Urgent Spring Appeal

Hi Sunshine News readers,

Happy Good Friday! We hope you’re enjoying the school holidays so far (that is if you’re lucky enough to have them off!).

We always think that Easter is a slightly less stressful version of Christmas, don’t you?

Bank Holidays, time with family, a lovely Sunday roast and plenty of chocolate, what’s not to love?

We’re looking forward to next week as we have some of our children and their families visiting Whitehouse Farm for a special Sunshine Families event, we’re keeping everything crossed that we get some nice weather!

We’ll be sharing some pictures with you next week.

Last Friday we held our first supermarket collection post-pandemic and it felt great to be back in the community meeting supporters and telling them about the work that we do.

We were welcomed into ASDA Metrocentre by the lovely Donna, the stores Community Champion who does a wonderful job supporting local and national charities throughout the year.

ASDA Metrocentre has been great supporters of The Sunshine Fund over the years with many of their team members taking part in our events and volunteering.

Thank you to everyone we met on the day who donated, your donations will be used fund equipment from our Urgent Spring Equipment Appeal.

We rely on volunteers to enable us to take part in community events and collections and so we’d love to hear from you if you’re able to donate time to support us at an event.

Please contact our Fundraising and Events Coordinator Erin if you’d like to sign up to our volunteering mailing list or call 0191 201 6289.

We have lots going on as we head into our summer season of events so there’s sure to be something that you would like to get involved with.

Together with The Chronicle we’ve shared the stories of three of our children this last week including Teddy, Elijah and Kyle. (You can read their stories by clicking their name.)

Both Teddy and Kyle are awaiting specialist trikes which will enable them to be like any other child their age however, their disabilities have meant that a trike adapted especially for their needs would cost upwards of £1,000 each.

Both boys have cerebral palsy, affecting their muscles and mobility and so a trike would give them the opportunity to build strength and confidence plus have the chance to make precious childhood memories with their siblings and friends.

13-year-old Elijah is patiently yet desperately waiting for us to fund a specialist motorised wheelchair for him as his current wheelchair is bulky and limiting his independence and opportunity to be outside with his family.

Like any teenager, gaining more freedom and independence is a huge part of growing up and so Elijah craves the same freedom others his age have, a new wheelchair would truly be life-changing for him.

We need to raise over £60,000 to fund the equipment from our February round, which given the current economic climate and understanding that people have less disposable income to donate, will be a huge challenge for us.

We're confident, however, that the good folk of the North East will support us in raising these funds.

The equipment we need to fund is life-changing and not accessible to our families through local authorities or the NHS, and so we are the only way our children will be able to have access to their own equipment that will offer them the basic needs they deserve.

You can make a donation to our Urgent Spring Equipment Appeal via our website or by visiting our appeal page on JustGiving.

If you would like to support an individual child and are able to fund a piece of equipment outright, please contact me directly to find out about the equipment we have outstanding, which ranges from £100 to £14,000.

Have a lovely Easter weekend.

Lauren x