Over the last few years Ballyclare Limited has supported Operation Florian through donations of firefighter PPE. We have recently received a letter of thanks from the Chair. We thought you may like to read more about the good work Operation Florin undertake across the world.
“I am writing to the UK Fire Service and Fire Sector providers, to thank them for their incredible support, throughout 2016. Together you have helped us complete more project phases in Zimbabwe, Moldova, Portugal, Macedonia, Cape Verde and Chile, whilst also undertaking a number of smaller initiatives in a range of other countries.
These all involve our UK Firefighters volunteering their own time and skills to train those that have little skills or equipment. Some volunteers have had the fantastic opportunity to travel to these countries and have achieved so much personal development and others have given their time in the UK to collect, transport, repair donations and more importantly fundraise. These projects, plus more new ones will continue in 2016 as requests for assistance continue to increase worldwide as the present economic climate takes its toll.
The charity responds to requests for assistance from communities worldwide and through our work we promote capacity building and disaster risk reduction. We do this by the provision of appliances, equipment and training to improve firefighting, rescue and first aid capabilities. The charity seeks to acquire PPE, vehicles and equipment through donations or sourced direct from the fire sector when they are no longer required. Operation Florian makes a huge difference to all those they assist and saves lives.
The charity is run by volunteers, and we have in excess of 290 volunteers from the fire service, NHS, emergency planners, students and retired skilled people, who help us carry out our vital work. As you can imagine we encumber many costs, flights for the scoping visit, the obtaining the various donations and transporting the equipment and personnel to the communities that need the help.
We are a small charity with limited funds and resources. We want to help all those that come to us for support and we are asking you in this letter to please help during 2016 by supporting your colleagues to fundraise, raising our awareness or by donating equipment that is due to be replaced.”