Sumir Karayi, the head of a leading IT company 1E, has been named ‘Adoption Supporter of the Year’ in recognition of nearly a decade of tireless fundraising and support to the British Association for Adoption and Fostering (BAAF).
Sumir received the honour at the National Adoption Week awards ceremony, held in London. The celebration formed part of this year’s National Adoption Week (November 4th – 10th), organised each year by BAAF to shine the spotlight on the issues surrounding adoption in the UK.
The award was given to Sumir for his personal commitment to adoption – which goes beyond even that of the corporate support from 1E. Since 2005, Sumir has been incredibly pro-active in encouraging 1E's staff to get involved with fundraising for BAAF, as well as funding some of BAAF’s research and education programmes through his own means.
Sumir is a passionate believer in philanthropy and charitable giving – and is a man who leads by example. Over the years, he has taken on challenges as diverse as the London Marathon and eating blazing hot chicken wings in the 'Viper Chilli Challenge', all in the name of raising vital funds for BAAF.
Alan Wood, BAAF’s Deputy Chief Executive, said “The National Adoption Week Awards are a great opportunity to recognise all the fantastic work being carried out by adoption social workers and their agencies throughout the UK and to thank everyone who supports adoption and BAAF.”
Sumir Karayi said of receiving the award, "My support for this excellent cause is about turning around the negative statistics whereby only two per cent of children in state care go on to further education versus 50 per cent of kids that are in a family. A disproportionate number of those in state care end up in prison so it just makes sense if we can contribute to get children out of state care. It's been great fun fundraising on behalf of BAAF, but I couldn't have done so without the support of my wonderful family or colleagues."