2011 AGM reports

FIG Chair’s report for AGM 12 10 2011

 

When I agreed to meet with Clarissa, Vivien, Grace and Anita, in late 2003, little did I imagine that the Fethiye International Group we know today would be the outcome of those early and enthusiastically supported meetings. I even thought that selling second hand clothes was a strange idea!  But just look at FIG now!

 

We pioneered the concept of expat-led charity organisations in Fethiye, we drew up the road map and despite laws that make it nearly impossible for foreigners to raise funds legally, we found a way through the bureaucratic minefields and still achieved our aim of allowing foreigners who visit or are settled here to ‘give something back’ to this corner of paradise and the friendly folk who live here.  We take it as a compliment that others have followed in our footsteps and imitated our activities, maybe on occasion with greater panache, but never with our dogged determination to keep things simple and of not spending a penny of our income on setting up fund raising events. That is the true character of FIG’s activities.  We are indebted to all of our many volunteers, who give so generously of their time and efforts for free and without personal gain and even spend their own money for the pleasure of it!

 

Each year we have grown a little larger and have been able to do and give a little more.  Grace and I, the only remaining founder members – and she is outlasting me - look back fondly to those first school visits, made in my car, often getting lost, but always received with enthusiasm by teachers and children for the books and sweets that we took.  We soon graduated to uniforms and shoes and knitted jumpers and now see that whilst, between 3-600 lira, used to be a good allocation for meeting a school’s needs, these figures have jumped to the thousands, as they wish for furniture, air conditioning units, ceiling projectors and even playground equipment.

 

The gift of books is part of FIG’s philosophy as we believe that if a child is taught to enjoy reading then the magical door to a world of learning is opened for them.  Yes it is fun to make a kindergarten classroom bright comfortable and colourful, and there are many new ways of teaching but an attractive book is still, in my belief, a personal and effective way for a child to pass enjoyable time and to embark on the wider world of learning and therefore the power of books should not be underestimated – after all they work even when the power is off!

 

We are honoured that several families with very sick children have had some of their despair relieved by the aid FIG has been able to give.  We have several graduates who would not have made it through university without the support of our bursaries and we have many more who are currently managing on them – what a wonderful investment for the future both for individuals and the community and what a tribute to the compulsive way in which it seems so many expats ‘need’ to give.  FIG and the other similar charities are some of the best examples of how foreigners visiting or living here can contribute to this society.  We are indebted to FETAV and its staff, most notably Dilek and Kadriye, and the considerable but discreet support from Honorary Consul, Mustafa Şikman, who have helped unstintingly with facilitating our activities.

The larger Fethiye area now has schools with good books for pupils and teachers and many kindergarten classes that are bright fun places to be because of the furnishings and toys and books we have donated and they are indebted to Gilly Frearson who for several years has tirelessly given of her time to thoughtfully choosing suitable items at the best prices. Her desire to give the best opportunities to children has been the driving force of her energy.  Sadly FIG is losing her, but she is leaving an excellent example of both assessing and meeting schools needs behind her, along with many happy children and teachers.

 

Just looking back on this past year I would like to single out two donations that made us really happy.  One was the gift of playground equipment to the school in Ortaca, they were genuinely surprised by the quality and quantity of the swings and slides given and we were genuinely surprised by the depth of their delight and gratitude and we thoroughly enjoyed the treat they gave us in return, with a dancing display and a meal.  The second was our contribution to the kindergarten classroom in Kaya village.  That was made possible by the hugely successful ‘Afternoon with Louis de Berniѐres’.  This village school’s fight against closure was supported by some far seeing locals including Naci Dinçer who recognised that such a famous village should not be without a local school and what a loss that would be to the community even if some of the local families and the authorities did not seem to agree.  Now they have a beautifully modern nursery class, in a well refurbished building.  With over 12 students who will register to go on to year 1 in the same building the school will have to be officially re opened for future years and the village will have retained an important social and educational centre and FIG is proud of the contribution they were able to make to this.

 

FIG now has two major foundation activities, our charity shop and the coffee mornings, both of which run extremely well, thanks to the volunteers who work in them; the volunteers in the shop, under the wing of Julie Peach and the coffee morning in the care of Roy and Caroline.  FIG’s good reputation has also attracted some strong sponsors, the biggest of which is the travel firm TUI whose local reps put a good deal of effort into raising funds for us every year, other sponsors are Oceanwide Estate agents and Mete insurance company, we are also working on an arrangement with the local branch of Kipa, where we will need volunteers to spread information and to oversee the collection box.

 

Yes, this is my farewell speech to FIG. It is nice that there are those who do not want me to go and it is sad, but I have decided to take it as a tribute that no one has yet volunteered to actually step in to my shoes.  However it is patently obvious that FIG, with its backbone committee members of Jill Erdoğan as treasurer and Julie Peach as shop manager, both ably assisted by Grace and her experience of FIG over the years, together with the several new members willing to be voted on to the committee, will be well able to run FIG without me.  After all, although at times FIG has demanded an inordinate proportion of my time, it has not actually been me that does the day to day work that makes FIG into what it is; a superb organisation representing expats of many nationalities in the best light and doing a great deal of good within the local community.  FIG has attracted hard working and loyal volunteers and supporters, you should all be proud of yourselves and I am and have been proud to have known you all.  I will always of course remain a supporter of FIG, but I am sure that my time is now over, that the organisation is strong and well established and that others are more than capable of taking it forward.

 

I think you will find Jill’s report as treasurer and the figures she presents most impressive.  I cannot commend Jill highly enough for her energy, her ideas and her devotion to the work of FIG.

Susan Tekin

 

TREASURER’S REPORT FOR THE FINANCIAL PERIOD

1 January 2010 - 30 june 2011 for the AGM 12 October 2011

 

The accounts prepared for this AGM span 18 months. At the beginning of January 2010 we decided that for the financial year to run from JULY 1 to  June 30 would be more advantageous and would coincide with the school year.

The figures are impressive even allowing for a time span of 18 months:

An income of 75,572.11tl gives an average income of just under 4,200tl per month and an expenditure of 70,530.11tl gives an average outgoing of just under 3,920tl per month.  We now have 2 sponsors who donate either a fixed amount every month or a percentage of each sale resulting from the mention of our name, so we must thank Oceanwide Properties and Mete Insurance.  We also have one sponsor who donates a full bursary.

Our largest supporter and sponsor is the UK group TUI.  They raise a huge amount each year in September.  In these financial accounts, spanning 2 seasons of TUI donations, the amounts were 4,250.00tl and 5,906.84tl respectively.  The figure that will be included in 2011 – 2012 for this season is approximately 8,000tl depending on the exchange rate at the time.  We really cannot thank them enough.

Apart from our sponsors our main income is raised by the shop in Dolgu Sahası, the Coffee morning at the Address restaurant and social and fundraising events.  Our shop volunteers, 3 every day, unfortunately too many to mention here and whom we also cannot thank enough, worked a total of 84 hours a week and raised 43,031.35tl.  Julie Peach, who is our shop manager, has worked many hours ensuring the shop runs smoothly and must be congratulated.  She now has a deputy, Margaret Gornall, to assist her.

The coffee morning has raised 8,289.50tl an average of 690.79tl per month, and that for just 2 hours per week!  Our thanks go to Caroline, Pat, Roy, Peter and all their helpers.  Without the support of all these volunteers and our supporters we would never have achieved such a high level of income. Here we must not forget Oz who also spent much time transporting people and goods – he will be sorely missed during his extended stay in England.  Thanks also to the Address management for their help.

Events raised 8,802.55tl from various functions, thank you all for supporting them.

We’ve given 15,884.95tl in donations to deserving children and families, including Thalassemia sufferers and we must not forget Mehmet, our ‘rainbow boy’ who had Leukaemia and little Mehmet from Kaya; both these children, despite all efforts lost their fight for life.

22,239.45tl was spent on schools, Gilly doing a marvellous job; 21,880.00tl in University Bursaries and travelling expenses for Fethiye children to and from school.

 

 

ACCOUNTS from 2011 agm

 

 

Fethiye International Group