Charity Fundraising

The Robert Burns International Foundation raises charity funds throughout the year, though it comes into strongest focus around the Burns Supper. But given what it commits to do, raising the money is as nothing if it is not spent.

Professor Dr György Fekete, the former Director of the II Paediatric Department of Semmelweis University in Budapest, acts as medical adviser to the RBIF, helping sift through the many applications for support to find and select the most appropriate and deserving projects.

The Hungarian health care system has been underfunded for years, since long before the global economic crisis began to tighten purse strings. As a result, donations from foundations, private sponsors and organisations are often the only ways open to hospitals in need of new equipment. The only alternatives are official Hungarian or EU research projects and grants, but the process of accessing the money is complex and time consuming. “Donations are easier and faster sources, because they do not require such a long administrative and bureaucratic processes as the applications for grants,” the Professor says.

“Since all the instruments serve basic, every-day medical needs, mostly important in the emergency and intensive-care treatment of ill children, these gifts have helped to save lives in many cases,” Fekete insists.

“Hungarian doctors and patients know and are very thankful for all of these donations, being aware of the difference to their work, on the one hand, and their improved chances for being healthy again on the other. In short, all the hospitals that have been supported over the years are now able to offer a higher level of medical care than before the donation, and this fact is very crucial for the benefit for our young patients!”

Thank you: Professor Dr György Fekete speaking at the 2011
Budapest Burns Supper. Photo courtesy of Tamás Rajna,
www.imagesbyrajna.com

The RBIF applies strict criteria before it agrees to pay out any monies. Hospital units must prove their need for the equipment and give guarantees the money will be used solely for the purposes outlined.

By Robin Marshall

Piping and drumming at the Parliament

In January 2018 the RBIF’s pipers and drummers accepted an invitation from the Hungarian Parliamentary Guard to play at Hungary’s iconic National Assembly building, the Hungarian Parliament. It was a genuine honour for the band to be asked, and it proved popular with the tourists as well!

The pipers and drummers were:

Rab Tait, David Proudfoot, Michael Gray, Grant Munro, Michael Rutherford, Steven Brown, Richard Fairnie and Barry Wilson.

2017 Budapest Burns Supper

,

20th Burns Supper: Money raised to help sick children exceeds HUF 8 million

At the 20th anniversary gala and Scottish cultural event of the Robert Burns International Foundation (RBIF) on 21 January, donations raised for the healthcare projects embraced by the foundation amounted to more than ever before.

This year’s 20th Anniversary Budapest Burns Supper – not unlike in previous years – was held for its exclusive guests in the grandiose ballroom of the Corinthia Hotel with a typical dose of Scottish culture.

Following the celebratory toast of Iain Lindsay, British Ambassador to Hungary, Zoltán Magyar founder of the RBIF and President of the Hungarian Scottish Society, and Douglas Arnott, Chairman of the RBIF Curatorium, awarded PriceWaterhouseCoopers the Ferenc Puskás – Sir Alex Ferguson Award, given annually to the sponsor of the year. The award was named after the legendary captain of the Golden Team, Ferenc Puskás, and the honorary president of the foundation, Sir Alex Ferguson, former manager of Manchester United, and is always given to the company that was the most outstanding supporter of the foundation that year. This spring, Ferguson will personally hand the award over to Nick Kós, managing director of PwC, at a Manchester United football match at Old Trafford.

The Burns Supper, full of original Scottish culinary delicacies, is organised annually in honour of Scotland’s national poet, Robert Burns. This year, besides the Scottish pipers and dancers, and the indispensable haggis with its special ceremony, folk dancers from Transylvania added some Hungarian spice to the event.

The Budapest Burns Supper is unique in the sense that the money gathered from entrance fees, the raffle and the auction of products, services offered by sponsors is spent entirely on charity by the Robert Burns International Foundation. At this year’s event this amounted to HUF 8 million, from which the foundation will buy medical equipment for the neonatal unit of the Péterfy Children’s Hospital, the 2nd Department of Paediatrics in Tűzoltó utca, Budapest, and Miskolc Hospital, as well as supporting the Zabar Nursery School in Nógrád county. The foundation raised more than HUF 12 million for healthcare institutions in 2016.

For photos and videos please click here:

Sponsor of the Year: PwC Hungary
Gold sponsors: Budapest Airport, Corinthia Hotel, Deloitte Hungary, Generali Insurance
Silver sponsors: KPMG, Qatar Airways, Diageo, DHL, Woodbrook Wealth
Bronze sponsors: Toray Water AG

The Robert Burns International Foundation (RBIF) is supported by the British Ambassador to Hungary and the Hungarian Ambassador to the UK. The Honorary President of the foundation is Sir Alex Ferguson, former manager of Manchester United football club. In the last 20 years the organisation has raised several hundred thousand euros to help sick and underprivileged children.

Contact: [email protected]

2016 Budapest Burns Supper

,

19th Burns Supper: more than HUF 5 million raised for premature babies and sick children

At the largest charity event of the Robert Burns International Foundation (RBIF), the traditional Scottish Burns Supper held on 23 January 2016, the guests raised more than HUF 5 million for the child health-care projects earmarked by the Foundation – this year including the Neonatal Department of the Péterfy Sándor Hospital and the 2nd Department of Paediatrics in Tűzoltó utca.

RSphoto127

The Budapest Burns Supper is one of the highlights of the ball season, attended by executives, ambassadors, business-owners and groups of friends. At the evening demonstrating facets of Scottish culture, the guests were entertained by a children’s choir, a live bagpipe performance, a young opera singer and Scottish country dancers, before being able to learn different Scottish dances themselves after the dinner.

Zoltán Magyar, founder of the RBIF and the Hungarian-Scottish Society, along with Douglas Arnott, Chairman of the RBIF Curatorium handed over the Sponsor of the Year trophy, the Puskás Ferenc – Sir Alex Ferguson Award, to Deloitte. The award bears the name of the legendary Hungarian footballer and captain of the “Golden Team”, as well as the Honorary President of the RBIF, former manager of Manchester United. The trophy is awarded to the most outstanding supporter of the Foundation over the year. Sir Alex Ferguson will hand over the trophy in person to Gerard Lucey, CFO of Deloitte, at a home Manchester United game at Old Trafford this autumn. The Loyal Toast was given by Caitlin Jones, Chargé d’Affaires at the British Embassy in Budapest to the 315 guests. As a special guest of the evening, György Szöllősi, representing the Puskás Ferenc Institute, handed over a copy of the Puskás biography to the Sponsor of the Year. This third edition with a foreword by Ferguson was published in December 2015.

RSphoto054

What is special about the Budapest Burns Supper is that the funds raised from tickets, the raffle as well as products and services offered by sponsors for the are donated in their entirety by the Robert Burns International Foundation for charitable purposes. This amounted to more than HUF 5 million at this year’s event, which the RBIF will be using to buy special equipment for the Neonatal Department at the Péterfy Sándor Hospital, and helping to fund the renovation of the operatingtheatre and related facilities at the 2nd Department of Paediatrics in Tűzoltó utca. In 2015 a further HUF 10 million was donated to these two institutions for medical equipment.

Photos and videos, click here

2015 Budapest Burns Supper

,

The Grand Ballroom of the Corinthia Hotel Budapest hosted the 18th Annual Budapest Burns Supper on 24 January 2015. Around 300 guests packed into the ballroom for an evening of great entertainment with fine food, fine wines, and fine whiskies.

DSC_4634

Everyone was able to enjoy live pipe band music featuring world champion musicians, the traditional Address to the Haggis by Rab Tait, the lead piper, a choir performance by children from the Austrian-Hungarian Europaschule, and a Scottish country dancing display.

The chef at the Corinthia Hotel put together a superb menu including haggis flown in fresh from Inverness, Scotland. A night of Scottish culture and entertainment would not be complete without suitable refreshments, and we were fortunate to enjoy the support of Dreher, Diageo, Zwack Hungary and WhiskyNet, who manned the whisky-tasting bar again with a selection of malts from all round Scotland, while Vargabor and Hangácsi és Fia provided top-quality wines to accompany the meal.

The Puskás Ferenc – Sir Alex Ferguson Trophy was presented to the RBIF’s Sponsor of the Year, the Mercedes-Benz / Evobus, represented by General Manager Ingo Fröhlich. The trophy will be presented again by the RBIF’s Honorary President Sir Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford, Manchester in April 2015.DSC_4583

The raffle prizes (first prize: two tickets with Turkish Airlines anywhere in the world) and the auction items were very popular, raising over 5 million HUF on the night, a fantastic achievement, and this money will be used over the year to sponsor the projects designated by the Foundation.

As ever we are grateful to all our sponsors who make this event possible.

Burns Suppers

TK2

TK2: PATIENCE, LOVE, DISCIPLINE HELP KEEP DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN IN SCHOOL

Sam isn’t doing too well at school.  But without the support of TK2 he wouldn’t be in school at all.

The 14-year-old is having to repeat grade six because he didn’t show up to re-sit an exam – one which his tutors at Blythswood’s after-school programme believe he could have passed if he tried.

At TK2, Sam has proven that he has real ability, especially in acting, dance, choreography and music.  “He has played major roles in all our musicals so far,” says Adrian Popa, director of Blythswood’s Talita Kum project.  “His drums teacher says that he could easily play in a band.”

Sam is the youngest of five children from a low-income family who share three small rooms in a former army barracks lacking even the most basic amenities.  From the day he started school he had difficulty fitting in: his bad language and physical violence caused frequent disruption.

“Even Blythswood’s social workers thought of giving up on him,” Adrian admits.  “Only their patience, love, discipline and determination have kept him from dropping out of school.

“Sam is still causing trouble in and out of school but is a totally different child at Talita Kum, respectful and trying to get ready for the next day.”

Social workers from TK2 sometimes visit him at school and sit in on his classes.  “This provides a significant incentive for Sam to behave,” says Adrian.  “The teachers would love this to happen more often.”

Adrian is in no doubt that without the incentive provided by TK2 Sam would have dropped out of school completely.  Admission is conditional on having attended classes that day.  “Sometimes he goes missing for a day or two and gets into bad company.  But he comes back and admits he was wrong and promises to be stronger next time.

“Every day he is torn between what he learns with us and what he thinks he has to do and say to please his friends.”

TK2 extends Talita Kum’s provision of nutrition, education and cultural activities to children aged 11-14, giving them the support they need to continue their schooling, despite disadvantages at home.

Hospital Appeal 2011

1) Mezőtúr Városi Kórház (Mezőtúr Town Hospital) Paediatric Unit, Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok County. Mezőtúr lies in the centre of the Alföld (the Great Hungarian Plain), about 150 km (90 miles) southeast of Budapest.

Pulsoximeter and sensor: a sensitive monitor for blood oxygenation in the intensive care of newborn babies, as well as in infants and children. “The modern intensive care of urgent, life-threatening diseases simply can not be done without this appliance,” says Professor Fekete.

Air humidifying chamber and camera: for the treatment of children suffering from asthma. This is important throughout the whole year, because asthma is a very frequent disease in childhood.”

Total support HUF 1,099,080.

2) Felső-Szabolcsi Kórház (Upper Szabolcsi Hospital) Paediatric Unit, Kisvárda, Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County. Kisvárda is about 280 km (170 miles) northeast of Budapest.

Electrocardiograph machine, bought by Upper Szabolcsi Hospital with RBIF funds, in use.
Photo courtesy of Dr. Sándor Molnár 

ECG CARDIETTE AR 1200adv VIEW: electrocardiograph machine for every-day diagnostic evaluation of the heart. “An updated, excellent machine,” the Professor says.

Paramedic iPad Defibrillator: for use in acute emergency situations, when heart function stops. “It is obligatory for all hospital units where severely ill children are referred and treated.”

Injection-infusion pump: for intravenous infusions when dealing with shock or infectious diseases. “This is the modern method of long-term fluid and electrolyte infusion therapy in infants and children.”

Total support HUF 1,039,400


3) Városi Kórház Rendelőintézet Gyógyfürdő és Rehabilitációs Központ (Town Hospital and Rehabilitation Centre and Spa), Paediatric Unit, Kiskunfélegyháza, Bács-Kiskun county. Kiskunfélegyháza is in southern Hungary, some 120 kilometres (75 miles) southeast of Budapest

ECG Cardioline AR1200 View monitor: for permanent observation of heart functions,

ABPM-05 ambulatory blood pressure monitor: for 24-hour monitoring, and computerised evaluation in several disorders causing elevated blood pressure.

Total support HUF 970,000

4) Szent Lázár Megyei Kórház (County Hospital of St. Lazarus), Paediatric Unit, Salgótarján, Nógrád County. Salgótarján lies about 110 km (70 miles) northeast of Budapest.

POX Infusion Pumps: for function, see 2) above.

Total support HUF 1,000,000

5) Tolna Megyei Balassa János Kórház (Tolna County Balassa János Hospital), Paediatric Unit, Szekszárd, Tolna County. Szekszárd is roughly 150 km (90 miles) south of Budapest.

CAS MEDICAL SYSTEMS, Inc. CAS-740-1 blood pressure monitor: For function, see 3) above.

Total support HUF 427,470

“All of the equipment applied for by the above mentioned hospitals and paediatric units has a major impact on the high quality management of diagnostic and treatment care of children suffering with severe, sometimes acute and life-threatening, diseases,” Fekete says.

2013 Curling Weekend

The inaugural RBIF Curling Weekend was held on 16-17 November at the Kamaraerdei Curling Club in Budaörs, where almost 100 complete beginners got their first taste of this centuries’ old winter sport.

The choice of curling may seem strange, but with the sport having been invented in Scotland around 500 years ago, this was an opportunity that a Scottish-Hungarian foundation simply could not miss.

Sliding, sweeping, not falling over, these were just some of the skills that the budding curling players were taught in groups of 16 over the weekend. What surprised everyone was the physical stamina required on the ice rink, especially with curling broom in hand. Did you know a professional curler can burn up to 3000 calories during a championship game?

The instructors at the club were very professional, and patient (!) with all the participants, and the high standard of instruction was demonstrated by the fact that after just 2 hours, all the teams were able to pair off and have mini competitions.

DSC05547

Thanks to our catering sponsor Tom&George’s Italiano there was some delicious finger-food waiting for the curlers when they eventually made their way off the ice, often reluctantly!

Apart from the Curling Club and the Hungarian Curling Federation, without whose help the event would never have got off the ground, our thanks also goes to the Hungarian Paralympic Association and KPMG for their assistance in part-financing the weekend cost of hiring the ice rink.

Due to the resounding success of the event we plan to make this a regular annual fundraiser, so if you fancy yourself as the next curling champion, or would just like to give it a go, keep an eye on our Facebook page and website next year!

Pictures of the event can be found on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Robert-Burns-International-Foundation/226156137507358?ref=hl

Bandsmen Walk the Way for charity

The bandsmen who have for years added an authentic Scottish soundtrack to the annual Budapest Burns Supper are to walk the 96 miles (154 km) of the West Highland Way in a bid to raise funds for this year’s Robert Burns International Foundation charity project: a HUF 29 million (EUR 105,000) appeal to reconstruct a five-bed intensive care unit at the II Department of Paediatrics, Semmelweis University, Budapest.
west-highlandThe nine-strong group plan to leave Milngavie, the traditional starting post for the long distance route close to Glasgow, at approx 9 am on Friday, 29 March and will hopefully arrive in Fort William on Tuesday, 2 April. Along the way they will have taken in some of the most beautiful of Scotland’s scenery, from lowland moors, dense woodland and rolling hills, to high mountainous regions in the Scottish Highlands.

These environments provide habitats for a diverse range of wildlife species, both flora and fauna, and for five days and four nights will also be home to pipers Rab Tait and Grant Munro, and drummers John Benson, Steven Brown, Miles McIntyre, Michael Rutherford, and Barry and Colin Wilson. Kirtstie Tait, Rab’s youngest daughter, will also accompany the men.

“We have decided to wild camp,” explains Rab, “which basically means we will only have the provisions, clothes and sleeping equipment we can carry. We have never done anything like this before, and as pipers and drummers are not known for our fitness levels!”

IMG_2026The bandsmen have supported the RBIF for 10 years, performing at its Burns Night events and often attending at their own expense, as well as playing at St Andrew’s Night suppers and visiting orphanages, schools and hospitals in Budapest. Now they are hoping to raise much needed money for what Rab calls “a truly worthwhile cause”. You can sponsor the bandsmen (and one daughter) direct, via PayPal, or with a bank transfer to the RBIF account.

The II Department of Paediatrics is putting an additional HUF 11 million (EUR 40,000) of its own limited funds into the project, which will see the ICU completely reconfigured and renovated with new wiring, cables, alarms, breathing apparatus and a spare generator in the event of power failure. Two of the beds will be in protective isolation areas, but all five will be independent of each other, with their own monitoring and resuscitation equipment and a dedicated nurse. In addition to serving the hospital itself, the ICU will be the weekend emergency unit for Budapest.

For more information on the Robert Burns International Foundation, the appeal and the West Highland way, follow the links below.

Where it all started

Welcome to the West Highland Way

Prepared for the Robert Burns International Foundation by Robin Marshall MBE of Devil’s Advocate Communications as a pro bono service.