Harrogate charity launches £10,000 Nepal appeal

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A Harrogate charity with close connections to Nepal has set a goal of raising £10,000 to help victims of the devastating floods.

Last week’s flooding on the Nepal-Tibet border has left about 1,000 people dead and 4,000 people missing.

 Harrogate Brigantes Rotary has launched a Nepal floods appeal, which aims to surpass the £10,000 it raised in partnership with the Crown Hotel following the 2015 earthquake in Nepal.

Major Lil Gurung of the Himalayan Gurkhas Rotary Club in Kathmandu, who spoke at a Harrogate Brigantes fundraising dinner in 2015, appealed for help.

Harrogate Brigantes member Charlotte Gale and current preident Guy Wilson spent a month volunteering on a project in Nepal in 2014. The organisation's close links with the country have been maintained since then.

A legacy left to Harrogate Brigantes for the new appeal means every pound raised, up to a total of £7,500, will be match-funded.

The organisation is also hoping to hold a bucket collection in Harrogate town centre this Saturday. 

Mr Wilson said Harrogate Brigantes "has a long association with Nepal" and the country was close to many people's hearts.

Ms Gale said:

“The money raised in 2015 through the generosity of local residents and businesses, enabled us to send a substantial donation to the Himalayan Gurkhas Rotary Club, who travelled the length and breadth of Nepal to make sure every penny was spent where it was needed most.

“The Himalayan Gurkhas have once again reached out to Harrogate Brigantes to ask for our support and we are committed to doing everything in our power to assist them."

Anyone wishing to support the appeal, which has so far generated £2,300, can do so here.