REFUGYM'S TRUSTEE'S ANNUAL REPORT
CHARITY NAME:
REFUGYM
REGISTRATION NUMBER:
1181499
ADDRESS:
16 Claremont Close, Orpington, Kent, BR6 7AD
TRUSTEES:
Brittany Pummell – Chair (since 26th July 2020) Clara Shanabrook – Trustee (since 2nd April 2020) David Alistair Gray – Trustee (since 1st January 2019) Dr Sanaz Yaghmai – Trustee (since 18th June 2020) Shakiba Moghadam – Trustee (since 20th August 2021)
REFUGYM STRUCTURE:
REFUGYM is a gym inside Malakasa Refugee Camp, Attica, Greece. The organisation aims to improve and promote the physical and mental well-being of asylum seekers residing in the camp, through access to a sports programme. The camp residents are encouraged to take ownership of the programme, and the gym is led by the refugee community, for their own community.
REFUGYM operates in Athens, Greece. The Chair Brittany Pummell works full-time in Greece overseeing the running of the sports programme and supporting the camp resident volunteers, and is advised by all trustees on decision through regular meetings via online video platforms.
An example of minutes of such meetings can be found here: (20th August 2021) https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KVirXpCloi4lcJ3lMk1ommp2ED_rjUZJJdPBvkxXKN8/edit? usp=sharing
Trustees are recruited based on their merit; what experience they have that is relevant to sports, notfor-profit, mental health and finances. Two trustees – Clara Shanabrook and Dr Sanaz Yaghmai – have direct experience in working with REFUGYM. Both trustees volunteered with REFUGYM in Malakasa Camp in 2019. In 2019, Sanaz established “The Circle of Hope”- a safe space for female residents of the
camp to discuss their feelings with Sanaz, a registered clinical psychologist, and guides them through a yoga, meditation and breathing practice. Today, Sanaz continues to offer this class remotely through online classes.
David Alistair Gray was registered as h;6e is a Chartered Accountant and has experience as a Trustee of another UK Charity (The Richard John Dayes Bishop Memorial Fund).
Brittany Pummell, David Alistair Gray and Fania Weatherby have been trustees since the inception of REFUGYM (January 2019), whilst Clara Shanabrook and Sanaz Yaghmai joined in 2020.
Fania Weatherby, left her position in February 2021. She did so by expressing her desire to leave to the trustee board, and then the remaining 3 trustees discussed who would be suitable to recruit as replacement trustees.
Decided upon was Shakiba Moghadam. Shakiba is a sport psychology doctoral researcher, specialising in mental health in sports, a trainee Psychologist, and a cybercrime research associate at the University of Portsmouth. Shakiba is also the co-owner of Move Training Centre, a calisthenics training facility dedicated to teaching the fundamentals of bodyweight training. Shakiba’s work is inspired and fuelled by her own experience as a former refugee from Iran, having moved to England at the age of 10. She wants to provide the support she never had as a young refugee by committing her time and efforts to organisations who provide humanitarian aid to refugees and asylum seekers. Shakiba is a Farsi speaker: the native language of the camp population REFUGYM works with.
ACTIVITIES:
REFUGYM is a refugee community-led gym in a refugee camp in Attica, Greece. We operate inside Malakasa Refugee Camp, within a permanent building that serves as our gym space. Camp residents run the entire sports timetable, supported by Brittany Pummell.
Sports that camp residents are able to access include: aerobics, basketball, dance, football, gymnastics, HIIT, hiking, Judo, kickboxing, Kung-Fu, self-defence, step-up, swimming, stand-up paddle boarding, volleyball, Wushu, yoga and Zumba.
REFUGYM also place an emphasis on running activities outside of the camp, in order to provide escapism from the monotony asylum seekers experience living in a refugee camp. Activities outside of the camp include hiking in the nearby mountains, professional basketball training, and swimming lessons. Brittany is an ASA qualified swimming instructor. REFUGYM partner with Tony Frey Windsurfing School in Athens to help facilitate swimming lessons and watersports, and AntetokounBros Academy in Athens that enrolls children from the camp in a professional basketball training academy.
All outside activities are facilitated by Brittany.
OBJECTIVES:
REFUGYM has achieved its objective of establishing a community-led gym with and for Malakasa camp residents. The objective of creating a sustainable structure, that removes a reliance for international volunteers and instead focuses on empowering the beneficiary population to run the activities themselves, has also been achieved.
ACHIEVEMENTS:
In a camp of 3,000 residents, we have approximately 1,000 sports participants every month, led by 9 sports teachers from the refugee community.
The public benefit is that sports is scientifically proven to improve people's physical and mental wellbeing. Mental health is a particularly unaddressed need within refugee camps due to lack of psychologists and mental health professionals, and stagnant conditions in which asylum seekers are unable to progress with their lives.
Additionally, having an emphasis on sports activities outside the camp encourages social cohesion between the host and refugee populations, particularly with our partnerships with Tony Frey and Antetokounbros which encourage interaction with the host community.
FINANCIAL REVIEW
1st April 2020 - 31st March 2021
REFUGYM COOPERATIVE BUSINESS ACCOUNT – SORT CODE 08-92-99 – ACCOUNT NUMBER 65872066: Incoming: £4661.88 Outgoing: £3717.63
PAYPAL ACCOUNT ATTACHED TO REFUGYM COOPERATIVE BUSINESS ACCOUNT (REGISTERED PAYPAL CHARITY ACCOUNT):
Incoming: £2400.98 Outgoing: £414.03
TOTAL COOPERATIVE ACCOUNT + PAYPAL ACCOUNT:
Incoming: £7062.86 Outgoing: £4,131.66
EXPENDITURE OUTSIDE THE UK:
Country: Greece Outgoing: 2641.58 EUR / £2479.10
Country: Bulgaria Outgoing: 585.70 BGN / £275.76
DEBTS:
None.
DETAILS OF RESERVES POLICY:
Reserves are held in the Coop Bank & PayPal with a view to being used in the foreseeable future to support the Charity's Objectives.
DETAILS OF ANY FUNDS HELD AS A CUSTODIAN TRUSTEE:
Non applicable.
Created 30 January 2022 Report Date 31 March 2021
(All values reported in GBP)
REFUGYM Balance Sheet
Fixed Assets
| Total Fixed Assets Current Assets |
0.00 | |
|---|---|---|
| 1200 Current Account 1204 Refuygm Paypal Merchant Account Total Current Assets Current Liabilities |
4,471.28 2,859.64 7,330.92 |
|
| Total Current Liabilities NET Current Assets Total Assets less Current Liabilities Long Term Liabilities |
0.00 7,330.92 7,330.92 |
|
| Total Long Term Liabilities NET Assets Capital and Reserves |
0.00 7,330.92 |
|
| P&L Account Total Capital and Reserves |
7,330.92 7,330.92 |
REFUGYM Profit & Loss Statement
(All values reported in GBP)
Created 30 January 2022 From Date 1 April 2020 To Date 31 March 2021
Turnover
| 4001 Donations - One Off 4002 Donations - Recurring 4010 Sales of Refugym Branded Goods 4902 Commissions Received Total Turnover Less Cost of Sales |
4,396.97 2,639.91 120.98 5.00 7,162.86 |
|
|---|---|---|
| 5010 Purchases of Sports Equipment 5011 Purchases of Refugym Branded Goods Total Cost of Sales Gross Profit Less Expenses |
(71.32) (63.98) (135.30) 7,027.56 |
|
| 6201 Advertising 7002 Directors Remuneration 7014 Local Staff stipend 7100 Rent 7300 Fuel and Oil (MOTOR) 7301 Repairs and Servicing (MOTOR) 7305 Tolls 7405 Overseas Travelling 7501 Postage and Carriage 7502 Telephone and Mobile Charges 7504 Stationery 7505 Books, Magazines etc. 7901 Bank Charges 8204 Insurance 8205 Refreshments / Staff Welfare 8206 Medical Costs inc. Covid Tests Total Expenses Profit Before Tax |
(25.95) (473.65) (243.96) (697.75) (1,066.44) (69.21) (83.17) (682.41) (20.00) (31.07) (18.89) (20.49) (246.38) (76.93) (258.52) (180.82) (4,195.64) 2,831.92 |
|