Special Dinner raises much needed Awareness and Funds for Cancer Support Yorkshire

On Wednesday 20th February a special dinner was arranged by Café Regal, a restaurant which serves a tasty fusion of South Asian and Western Cuisine (White Abbey Road, Bradford) and Umeed Welfare Trust, a Charity based in the UK. Umeed Welfare Trust provides free education and healthcare for people in disadvantaged regions of Azad Kashmir, Pakistan. They also provide needed assistance to those affected by natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods. Usually their focus is on raising funds for this cause oversees; however, after talks with our fundraiser Rafiq, they kindly offered to give of their time to support CSY.

Cancer Support Yorkshire provides emotional and practical support to those affected by cancer locally. The charity has recognized the need to reach out to the various communities represented within Yorkshire so thoroughly welcomed the opportunity to host this dinner with Café Regal and Umeed Welfare Trust. This event provided a fantastic opportunity to bring locals together to share a tasty meal and raise awareness of CSY and the services that we provide, as well as raising much needed funds.

The evening began with a talk by Merban Hussain, Chair of Umeed Welfare Trust, who spoke about the work of his charity. Chris Bem, a Trustee of Cancer Support Yorkshire spoke about general cancer awareness and his role as a trustee of CSY, followed by Q&A. Rafiq spoke about the work done at CSY: all the services we provide, and the many ways we can be supported by the local community including with awareness and fundraising so we can keep these vital services going for at least another 30 years.

The event was attended by over 70 members of the local community, who each bought a ticket for £20.00. On the day of the event, an amount of £1448.00 was raised, and we are expecting this amount to increase to around £2000. This special event had a quick turnaround, being arranged in under a week, and is a vivid demonstration of what is possible when we reach out to and work closely with the local community! The event was also supported by Channel UK44; Geo News and international news stations which can be viewed on channels 723 & 767 on satellite TV.

We would like to say a great big thank you to Both Café Regal and Umeed Welfare Trust for their kind support in organizing and facilitating this event for us, and to all who were able to come along too.