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The new BABFA logo
This year the ABF launches its US branch of the charity with a gala dinner at the Yale Club in New York. General The Lord Guthrie GCB LVO OBE, former Chief of the General Staff of the British Army, and President of the ABF will attend the dinner, along with a host of ABF supporters who are based in the United States.
British Army Benevolent Fund America (BABFA) is being established to raise awareness in the US of the ABF’s work. Since the end of the Second World War, the charity has supported British serving soldiers, former soldiers and their families in times of need. For decades the United Kingdom and the United States have enjoyed a special relationship. BABFA will give American citizens the opportunity to acknowledge this relationship by supporting the charity and its work.
Former British Korean war veteran Keith Taylor will manage BABFA’s first volunteer committee in the States. A long-time supporter of the Army Benevolent Fund in the UK, Mr Taylor came up with the idea of establishing a branch of the Fund in the States on his move to Cambridge, MA, in June this year.
“There is already a small, but significant, number of ABF supporters in the expatriate communities in the States and I believe that we have the potential to attract a great many more. I thought ‘what better way of getting the message about our charity out there in the States, than setting up a fundraising committee when I move there myself.’ ”
Mr Keith Taylor, Chairman of BABFA
Keith plans to organise fundraising events in the States, initially in the New England region, and to encourage other supporters to undertake fundraising events in their area. American supporters will be able to make tax efficient donations to the Fund through Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) America.
“I am hugely grateful to Mr Taylor for volunteering to set up a branch of the ABF in the States. Given the current scale of operations that the British Army is involved in, demand is increasingly placed on our charity to support soldiers and their young families through difficult times. We hope that, through the establishment of BABFA, the American people will be able to learn more about our charity and its work and be able to support their allies by supporting our charity by making a donation or attending our fundraising events.”
Major General Sir Evelyn Webb-Carter
