Nicolas Roche’s FANA Fundraiser is close to his heart
Bachelor of Personal Development, Health and Physical Education student Nicolas Roche is taking fundraising for FANA (Foundation for the Support of Abandoned Children,) into his own hands and has worked tirelessly to raise a massive $31,000 to provide new and better resources for Colombian orphans within FANA.
Nicolas was adopted at 3 months old from FANA in Colombia in 1989 and was brought back to Australia with his parents. After a trip to Colombia in 2008, and with the inspiration of two friends who are Ambassadors for Prosperity with Heart for Change, Nicolas gave himself six weeks to raise money for the beginning of his passionate involvement with FANA- the FANA Fundraiser.
Nicolas’ fundraiser built up a huge amount of support, with 240 people participating in raffles and auctions at a function in July. Ultimately, a whopping $31,000 was raised. Nicolas and his crew ventured to Columbia at the beginning of August for two and a half weeks, to help improve FANA’s resources and contribute to their mission.
FANA is a non-profit organisation dedicated to the protection of children. It began in 1971 and provides protection, nutrition and early education services for abandoned children. There are currently 85 children living there, all under the age of 10, with half of them between the ages of 0 and 3 years old. Nicolas says there were key areas of the organisation that needed the funding.
“One of our goals was to set up better web resources so that people could make more donations.” Nicolas says.
The raised money was also used to refurbish classrooms and living areas in FANA and to provide new volunteers, teachers, physios and mentors to work one-on-one with kids to better their development. Nicolas says that the children’s interaction and development during their early life stages is important for when they get adopted and have to rapidly adjust.
“We’re trying to limit the barriers and the transitions for kids when they get adopted.”
FANA works to focus on the health, education and happiness of the children and a main goal is to make life for the children at FANA easy to transition them into a new home.“It’s not giving a child to a family it’s giving a family to a child,”says Nicolas.
“It’s a loving orphanage with great facilities, support and great children. It’s a part of me. I want to provide the children at FANA with opportunities and further resources to help their development into the world. My goal is to establish a charity in Australia and scout for volunteers within universities and schools and set up programs to get more people involved," says Nicolas.
Check out the FANA Fundraiser’s Facebook page.
Check out FANA.
Check out Nicholas’ video testimony about his volunteer work in Columbia.
