End of year letter from Howard Taylor, Lumos CEO
In 2024, despite the difficult context, and working with and through our local, national and global partners, Lumos has continued to make progress in reforming ...
Our celebrity ambassadors raise awareness for the estimated 5.4 million children growing up in orphanages and institutions around the world. #WeAreLumos
Bonnie Wright
Director, environmentalist and actor Bonnie Wright has been a Lumos supporter for several years. In 2016, she travelled to Haiti with Evanna Lynch to learn about why there are 30,000 children living in orphanages. There she met children who had been rescued from terrible conditions and reunited with their families.
“I’d heard so much about the work that Lumos was doing and what exactly these institutions were like, but this experience highlighted how incredibly important Lumos’ work is in Haiti.”
Follow Bonnie on Twitter: @thisisbwright or Instagram: @thisisbwright
Evanna Lynch
Actress Evanna Lynch has lent her voice to many of Lumos campaigns. In 2016, she visited programmes in Haiti with fellow Harry Potter actor, Bonnie Wright.
"Without families and without love, children can’t be children. The most important thing as a child is to be with your family. And you have to do everything you can to keep that family unit in place."
Follow Evanna on Twitter: @Evy_Lynch or Instagram: @msevylynch
Jason Isaacs
Actor Jason Isaacs has championed Lumos’ work for many years. During the summer of 2018, he met 15 of our youth participants who travelled to London from Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Moldova to take part in the Annual Lumos Youth Forum.
“I’ve just met these amazing young people who are living proof of the benefits of getting people out [of institutions] and into loving homes. An institution is not a place to raise a child. Children should be in loving families.”
Follow Jason on Twitter: @jasonsfolly or Instagram: @therealjasonisaacs
Sophie Ellis-Bextor
Chart-topping singer, Sophie Ellis-Bextor became a Lumos ambassador in 2018. She visited orphanages in Ukraine for children with disabilities or visual impairments and was shocked to meet children who had been separated from their families due to poverty, disability or poor eyesight. She also travelled to Moldova, where great strides have been made to close down orphanages and creating community-based care to support children to grow up in families.
“I am so happy and excited to be working with Lumos. I love the scale and the ambition of their objective – aiming to abolish children’s orphanages and institutions worldwide by 2050. I’m completely behind doing whatever I can to help them achieve this and getting those children reunited with their families.”
Follow Sophie on Twitter: @SophieEB or Instagram: @sophieellisbextor
Warwick Davis
Actor and television presenter Warwick Davis has supported Lumos for several years. In 2016, he travelled to Lumos programmes in Moldova to see for himself why children need families not orphanages. There he met children who Lumos has reunited with their families. He also visited a Lumos-funded inclusive school for children with severe disabilities which means they are able to stay at home with their families, rather than being sent to an institution.
“I’ve seen first-hand how Lumos’ work here in Moldova is making a huge difference to the lives of some very vulnerable children and their families. But there are still too many children in orphanages around the world, and we need to change that.”
Follow Warwick on Twitter: @WarwickADavis
In 2024, despite the difficult context, and working with and through our local, national and global partners, Lumos has continued to make progress in reforming ...
Howard joins the foundation after leading the United Nations Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children and comes with over twenty years of experience as ...