Afghanistan has once again been dominating the headlines recently and after two decades of involvement of the UK’s armed forces in the country, the rapid withdrawal was a surprise for most of us and it has had worrying consequences for many of our veterans and their families. However, it has been heartening to see support being offered to them from many different sources and I am glad to say that several organisations supported by the Veterans’ Foundation are providing help rapidly where it’s needed.
Our purpose is to give out grants to help others and our trustees will be awarding grants amounting to over £900K at the end of this month to the 40 or so applications that we have been considering. It is wonderful to see the continuing support for the Veterans' Foundation from subscribers to the Veterans’ Lottery and from donors to the Veterans’ Foundation. Talking of donors, we have been very lucky recently to have received two very generous donations from Jefferies Financial Group and MONAT-Gratitude; these will make a big difference to many people’s lives. We welcome corporate contacts and partnerships to help our beneficiaries.
Finally, as we approach November and remembrance, I look forward to your reaction to, and feedback on, the Armed Forces Memorial Wall that we are about to launch. We hope it will become a respected memorial to those who have served the country and we hope it will raise funds to help members of the armed forces community and qualified seafarers, and their dependants, who are in need.
Thank you again for your amazing support.
