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BCS Welfare Fund

The BCS Welfare Fund provides help for British and Commonwealth residents of the State of Rio de Janeiro who have fallen on difficult times and need financial or moral support or any other help we can give them.

During 2007, the BCS Welfare Fund has been financially helping an almost blind person who cannot therefore find work, nor the means to support himself.

We are also helping a family who are in dire need of support, though trying valiantly to find ways to obtain an income. We have been paying for medical insurance for one person and medicines for two others.  Sadly, one of these has been very ill and recently died.

We have helped to support a very old lady of 98 until the Niteroi Rest Home took over her total upkeep at a home in Petrópolis.  This person has peacefully passed away after a very full and long life.

We have given moral support to many of our community and regularly pay visits to the elderly and those in need of companionship as well as giving advice where we can do so.

In 2008 we expect to continue to help these people financially and morally, as well as others who will undoubtedly also need assistance. Your support is very welcome and we are most grateful for any contributions you may be able to make. 

Anyone who has any spare time and would like to join our group will be most welcome.

Mary Crawshaw, Chair, BCS Welfare Committee

Christ, Anglican Church in Botafogo

Christ Church, Botafogo is the only English-speaking Anglican church in Rio. For nearly 200 years Anglicans have served the English-speaking community of Rio de Janeiro and beyond, whether or not they have been members of the Church. Your gift will enable this to continue. Our mission is to serve the English-speaking community of the city and beyond, whether they be permanent residents, here on short contract or simply passing through this part of the world. 

Christ Church is a welcoming, friendly church for people of all ages and backgrounds, church or not. We meet together every Sunday in the beautiful Church building in Rua Real Grandeza, 99, Botafogo. Our services are conducted in English and according to the liturgy of the Anglican Church. We offer Bible Study Groups, discussion groups, prayer counselling and many other ministries in the course of a busy week. Our church building is used for Wedding blessings, Baptisms and Memorial services. We hold an annual Memorial service at the English Cemetery in Gamboa, a Remembrance Day service and Community Carol service. We support a number of good causes within and beyond the city.

I consider it a privilege serving at Christ Church as Chaplain. Whether you offer a gift large or small, I will ensure it is carefully and wisely used.

Rev. David Weller, Chaplain

Boys’ Town

Boys’ Town very much appreciates the financial support given by the BCS and its members.

During 2007 there have been more changes and developments at Boys’ Town.  Due to pressure from the Government and Judicial Authorities we are still reducing the numbers of boys in full-time care and concentrating our efforts on getting them back into their own homes with their natural parents or into alternative substitute families, i.e. by adoption or permanent foster care. The facilities have been adapted to house a crèche and kindergarten school for about 212 local children and the former administrator’s house now holds some 18 boys in full-time care, with house mothers caring for them in a family atmosphere.  To fulfil government regulations we have to employ a psychologist and nutritionist etc.

Some of the donations that we receive are used in “Projeto Apoio à  Familia” to help families to have the conditions necessary to receive their children at home, as well as to continue to monitor the children’s welfare and help whole families. 

We are also developing a program of Day Care with “Reforço Escolar” for local children who have nowhere to go when they are not actually at school, this having the object of preventing them getting into trouble.

Noreen Smith, Director - 2nd Treasurer

British Burial Fund

The “Cemitério dos Ingleses” is one of the oldest British institutions in Rio. It is a state- and municipal-listed monument and has to be kept in first class order. Maintenance and upkeep of 5 acres of cemetery and the chapel is expensive, and income basically consists of annuities, donations, and the sale of plots, income from these sources covering only a small proportion of yearly expenses. Once again we managed to achieve an operational break-even for the year, and thanks go to all who contributed, sponsored garden benches, or bought plots. Donations for 2008, whatever the amount, will be most welcome.

Chris Hieatt, Honorary Treasurer

NRH Fund

The Niteroi Rest Home is in the process of being incorporated into the BCS, whose statutes have been changed and now include a new NRH Fund, with a board of six trustees, which will continue with the same objectives as the old Niteroi Rest Home. We continue to support one lady in a home in Niteroi including all her medical needs. She is very happy there. Another very old lady whom we were keeping in a home in Petrópolis died at the end of 2007, aged 98½. We continue in our purpose to help the aged and needy even though the physical home has been sold due to insufficient ’guests’ there and invite any qualified person needing help to contact us. We are also working on plans for a future ’retirement community’ to which the needy as well as the more fortunate may ’retire’.

Mary Crawshaw, Chair of the Trustees of the NRH Fund

Ambulatório da Praia do Pinto

For the past 52 years the AMBULATÓRIO DA PRAIA DO PINTO has been in existence, originally founded inside the then “Favela da Praia do Pinto" on the edge of the Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas, by Rev. R.K. Reibs, ministering to all in need, medically and socially, independent of colour, creed or politics. When the favela was removed, the Ambulatório moved to Rua Jardim Botânico. There are GPs, Gynaecologists, Pediatricians, Dermatologist, Psychologists, Speech Therapist, Dentists, Ultra-sound (pelvic, abdominal), varicose veins specialist, ophthalmologists attending to over 131,000 families. 

We employ about 30 doctors/dentists and give the medication prescribed by them FREE to our ’clients’. We also give tapestry work to about 80 ladies who work at home, are given all the material necessary and are paid per square meter produced. We then sell the tapestries to the public.

All this has a considerable cost and we are always in need of donations. If you can, please donate through the BCS. We would also be delighted to sell you a tapestry. Just telephone me for details! (2535 0288).

We also welcome receiving medicines which you have already used, but there is still some left in the tube or bottle, provided they are within their use-by date. We find ourselves spending an awful lot on medicines all the time and leftover medicines can be a great help. Don’t throw away your unused medication - give it to us and we will put it to good use! Please leave any in the BCS office or drop it off at the Ambulatório (Rua Jardim Botânico, 187 - on the corner of Rua Maria Angélica). 

Audrey Mason MBE, member of APP administrative council 

Task Brasil Trust

The mission of Task Brasil Trust, a UK registered charity, is to offer a loving and supportive home environment to the street children and adolescents of Brazil, ensuring that all of their basic needs are met so that they acquire the skills necessary to go on to lead rich, fulfilling and independent lives. Wherever possible, we reunite the children with their families. We run several homes in Rio de Janeiro for young children, teenage boys and pregnant teenage girls & their babies. We have provided a home for more than 450 children and teenagers over the years, and at least 100 children have benefited from our care in 2007. The new Casa Charlotte home is close to becoming a reality. It will be exclusively for 20 pregnant teenage girls and will be located opposite Casa Roger Turner in Santa Teresa. Additionally, in partnership with Homeless Child, a new building next door to Casa Jimmy (also in Santa Teresa) is being built to provide 20 smaller children (between 6 - 11 years of age) with a place to call home and hope for their future.

Task Brasil is completely dependent on donations to carry on its work and to guarantee the continuity of its projects by offering the same quality of care, and to enable us to help more children and teenagers. The donations we have received from the BCS over the past year have played a vital part in enabling us to do this, and we are extremely grateful for this support.

Ligia da Silva, founder and director

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