PRESS RELEASE. 16th June 2011
Walk to raise money for the gift of sight to 100 blind people.
A group of 10 sponsored local Walsall residents both Christian and Muslim , will walk from Walsall Town Hall on Saturday 25th June to Birmingham Bull ring leaving at 9.30am with a send off from Councillor Graham Wilkes Deputy Mayor of Walsall. Each sponsored mile will represent £20 towards the £25 cost of providing a sight giving cataract operation at the eye camp in the flood victim area of Pakistan in September run by the local charities Midlands International Aid Trust ( MIAT) supported by Oak Tree Trust. The rest will be made up from the gift aid reclaim.
( Photocall with Walkers and Deputy Mayor Councillor Graham Wilkes 10am Friday 24th June Town Hall Walsall)
‘ We have already raised our target of £2500 to pay for 100 cataract operations which will restore the sight of 100 people in one of the poorest part of Pakistan. They will then be able to resume work to support themselves and their families’ said Mohammed Aslam MBE chair of MIAT.
‘ The vision of the joy expressed by the patients at previous eye camps when their bandages are removed after their operation will sustain us during the walk’ said Ian Robertson chair of Oak Tree Trust and one of the walkers.’
Using volunteer eye surgeons who travel at their own expense to Pakistan MIAT have been able to run a number of very successful eye camps in Pakistan over the past few years. We can demonstrate with photographs of individual patients all those who have received these free operations ,with 100% of donations from the generous people of Walsall going to provide the only cost of the operation which are for a blood test, eye drops and dressings.
Further information from
Mohammed Aslam MBE Chair of MIAT telephone 01922 442861 and 07501101342 at 92 Wednesbury Rd Walsall WS1 4JH
Ian Robertson chair of Oak Tree Trust 87 Belvidere Rd Walsall WS1 3AU tel 01922 634642 and 07956 829549.
