SANDWELL ASIAN FAMILY SUPPORT SERVICE

History was made on Saturday 31^st March 2012 as 5,000 people became the first to cross the Olympic Stadium finish line in the National Lottery Park Run.

Sanjiv Verma was picked at random from almost 43,000 entrants; he took part in the 5 mile run around the Olympic stadium and made it to the finish line in 1 hour and 45 minutes.

Sanjiv said `it was a very emotional day and I loved it`

Sanjiv also said `thank you to Janette from CAB for nominating me and thanks to Warren from SAFSS for supporting me on the day`

SAFSS would like to say `Congratulations and well done!` to Sanjiv for completing the Olympic park run.

Congratulations to SAFSS volunteer Sanjiv Verma who has been nominated to take part in the National Lottery Olympic Park Run. Sanjiv is excited about this once in a lifetime opportunity and is training hard for the paralympic event on Saturday 31st March 2012 in London. Sanjiv will be supported by staff members from SAFSS.

Well done Sanjiv and good luck!

Watch this space for pictures of the event.

The Rik Basra Campaign aims to help save the lives of people with blood cancer by increasing the number of Asian donors on the Anthony Nolan register.

Rik Basra is a father of two from Leicestershire. A few months ago he was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia.  His only hope was a blood stem cell transplant, if a matching donor can be found.

Against the odds, Anthony Nolan found a match for Rik and he now has  a fighting chance.  However there are so many people who arn`t as lucky as Rik and that is why we need your help.

Join the register at www.nathonynolan.org/join or come along to a recruitment event on Sunday 25th March 2012, 11am-5pm at Nishkam Centre, 6 Soho Road, Birmingahm B21 9BH. You could be the only hope for someone like Rik.

For further information visit www.anthonynolan.org/rikbasra or contact rikbasracampaign@gmail.com

Chief Executive Parpinder K Dhatt is participating in the YMCA Sleep Easy and sleeping rough for one night.

If you would like to support Poppy please log onto her donation site at:

http://my.artezglobal.com/personalPage.aspx?SID=343470&langPref=en-CA

The event takes place on the weekend of the 2nd March 2012 and we will let you know how Poppy gets on! Keep warm Poppy!

SAFSS have signed up to Just Text Giving with vodafone, please support our charity by donating via text message. All donations will be gratefully received and will help us to provide the best service possible to our families.

Text:   SAFS10 and the amount you wish to donate to 70070

A big `thank you` goes  out to the Sandwell Community Payback team who were supervised by  Andy Mitchell  for supporting SAFSS with the decorating of  our new activity rooms. 

 The team have done a wonderful job and this could not have been achieved without the help of `Wickes` DIY stores for their donation of decorating materials. We would like to extend a further big `thank you` to Wickes in Handsworth and Lichfield.

 The decoration of the activity rooms has created a warm and inviting environment for all of SAFSS children, young people and adults.  A member of the adults group, Jaspreet said` I like this room, it`s nice I like to play football and games on the computer`

Santa Dave kindly made a visit to the Out of School Club during their Christmas  party. The children had a fantastic time and were very happy to see Santa who gave them some lovley presents. We would like to say a special `thank you` to Santa Dave for the visit and hope to see him again next year!  Thank you also to Irwin Mitchell Solicitors who donated the presents.

 Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year  from everyone at SAFSS.

SAFSS in partnership with Irwin Mitchell Solicitors are hosting a Health Awareness Day on Sunday 22nd Janaury 2012, please come and support us at Guru Har Rai Gurdwara in West Bromwich,  for further information see attached flyer  PI2049-P-SAFSS Health Awareness Day

It was party time at SAFSS when Paul, one of our adult service users celebrated his 26th birthday with his friends at SAFSS!

A big birthday cake, party food and drinks were generously donated by Paul’s mum and the whole group got ready to party.  Dancing shoes and party outfits were put on and the group danced the day away to all their favourite party music.

An enjoyable day was had by all. Happy birthday Paul from everyone at SAFSS.

 For further information about our services for adults with disabilities please contact Arathi Nahar on (0121) 558 2198 or email adults.safss@btconnect.com

One of our adults took part in the Special Olympics Athletics competition at the Alexander Stadium .

Cheered on by his friends from the SAFSS adults group, Jagdeep won an amazing two medals.  He won a Silver medal for second place in the 50 kilometer sprint and a fantastic Gold medal for winning the Soft Ball competition! 

 This was a memorable experience for Jagdeep and  his friends at SAFSS. The event was a great opportunity to experience and feel the atmosphere within the stadium and to  get involved with future competitions run by the Special Olympics.

The event also supported the groups interest in having fun, playing sports,  learning life long skills and  maintaining a healthy lifestyle. 

Congratulations to Jagdeep!

 For further information about our services for adults with disabilities, please contact Arathi Nahar at SAFSS on 0121 558 2198 or email adults.safss@btconnect.com