Water for Africa Supported by 4imprint in Latest Helping Hand Giveaway

MANCHESTER, England, October 24, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

As part of their Helping Hand programme 4imprint, the promotional items distributor, has donated printed umbrellas to the charity Water for Africa to help with their fundraising and awareness campaigns.

"We noticed the Helping Hand programme in the 4imprint catalogue, went online and applied for the branded umbrellas. We were thrilled to receive them as we've been able to send some out to Africa to help protect the drilling team and communities from the intense heat during the dry season and of course during the rainy season," says Sheryl Greentree, Trustee of Water for Africa. "The rest we will use as prizes for schools who are supporting us through fundraising initiatives."

The charity was established by a group of philanthropically minded business people back in 2003 that used their own capital to fund a drilling machine, trucks, vehicles and drilling consumables which they shipped over to The Gambia. They became a registered charity in the UK in 2006 and since that time, working only with donations from private individuals and their own fundraising efforts, including a foundation grant from The Waterloo Foundation, Water for Africa have drilled over 98 boreholes. These serve a variety of communities, health clinics, schools, agricultural gardens and farms and the charity estimate that more than 325,000 people have benefited from their work to date.

"With over 60% of water sources now failing across Africa, it is imperative that permanent support is provided to the communities on the ground," continues Sheryl Greentree. "We are proud that our model provides this necessary infrastructure, after all, we should not expect communities in Africa to be independent and completely self-sufficient, when we in the developed world receive services which are maintained, upgraded and supported."

Water for Africa only drill boreholes and not open wells because a borehole reaches the deeper aquifers and does not diminish in the dry season. It can be cost effectively upgraded from a hand-pump to a fully integrated irrigation system for agriculture and is safe to use by all members of the community with no risk of livestock or children falling into an open well.

As Cheryl Jackson-Leafield, 4imprint's Marketing Manager UK and Ireland explains: "We were very impressed with Water for Africa's philosophy of joint co-operation and long-term follow up programmes with the communities they help. A large part of their success must be down to the work they put in upfront reaching agreement with communities on how best to ensure they ring-fence contributions towards future repairs, service and upgrades and training a 'community water resources manager' to enable them to take ownership of the water system on a day to day basis."

During October 4imprint are offering promotional wristbands through their Helping Hand programme and printed cotton bags will be featured in November. More details about the Helping Hand charity giveaway can be found at: http://www.4imprint.co.uk/helpinghand

About 4imprint

4imprint Direct Limited is part of 4imprint Group plc that serves more than 100,000 businesses with its innovative promotional items and corporate gifts throughout the UK, Ireland, USA and Canada. Its promotional product offerings include personalised gifts, promotional pens, Post-it Notes, personalised mugs, keyrings, cotton bags, mousemats, printed drawstring bags, drink bottles, printed USBs, diaries & calendars, printed T-Shirts and much more. 4imprint's 'no quibble' guarantees include the promise that if the personalised goods are not despatched on time they'll be free! For additional information, visit http://www.4imprint.co.uk

About Water for Africa

Water for Africa is a UK charity which specialises in ground water resource management, drilling boreholes and health care projects within Africa. For additional information, visit http://www.waterforafrica.org.uk

For more information, contact:
Cheryl Jackson-Leafield, Marketing Manager UK and Ireland
+44(0)161-786-0304