SMITH FAMILY

Your relatives - Children in Desperate Need!

When they were young, the future seemed bright for these children. They were strong and healthy, bright and good-looking. Their father earned enough to provide everything they needed, and their mother could stay at home to look after them properly.

The children continued to grow strong and healthy. They were all taller than the average child of their age. They were all very good-looking. They were polite and very well-behaved. They were all cleverer than average, and their father was able to pay to enrol them all in good schools. Their mother could still stay at home, to take the children to school, to collect the younger children when they left school in the afternoon, and to be with them all the time during school holidays.

Year by year, the children continued to excel at school, and to develop their own personalities.

Ben, the eldest, is a quiet boy with many friends at school. He is among the tallest and strongest boys is his year at school, and he has represented his school at rowing. Ben is a handsome boy, and his Facebook account is besieged by girls wanted to be his friend. (He says that he is not interested in girls yet.) His grades are in the top 12% of his year at school, and he has written a computer game on the internet that has been played by over 80,000 people. Ben, on current progress, is sure to be offered a place at a good college.

Brook is already turning into a very lovely young lady. So lovely, in fact, that her mother is almost terrified of the coming teenage years. Brook's manners, and her speech, are very lady-like, and are those of a girl at least two years older. Brook excels at English and Maths. She is sure to be able to pass the examinations to be offered a place at a very good school, in preparation for college.

Marcus is everybody's friend, and popular wherever he goes. He charms people with his sense of fun, and his good nature. He is tall, and exceptionally strong. He has superb balance and coordination, and does well at every sport he tries. His greatest love is football. His hair and complexion are darker than his brother and sister. He very much resembles his grandfather, which the other two do not. Like his grandfather too, Marcus has a great sense of mischief (which only just stops short of getting him into trouble.) A further resemblance to his grandfather is that Marcus is really excellent at maths. Other subjects at school do not really interest him so much, but Marcus's grades are still above average.

The disaster that threatens the children's futures!

It all happened so innocently. Their father was assembling a two-tier metal table in Ben's bedroom. The instructions did clearly say that it was a job for two men. Like most men in our family, their father was tall and strong and confident. Although he had a bad cold, he still thought he could lift as much weight as two ordinary men. He was only partly right. He coughed as he lifted the table. His arms and legs coped with the strain, but his abdomen did not. He thought he had pulled a muscle in his stomach.

Their father was in too much pain to risk driving. He staggered to his doctor's surgery, fortunately only some 800 yards away. He told his doctor that he had pulled a muscle in his stomach, and that it was agonizing when he coughed. Unfortunately, he added, he was coughing a lot because he had a bad cold.

Their father's doctor examined him. The doctor said that it was not a bad cold, it was pneumonia. Nor was it a pulled muscle. Their father had suffered a strangulated hernia, where the intestines were pinched. Without surgery, it would be fatal because he would be unable to either eat or drink. The doctor was amazed that their father had been able to walk at all with the pain, let alone 800 yards.

Their father was admitted to hospital for emergency surgery, and the operation went well. After two days, he was allowed home. After two more days, he was in agony again. While in hospital, he had caught a variant of MRSA.

MRSA is the most infamous mutation of staphylococcus aureus (abbreviated to s. aureus), a disease that has been killing people for centuries. It was s. aureus that killed King Henry VIII. When Dr Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, it was because he was seeking a cure for s. aureus, and for many years penicillin worked. Unfortunately, s. aureus mutated in time so as to be immune to penicillin, and we now have methicillin-resistant s. aureus (abbreviated to MRSA.)

Their father was in hospital for months. He had been infected so badly, that it would have killed an average man. MRSA is often described as a flesh-eating bacteria. The pain is like being burned alive. Their father had to be given morphine for the indescribable pain, while he struggled to remain alive. He still has to take morphine as his body slowly heals, and, due to the illness and to the effect of the drug, he still cannot work.

While their father was unable to work, his business collapsed. Overheads had continued to accrue, contracts had not been completed, and loans had fallen due. Instead of being a good earner, he was now deeply in debt. His creditors' lawyers closed in without mercy. He is unable to work to support his family, and is facing bankruptcy. Fortunately the family home has been in his wife's name for over 12 years, so the children cannot be made homeless. Unfortunately, desperately though she has tried, his wife cannot find work. There are few job vacancies for anybody, and the fact that she has been away from work for years counts against her.

Things are so desperate that the children's parents have to practically beg other family members to buy new shoes for the children. Their parents have not had new shoes, or any new clothes, for two years.

The greatest disaster for the children is the threat to their education. If they are denied a proper education, they will never be able to make it up in the future. They are all gifted and hard-working children, and they deserve a good education.

Ben's school was allowing him to remain on reduced fees, because he was such a good student, and because he was one of the best members of the school rowing team. The current world financial situation has led to the school refusing to renew almost all of its scholarships. The school has demanded that Ben's school fees be paid in full as from the next term, otherwise the school will refuse to allow him to attend any longer. Ben is facing vital examinations soon. To change school at all, let alone to a far inferior school, would probably ruin his chances of a good pass in the examinations, and to being offered a place at a good college.

Brook will certainly pass her examinations to be offered a place at a good girl's school, with a fine academic record, and with a high standard of behaviour, when she moves up a school. If the school fees cannot be afforded, Brook will have to go to the nearest state-funded school. This is an awful place, where students throw chairs around the classroom, and even assault teachers. Drugs, knives and promiscuity abound there. It is an appalling prospect for Brook, a beautiful and clever young lady, to be doomed to go there.

Marcus will pass his examinations for a good school, when he is due to change school. The school that Marcus hopes to attend has excellent sports coaching, and a fine science department. If the tuition fees cannot be found, Marcus will have to go the the local state-funded school. The sports equipment there has nearly all been wrecked by vandalism, and the science department is of a very low standard. Although Marcus is a cheerful boy, he is also sensitive. In such a depressing environment, he would lose heart and never achieve the academic results to enter college.

Three lovely and gifted children will either achieve academic success, or will have their hopes, and future careers, ruined. It all depends on money for tuition fees. The children's immediate family are now drained of money, and it still is nowhere near enough. The only hope for the children's future, is to turn to their extended family for support. That is you.

Family charitable trust (and its legal status)

All (literally 100%) of all revenue received is applied for the benefit of our family's children. The section below in green is required to fulfil our legal duty of fiduciary disclosure.

There was once a Family Charity. Like many small Charities, it had to be dissolved because of government action. Our family volunteers simply could not spend the huge amount of time needed to comply with the recent Charities Act. Our Charity's money would also have been drained in professional fees to comply with the new audit requirements of the Charities Act. The Charities Act was, of course, intended by the government to be a way of introducing new taxes on charities. The actual effect was to force many small charities to dissolve altogether, or to amalgamate with larger Charities.

Because our sole object is to benefit the family's children, we have been able to resurrect ourselves as a charitable trust. The objects are still "charitable" as defined by common law, but we have decided against remaining a "Charity" as defined by statute. A family charitable trust is also known in other jurisdictions as a family charitable foundation. The main differences to a Charity are:-

A Charity can reimburse expenses and pay salaries. As a charitable trust, we have to devote 100% of revenue to the benefit of the children. Our volunteers cannot even reclaim the costs of postage or telephone calls. Charities can make the first approach to the public to solicit donations. As a charitable trust, we have to wait until the public approach us (e.g. by visiting this website.) A Charity can make contracts whereby it promises to provide goods or services (e.g. selling advertising space on its website.) As a charitable trust, we can only makes statements of intention, and not legally binding contracts. A Charity can borrow money (e.g. to meet sudden emergencies.) As a charitable trust, we cannot borrow money, whatever the emergency. A Charity can vary its objects by means of the cy pres doctrine. As a charitable trust, we are strictly bound to spend 100% of revenue on the education of the children identified above, their advancement, and their relief from poverty. A Charity can dissolve itself. As an educational trust, the trust will remain in existence so long as any funds remain, or unless terminated by an order of the Court.

Regulations concerning the identification of children on the internet. Because of the inherent dangers involved in fully identifying young children on the internet, the pictures shown above are true pictures of the beneficiaries of the trust, but taken at least 2 years ago. Their true names are given, but their middle names rather than their first. Any person having proper cause (locus standi) to enquire into the affairs of the trust may do so, but as this will necessarily fully identify young children, contact must be made by way of a verifiable government department, or by way of a verifiable local lawyer. These steps are necessary to safeguard the privacy and welfare of the children, and are required by law.

Sources of revenue for the family charitable trust include:-

Individual donations, meaning gifts from private persons. We will publicly thank the donors on this website if requested. Corporate donations, meaning money received from firms and businesses. We will publicly thank the donors on this website if requested. This is effectively the same as buying advertising space, from a business point of view, but the following should be noted. We cannot contract to sell advertising space. The business has to make a donation, and rely on our good faith to thank the donor publicly. The business may have to account for the expense as public relations, rather than as advertising. The charitable trust cannot supply a tax invoice, as we are legally and actually not in business. We can supply a receipt if requested.

(This ends the section fulfilling our legal duty of fiduciary disclosure.)

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