Amstone Charitable Trust
At the heart of our business is a commitment to sustainability. At Amstone, we focus on delivering projects that provide lasting value to the community at every level. We also invest a significant percentage of our profits in charitable projects; and in 2008 The Amstone Charitable Trust (charity number 1122709) was created to deliver these projects – with the same goal of making a lasting difference to those communities that we support.
Amstone Charitable Trust funds sustainable projects in partnership with a number of charities locally, nationally and internationally, including Human Appeal International and Muslim Hands.
Housing project for homeless in Kerala, India
In Kerala, Southern India, Amstone funded the building of 11 houses, with WIP for a further 20, for homeless and impoverished members of a small community. On completion, the houses are held in trust by a committee of community leaders – and are allocated to the most poor and needy within the village.
Permanent shelters for Pakistan earthquake survivors
Amstone also funded the construction of 100 Permanent Shelter Housing Units to assist the suffering communities in Hera & Saloona Villages, Mansehra following the 2005 Pakistan earthquake. Each housing unit is sufficient to house up to ten people. In the months following the earthquake, the shelters were vital to protect families from the bitter cold of winter in these remote and mountainous villages.
Funding of an Abrahamic religions interfaith project
Closer to home, Amstone has funded an interfaith research project devoted to “The Common Values & Beliefs of the Abrahamic Religions (Judaism, Christianity & Islam)” in association with the University of Manchester.
The study, supervised by John Healy, Professor of Semitic Studies, is shortly due to be published online and in print, and aims to cultivate a greater appreciation of the bonds which link Jews, Christians and Muslims – focusing on the common beliefs which they share. There are plans to develop the study for the school curriculum, to help foster interfaith harmony amongst the youngest members of society.
Other Projects
Projects that Amstone has funded include the building of four schools to educate over 1,000 impoverished children and orphans in Islamabad; building of a new eye treatment ward at Al Shifa Trust Eye Hospital; a major programme to provide water and sanitation to 3,700 households in Bagh; part-funding of a state-of-the-art cancer centre in Lahore, ongoing support of an impoverished village in Darfur, Sudan; and significant donations towards disaster relief projects, including the 2004 Tsunami and the 2005 Pakistan earthquake.