Lunchtime Speaker – Joy Poulter – The Purple Community Fund

This week Joy Poulter from the Rotary Club of Godalming gave us a presentation on
the Purple Community Fund (PCF). PCF was set up by Jane Walker MBE. Jane had had a difficult start in
life. She was thrown out of her home when she left school at the age of 16. She initially went into the
hospitality industry, working first as a chamber maid, but later working her way up into management. She then
joined the magazine sector, where she did very well. In the 1990's, while on sabbatical leave from her job, she
visited the Philippines. Jane had heard of the terrible living conditions of the families who were living and
working in Manila's rubbish dumps. She asked a taxi driver to take her to the worst slum areas. It was a pivotal
moment for her and the start of a campaign to help to try to break the cycle of poverty in that area. She
secured the funding to build a new school using recycled shipping containers. She set up an after-school club
and gave food parcels to the children who attended the school to try keep them off the rubbish tip. Children
from the school have gone on to achieve great things. One of them joined the Philippine National Ballet and
others have gone to university. The Philipinne government also agreed to let the charity take over another
building so that it could create a second school. In 2002 Jane set up the Purple Community Fund as a UK
registered charity. PCF, understanding well the negative impact that high levels of poverty have on children
and families and its detrimental effects on all aspects of their lives, has developed a holistic approach to combat
it. Its centres provide education, livelihood workshops, skills training, healthcare, nutrition, clean water, social
welfare and also emergency and disaster relief. This ensures that the families continue to see improvements in
the quality of their lives. PCF has also set up businesses locally to make recycled waste into useful products that
can be sold in developed countries. One of these projects is making handbags from aluminium ringpulls, which
are sold in the UK and elsewhere; our Club collect ringpulls for them. Another project recycles old aircraft tyres
to make boots and shoes. From 2013, PCF has been supported by Rotary, notably the two Godalming Rotary
Clubs: Goldalming and Godalming Woolsack and also by Rotary International. Joy and colleagues brought some
handbags and jewellery, all made from recycled materials to sell to our members. Carol thanked Joy for her very interesting talk