Tag Archive for: Charity Fundraising

Szent György University Hospital, Székesfehérvár, 2020

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The SME Sponsorship Scheme has gone from strength to strength since it was launched a number of years ago, and we were delighted this year to be able to support a hospital in Fejér county for the first time.

Norhot Kft. is a real estate company based in Budapest, and the owners joined our scheme for the first time in 2020, identifying Fejér county as the region that they wished to support.

As is custom with our new donations we turned to the RBIF’s medical adviser, Professor György Fekete, to help us in our search for a worthy beneficiary. We were put in contact with Dr Gábor Simon, who runs the paediatric department at the Szent György University Hospital in Székesfehérvár.

The doctors and nurses at the paediatric department revealed that volumetric pumps would be most useful for their daily work, and asked if we could help. Thanks to the generosity of Norhot Kft., and with the RBIF matching the donation, we were able to fund the purchase of two Alaris volumetric pumps and an infusion stand.

According to Dr Simon,

The Alaris volumetric pumps are extremely useful for the department. When treating children, especially those in critical conditions, it is crucial for fluid and volume replacement to be precise and aligned with body weight. Medicines administered in certain infusions can be dosed with precision thanks to the volumetric pumps.

The pumps offer a versatile and flexible platform for infusion therapy, which is suitable across a broad range of applications, and they have a range of features suited to drug therapy, blood transfusions and parenteral feeding, with a large, clear display and intuitive operation.

A big thank you to Norhot Kft. for their kind donation, and for agreeing to continue their involvement in 2021, so we can look forward to completing another project next year.

Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Debrecen University Clinical Centre, 2020

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Every year the Robert Burns International Foundation encourages small and medium-sized businesses to get involved in our charity work by means of the SME Sponsorship Scheme.

Running for several years now, this scheme enables companies to make targeted donations to specific projects helping sick and underprivileged children around the country. All donations are doubled by the RBIF to really make a difference to the project in question. What is more, the sponsor in question can choose which part of the country they wish to support.

WhiskyNet need no introduction to those who are familiar with the Annual Budapest Burns Supper. A long-standing and successful company ensuring Hungary is well supplied with the finest whiskies that Scotland and the world has to offer, not to mention a fine supply of gins and rums, the owners Zsolt and Kati contacted the RBIF in early 2020 with their intention to join the SME Sponsorship Scheme. After identifying eastern Hungary as their preferred area, and following the advice of our medical adviser Prof. György Fekete, we settled on the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the Debrecen University Clinical Centre.

Discussions with Head Physician Tamás Kovács resulted in the choice of equipment being a Novos Bililed Maxi device, which is used for the phototherapy treatment of jaundice in newborn babies.

Jaundice is a common phenomenon in the days immediately after birth; it is generally mild, and soon passes by itself. However, high levels of bilirubin in the blood can cause the jaundice to more pronounced, leading to drowsiness, eating difficulties and therefore dehydration. In some cases jaundice can be a symptom of more extreme underlying diseases, which in turn can cause brain damage and/or require blood transfusions.

Head Physician Tamás Kovács:

This device purchased with the help of the Robert Burns International Foundation is very effective and can be used continuously. It converts the bilirubin in the skin making it easier to travel harmlessly through the body. It helps newborns and premature babies to overcome their jaundice more quickly, and in serious cases to avoid risky blood transfusions, and we could not have purchased it without the help of the RBIF.

Péterfy Sándor Hospital, Budapest, 2020

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The Péterfy Sándor Street Hospital, located in District 7, is one of Budapest’s oldest and largest hospitals in Budapest with nearly 1,600 beds, where patients can be treated for many different ailments and conditions. 

The neonatal wing is run by Dr Gábor Baross who, with the support of his team, can deal with anything between 500 and 600 premature babies every year with a maximum capacity to accommodate 20 to 30 babies at any one time.

This department of the hospital has been a beneficiary of support from the Robert Burns International Foundation for many years, and following the most recent donation of equipment received in 2019, a further easing and enabling of the teams to work with premature babies, was planned in 2020.

The funds provided by the Foundation made the departments work easier and the care of premature babies became safer. During the year the department’s wards were renovated and the “kis-mama” rooms were redecorated.

Further donations also enabled replacement of the old workstations of the preterm-infant nurses, providing them with modern, much more practical and comfortable ones.

According to Gábor Boross:

This not only means better working conditions for the nurses and employees, it also helps us ensure safer patient care.

Completing the year’s donation also provided for 3 Mindray uMEC 10-12 monitors complete with stands and accessories for them. These monitors are fixtures in the department and are used on a daily basis. In past years the RBIF has donated several monitors of this type, and they have proven their reliability with easy and user-friendly operation. Their constant usage dictates that over time they need to be replaced, and thanks to the generosity of the guests and sponsors of the annual Burns Supper the Robert Burns International Foundation is able to help make sure that the department always has the necessary number of functional and reliable equipment at its disposal.

2020 Annual BBQ

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The forecast all week held out the prospect of rain, but again we were fortunate with the weather as 100 guests descended on the wine village of Etyek for the RBIF’s 3rd Annual BBQ on 30 August 2020.

With plenty of space for kids to run around the venue is the perfect location to relax as the summer draws to a close, and we were certainly well looked after.

BBQ cuisine

Paul Mizener and his team at the Chefparade cooking school had been preparing the food for up to 48 hours in some cases, and this was evident in the range of delicious meats they put on: BBQ spare ribs, chicken thighs prepared in the smoker, burnt end chili, amazing fillet steak, and the ever-popular BBQ pulled pork, accompanied by coleslaw, pickles and potatoes..

And if that were not enough, at the end we were able to enjoy Paul’s famous brownie, you need to taste it to believe it.

Fine wines

But it wasn’t all about the food, once again we enjoyed the support of the Etyeki Kúria Winery, who popped over from their neighbouring estate and allowed us to taste some great wines, the Pláne Frizzante White, the Kúria Rose, and the Kúria Red, all perfectly suited to the weather and the food.

Sponsors’ help is crucial

Events like the BBQ don’t fund themselves, so we were very grateful for the help of Mike Glover and his team at Taxually (“VAT compliance has never been easier”), whose generous offer of sponsorship enabled us to hold this year’s event. We raised almost HUF 200,000 which will be put towards our projects in 2021.

We were fortunate to be able to organise the BBQ against the background of COVID-19 and all the complications it brings, and fingers crossed we will see you all again in January for the Burns Supper at the Corinthia Hotel.

Just click on the photo below to view all the pictures from the BBQ:

photos: Pelle Zoltán

2019 Annual BBQ

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On 1 September 2019 the RBIF held its second annual BBQ at the Chefparade Country venue in Etyek, just 30 minutes outside Budapest.

In glorious sunshine, the RBIF returned to the beautiful location in the wine-village of Etyek for a fun family day, but also to raise money for the Bethesda Children’s Hospital in Budapest.

Second charity RBIF BBQ event

The BBQ was a great success with the guests spanning the generations, who were able to relax in the sun or the shade with a glass of beer or a glass of wine from the local winery, the Etyeki Kúria, before Paul Mizener and his team of chefs at Chefparade got the BBQ lunch underway.

Fillet steak, BBQ spare ribs, pulled pork, roast chicken and chili con carne were all on the menu, followed by brownies to finish off.

Playful afternoon

Whilst all this was going on the kids were able to run around and play in the huge area beside the BBQ, with football, sack races, croquet, frisbees and all sorts of other games on offer. Keller & Mayer also brought a variety of board games to keep the young ones occupied.

The event couldn’t have been the success it was without the support of the sponsors below, a big thank you to all of them.

Hungary’s fastest-growing online expat portal and the RBIF’s media partner, Expat Press Hungary Magazine, was also at the event.

We look forward to seeing you all next year!

Just click on the photo below to view all the pictures from the BBQ:

photos: Pelle Zoltán

2nd Dept. of Paediatrics, SOTE, Budapest, 2020

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The Robert Burns International Foundation has donated equipment to the 2nd Department of Paediatrics at Semmelweis University in Tűzoltó utca every year since the roots of the Foundation were laid in 1998.

Following in his late father’s footsteps, Professor Dr. György Fekete led the 2nd Department until his semi-retirement in 2009. Author of 118 paediatric publications with 1034 citations, we are proud that he continues to advise the Foundation each year on deserving causes for the support of sick and underprivileged children around Hungary. In such capacities, he has long been recognised as one of the country’s unsung heroes for sick children.

In 2010, recommended by the British Embassy, Professor Fekete led the highly successful Royal Visit of the Duchess of Cornwall and the British Ambassador around this department. The Foundation is lucky to continue to be advised by a man of such professional international standing and integrity.

This year, the second department requested Electro-Thermal Bipolar Vessel Sealing (EBVS) equipment for electro surgery. This is used for sealing blood vessels of up to 7mm in diameter.

The devices fuse vessel walls and create seals using a combination of electrical current and mechanical pressure, creating strong seals via the targeted, feedback-controlled delivery of compression and heat, resulting in significantly less intraoperative and postoperative bleeding. – Dr. Zoltán Jenővári, Head of Surgery.

Long overdue in SOTE II, the technology was originally introduced in 1998 and since then has been used widely for a variety of laparoscopic and open surgical procedures worldwide, making them safer and more efficient. The procedure especially benefits children with challenging tumours.

Dr. Jenővári added:

We are extremely pleased that the Foundation supported the acquisition of these devices which provide much help in improving the surgical treatment of hundreds of our patients every year. Our grateful thanks in the name of the patients and surgeons as well.

 

Szent György University Hospital, Székesfehérvár, 2020

, , , ,

The SME Sponsorship Scheme has gone from strength to strength since it was launched a number of years ago, and we were delighted this year to be able to support a hospital in Fejér county for the first time.

Norhot Kft. is a real estate company based in Budapest, and the owners joined our scheme for the first time in 2020, identifying Fejér county as the region that they wished to support.

As is custom with our new donations we turned to the RBIF’s medical adviser, Professor György Fekete, to help us in our search for a worthy beneficiary. We were put in contact with Dr Gábor Simon, who runs the paediatric department at the Szent György University Hospital in Székesfehérvár.

The doctors and nurses at the paediatric department revealed that volumetric pumps would be most useful for their daily work, and asked if we could help. Thanks to the generosity of Norhot Kft., and with the RBIF matching the donation, we were able to fund the purchase of two Alaris volumetric pumps and an infusion stand.

According to Dr Simon,

The Alaris volumetric pumps are extremely useful for the department. When treating children, especially those in critical conditions, it is crucial for fluid and volume replacement to be precise and aligned with body weight. Medicines administered in certain infusions can be dosed with precision thanks to the volumetric pumps.

The pumps offer a versatile and flexible platform for infusion therapy, which is suitable across a broad range of applications, and they have a range of features suited to drug therapy, blood transfusions and parenteral feeding, with a large, clear display and intuitive operation.

A big thank you to Norhot Kft. for their kind donation, and for agreeing to continue their involvement in 2021, so we can look forward to completing another project next year.

Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Debrecen University Clinical Centre, 2020

, , ,

Every year the Robert Burns International Foundation encourages small and medium-sized businesses to get involved in our charity work by means of the SME Sponsorship Scheme.

Running for several years now, this scheme enables companies to make targeted donations to specific projects helping sick and underprivileged children around the country. All donations are doubled by the RBIF to really make a difference to the project in question. What is more, the sponsor in question can choose which part of the country they wish to support.

WhiskyNet need no introduction to those who are familiar with the Annual Budapest Burns Supper. A long-standing and successful company ensuring Hungary is well supplied with the finest whiskies that Scotland and the world has to offer, not to mention a fine supply of gins and rums, the owners Zsolt and Kati contacted the RBIF in early 2020 with their intention to join the SME Sponsorship Scheme. After identifying eastern Hungary as their preferred area, and following the advice of our medical adviser Prof. György Fekete, we settled on the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the Debrecen University Clinical Centre.

Discussions with Head Physician Tamás Kovács resulted in the choice of equipment being a Novos Bililed Maxi device, which is used for the phototherapy treatment of jaundice in newborn babies.

Jaundice is a common phenomenon in the days immediately after birth; it is generally mild, and soon passes by itself. However, high levels of bilirubin in the blood can cause the jaundice to more pronounced, leading to drowsiness, eating difficulties and therefore dehydration. In some cases jaundice can be a symptom of more extreme underlying diseases, which in turn can cause brain damage and/or require blood transfusions.

Head Physician Tamás Kovács:

This device purchased with the help of the Robert Burns International Foundation is very effective and can be used continuously. It converts the bilirubin in the skin making it easier to travel harmlessly through the body. It helps newborns and premature babies to overcome their jaundice more quickly, and in serious cases to avoid risky blood transfusions, and we could not have purchased it without the help of the RBIF.

Péterfy Sándor Hospital, Budapest, 2020

, , ,

The Péterfy Sándor Street Hospital, located in District 7, is one of Budapest’s oldest and largest hospitals in Budapest with nearly 1,600 beds, where patients can be treated for many different ailments and conditions. 

The neonatal wing is run by Dr Gábor Baross who, with the support of his team, can deal with anything between 500 and 600 premature babies every year with a maximum capacity to accommodate 20 to 30 babies at any one time.

This department of the hospital has been a beneficiary of support from the Robert Burns International Foundation for many years, and following the most recent donation of equipment received in 2019, a further easing and enabling of the teams to work with premature babies, was planned in 2020.

The funds provided by the Foundation made the departments work easier and the care of premature babies became safer. During the year the department’s wards were renovated and the “kis-mama” rooms were redecorated.

Further donations also enabled replacement of the old workstations of the preterm-infant nurses, providing them with modern, much more practical and comfortable ones.

According to Gábor Boross:

This not only means better working conditions for the nurses and employees, it also helps us ensure safer patient care.

Completing the year’s donation also provided for 3 Mindray uMEC 10-12 monitors complete with stands and accessories for them. These monitors are fixtures in the department and are used on a daily basis. In past years the RBIF has donated several monitors of this type, and they have proven their reliability with easy and user-friendly operation. Their constant usage dictates that over time they need to be replaced, and thanks to the generosity of the guests and sponsors of the annual Burns Supper the Robert Burns International Foundation is able to help make sure that the department always has the necessary number of functional and reliable equipment at its disposal.

2020 Annual BBQ

, , ,

The forecast all week held out the prospect of rain, but again we were fortunate with the weather as 100 guests descended on the wine village of Etyek for the RBIF’s 3rd Annual BBQ on 30 August 2020.

With plenty of space for kids to run around the venue is the perfect location to relax as the summer draws to a close, and we were certainly well looked after.

BBQ cuisine

Paul Mizener and his team at the Chefparade cooking school had been preparing the food for up to 48 hours in some cases, and this was evident in the range of delicious meats they put on: BBQ spare ribs, chicken thighs prepared in the smoker, burnt end chili, amazing fillet steak, and the ever-popular BBQ pulled pork, accompanied by coleslaw, pickles and potatoes..

And if that were not enough, at the end we were able to enjoy Paul’s famous brownie, you need to taste it to believe it.

Fine wines

But it wasn’t all about the food, once again we enjoyed the support of the Etyeki Kúria Winery, who popped over from their neighbouring estate and allowed us to taste some great wines, the Pláne Frizzante White, the Kúria Rose, and the Kúria Red, all perfectly suited to the weather and the food.

Sponsors’ help is crucial

Events like the BBQ don’t fund themselves, so we were very grateful for the help of Mike Glover and his team at Taxually (“VAT compliance has never been easier”), whose generous offer of sponsorship enabled us to hold this year’s event. We raised almost HUF 200,000 which will be put towards our projects in 2021.

We were fortunate to be able to organise the BBQ against the background of COVID-19 and all the complications it brings, and fingers crossed we will see you all again in January for the Burns Supper at the Corinthia Hotel.

Just click on the photo below to view all the pictures from the BBQ:

photos: Pelle Zoltán

2020 Budapest Burns Supper

The Robert Burns International Foundation is to hold its 23rd Annual Burns Supper on 25 January 2020. As ever, we have chosen the splendid setting of the Corinthia Budapest for the event.

Join us for an elegant evening of traditional Scottish culture and entertainment, with a five-star meal, a pipe band, Scottish ceilidh dancing, and plenty of whisky, all while raising money for sick and under privileged children in Hungary.

As with all RBIF events, the money raised will be used to support the projects of the foundation in the coming months.

Tickets are priced at HUF 30,000 for the main ballroom and HUF 20,000 for the gallery. Corporate sponsorship opportunities are also available.

Tickets go on general sale on this website from 2 December 2020.

2019 Annual BBQ

, , ,

On 1 September 2019 the RBIF held its second annual BBQ at the Chefparade Country venue in Etyek, just 30 minutes outside Budapest.

In glorious sunshine, the RBIF returned to the beautiful location in the wine-village of Etyek for a fun family day, but also to raise money for the Bethesda Children’s Hospital in Budapest.

Second charity RBIF BBQ event

The BBQ was a great success with the guests spanning the generations, who were able to relax in the sun or the shade with a glass of beer or a glass of wine from the local winery, the Etyeki Kúria, before Paul Mizener and his team of chefs at Chefparade got the BBQ lunch underway.

Fillet steak, BBQ spare ribs, pulled pork, roast chicken and chili con carne were all on the menu, followed by brownies to finish off.

Playful afternoon

Whilst all this was going on the kids were able to run around and play in the huge area beside the BBQ, with football, sack races, croquet, frisbees and all sorts of other games on offer. Keller & Mayer also brought a variety of board games to keep the young ones occupied.

The event couldn’t have been the success it was without the support of the sponsors below, a big thank you to all of them.

Hungary’s fastest-growing online expat portal and the RBIF’s media partner, Expat Press Hungary Magazine, was also at the event.

We look forward to seeing you all next year!

Just click on the photo below to view all the pictures from the BBQ:

photos: Pelle Zoltán

New Year’s Honours 2019: Douglas Arnott to receive British Empire Medal

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The Chairman of the Robert Burns International Foundation, owner of EDMF Language Services Kft. and long-term Hungary resident Douglas Arnott has been awarded a British Empire Medal in the UK’s New Year’s Honours for services to charity and UK-Hungary relations.

The list of recipients is announced every year at the end of December. This year the British Empire Medal was awarded to a total of 358 people. Apart from those living in the British Isles only four people received this prominent award, including Douglas, who has been working at the RBIF helping sick and underprivileged children for seven years, five of which as Chairman.

Proficient in four languages, including Hungarian, Douglas graduated from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland with an honours degree in translation and interpreting, before settling in Hungary and establishing EDMF. For more than seven years he has been involved in the RBIF’s charitable activities, for which he was recognised with a BEM in the New Year’s Honours List.

The announcement of the award at the end of last year will be followed by the medal presentation this year along with a garden party at Buckingham Palace for the award winners.

About the British Empire Medal:

This high-level honour was established in 1917 as part of the Order of the British Empire and is awarded for meritorious civil or military service worthy of recognition by the Queen. Between 1993 and 2012 the BEM was not awarded to subjects of the United Kingdom, although it continued to be presented in some Commonwealth countries. The awarding of the British Empire Medal to subjects of the United Kingdom was resumed in 2012 to coincide with the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. The final decision on the medal awards is made by Queen Elisabeth II herself.

♦️Gilly McArthur (@gillymcarthur) által megosztott bejegyzés,

2018 Projects: Hódmezővásárhely/Makó

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In recent years the RBIF has been intensifying its activities beyond the boundaries of the capital Budapest, and 2018 was no exception.

As part of the SME Sponsorship Scheme, and as ever with the medical advice from Professor György Fekete, former director of the 2nd Department of Paediatrics at SOTE II in Budapest, we got in contact with Ferenc Papp, consultant physician and head of department at the paediatric unit in Hódmezővásárhely in southern Hungary.

Having teamed up with the RBIF in 2017, the staff at Inter Relocation Kft. again demonstrated their willingness to get involved with this ever-growing scheme organised by the RBIF. Such was the donation provided by Inter Relocation, and doubled by funds raised at the 2018 Burns Supper, that we were able to buy not just two but in fact three infusion pumps.

During our visit to the hospital in Makó in December 2018, where one of the pumps is already in use, Dr Papp explained that “the pump enables IV fluids and also medicines to be dosed very accurately compared to gravity-based drips”, which really enhances the standard of care. Until the RBIF donation was handed over, the hospital in Makó did not have any such infusion pump. The other two pumps are now also being used in Hódmezővásárhely.

In Makó, the RBIF represented by Chairman Douglas Arnott was accompanied by HM Ambassador Iain Lindsay, Honorary Patron of the RBIF, and Stuart McAlister, Managing Director at Inter Relocation Kft.

Stuart revealed he was delighted Inter Relocation were able to continue their involvement in the SME Scheme:

“Our sponsorship of individual projects, under the stewardship of the RBIF, plays a key role in Inter Relocation’s CSR program. It is incredible that we can make a clear and measurable difference to a hospital in need, by investing in key equipment. I was honoured to have the chance to meet with the staff of the hospital in Makó and to learn first-hand how our donation makes a difference to the staff of the paediatric department, and the children they treat there.”

2018 Projects: Zalaegerszeg

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Very early one cold December morning, when it was still dark, we hit the road to Zalaegerszeg in western Hungary, a place hitherto notable to me only for the unpronouncability of its name. 

I’ve since nailed the pronunciation (I had plenty of time in the car).  Anyway, I was undertaking a day of calls and public engagements on behalf of the Embassy in Zala.  And the most important event I took part in, as a member of the RBIF Curatorium, was the handover of a donation of a bronchoscope to the Zala County Szent Rafael hospital’s paediatric department with Dougie Arnott (Chairman) and Dennis Diokno of FirstMed.  This donation was enabled through our SME Sponsorship Scheme, with FirstMed teaming up with RBIF in this instance to double the value of the donation.

We were lucky enough to be given a tour of the Paediatrics Department by Dr László Gárdos, Head of Department.  There was a festive feel as, on 6 December, all the doctors and nurses were dressed in Santa hats for St Nicholas.  It was touching to meet some patients and their parents, and to witness the serenity and dedication of the staff.  Seeing the newborns was of course a particular joy.  We also saw the helipad of which the hospital was very proud – but sadly (or perhaps happily) no helicopters in sight.

Dr Gárdos received the bronchoscope on behalf of the hospital.  They have not, until now, had their own bronchoscope and he explained how it will help them diagnose a multitude of breathing problems much more easily and treat airway blockages when, for example, babies or children ingest small objects.

Dr Gabriella Halász, President of the Hospital, said it was a huge honour to receive the equipment.  In fact, I felt humbled by the whole occasion and thought, on the contrary, the honour was ours.

Caitlin Jones
Deputy Head of Mission at the British Embassy
Curatorium Member

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