Danny Thompson

In 1989 Danny was a truck driver for Coalite Chemicals in Bolsover. He lived just an ordinary life like most of us, with a home and family. That was until he saw Anneka Rice presenting a documentary on Television about the terrible plight of children in Romania after the fall of Nicolae Ceaușescu and communism. He could not get those images out of his mind. Danny thought surely I can do something to help these children, but what?

A Romanian exile Rodica Bradbury organised a charity collection of clothing and goods across the Midlands. Coalite donated the tractor unit and a London firm helped with the expense of a trailer. Danny drove that truck with its 22tonnes of supplies 5,500 miles using two weeks of his annual holiday. Vital supplies such as medical equipment, clothing, beds and food were taken to villages. Toys were taken to a children’s hospital where orphaned toddlers only previous plaything had been a short strip of red paper. He dropped bandages and other essentials at a Leper colony.

Now in 2019 Danny can look back over a minimum of one trip per year since that first visit. “People are dying and they do not have to die.”  Each year he raises the necessary funds to complete a vital project. He goes himself and sees it through to completion. Every penny raised goes on the project. Danny funds his own transport costs. He believes in paying his own way so that everything that is raised by others goes directly to the people who need it.

Joseph Walker

Joe has been involved in charity work since he started employment over 55 years ago. Initially he raised money for local charities around the UK, that was until he bumped into Danny while working on a project in Romania. This led them to establishing “People in Need Worldwide” together in 2000.

Joe started work as a joiner in 1965 for Doncaster based Frank Haslam Milan. He became senior site manager in 1996. His building skills were used to help humanity and when he heard of the great need in Romania after the fall of communism he decided to give a hand. He went out using his annual leave to work on building projects.

Seeing an orphanage in a state of total dereliction, it needed total refurbishment the roof was falling in, the security gate was falling off leaving the children extremely vulnerable their environment was just unsafe. This project took many years to complete and you can see the photos in the gallery as the work progressed year by year.

Joe took early retirement in 2008 to concentrate on his charity work. Joe has a passion to provide support and help for underprivileged adults and children. He does this as a volunteer. If you support “People in Need Worldwide” 100% of your donation will go to the project.