enabled him to help organisations like OTF who are helping the poor sick and needy children and their families in his country. He explained that he felt that he was lucky to have a job and was aware of the terrible hardship and living conditions of some of his fellow villagers were experiencing with no money, food or work.
Some of the aid goods waiting to be loaded
By 12.45pm we had had three strokes of luck; 1. the last items were loaded onto the artic and the back doors closed 2. the artic trailer was just big enough to accomodate all the aid & 3. the weather had been kind to us.
With all the paperwork completed Doril and his artic set off for Dover to begin the journey across Europe to meet up with the OTF team next Sunday morning, 9th Nov, in the village of Danes, Transylvania.
The Loading Team - November 2008
Back Row: Maggie, Jackie, Jim, Mike, Pat, Kath, Walter, Tim, Simon, Bob, Peter, David, Graham, Fred.
Kneeling at front: Roy & Margaret
OTF would like to thank the loading team especially, Maggie, Jackie, Mike, Tim, Bob, David, Walter, Fred & Graham ( all members of the Maia Singers in Stockport ) for giving up their time to help load the wagon.........
.............together we are making a difference.
1st November 2008
Less than a week........
As I sit to write this report it is 9pm Saturday 1st November....... at this time next Saturday. 8th November, I hope that our aid team will have made the flights from Manchester to Bucharest, picked up the four hire vehicles and driven the 5-6 hours to Sighisoara.
It will be a long day as we fly at 6am and will not arrive in Sighisoara until about 8pm that night.
We have received confirmation from the transport company that all our paperwork is in order and that we will have the artic to load at 9am Tuesday 4th November over in Manchester.
All the arrangements with our contacts in Romania have been made by email so all the team can do now is just count the days down until we set off.
All the team, Kath, Simon, Jim, Pat, Faye, Pete & Margaret and myself, Roy, together with our Romanian friends and translators Nicu, Andreea and Liah are aware of the great responsibility and expectations we carry with us on your behalf to those we come into contact with in Romania, the families and organsisations we deliver aid to and also to all the individuals and groups in the UK who have worked so hard over the last few months collecting and packing the Family Boxes in OTF's Adopt a Family Project.
Every one of our team, including our Romanian friends and helpers, will ensure that everything that we have loaded onto the wagon in Manchester will be delivered directly by us, to those families and organisations in the villages and towns of Danes, Sighisoara, Gageni, Bacoi & Ploiesti, that it was destined for.
Please keep your fingers crossed that our Jim gets back in time to travel to Romania with us. Jim has been away for the last three weeks helping to build a school in a small village in the mountains of Nepal.
Please keep checking this page of our Web Site for further updates.
24th OCTOBER 2008
Transport Manifest Completed
Last night the full transport manifest for all the humanitarian aid which will be transported across to Romania and distributed by our own UK team during our Drop in the Ocean Humanitarian Aid Trip 2008 has been completed.
Statistics: Almost 7 tons ( 6936kgs ), 192 cubic meters, £220,000 value.
Numbers don't really give the full picture so put in simple terms this is a full articulated wagon made up of clothes, educational supplies, school furniture, toys, specialised disabled equipment, toothpaste/brushes and musical instruments to mention just the main items.
Everything on the wagon has been donated by companies or generous individuals and groups in the UK.
The hard part of the job is in the UK and is almost over with the collecting, packing and manifesting.
( There is still the loading of the wagon on the 4th November to come.)
The rewarding part of the job in Romania is still to come in the distribution of aid that YOU have provided to those in most need.
20th OCTOBER 2008
Huddersfield Examiner Newspaper Article: