Rays of Sunshine was formed in 2003 to grant wishes to children with serious and life-limiting conditions. Their wishes can include meeting a favourite celebrity, making a trip to a special location, being a ballerina or a fireman, or maybe a special gift to improve a child's life. They pull out the stops to give children a chance to experience happiness and put their illness on hold.
Links
Rays Of Sunshine
On Friday I said a final goodbye to my Grandma. She lived a long and fairly healthy life but at 96 had a stroke and died a week later. We collected money for the Stroke Association at the funeral so I contributed to that this week.
I was having so much fun on my birthday that I forgot my donation! I'm a huge music fan so I've chosen the Nordoff Robbins. They use music therapy to help people with a range of problems such as autism, mental issues, dementia, depression, stroke and life-threatening conditions like cancer. They work in care homes, day centres, hospitals, schools and their own centres. As well as improving physical ability their therapies use music to improve mental and emotional wellbeing and assist with communication skills.
Nordoff Robbins also train music therapists, from short courses and workshops right up to Masters level. Their extensive research into the benefits of music therapy is at the heart of the work begun by Paul Nordoff and Clive Robbins back in 1959.
Links
Nordoff Robbins
Four years ago on Friday my father-in-law died after many long battles with cancer. During his final few years he spent time in St Catherine's Hospice. This gave him time in a peaceful place to recuperate and come to terms with life in a wheelchair. Most importantly he became well enough to attend our wedding.
St Catherine's Hospice is the only adult hospice serving the Preston and Chorley area. They have 19 beds to provide the most intensive care and therapy. They also have a day centre to provide support and community services including home support. As well as cancer patients they also care for those with other life-shortening conditions such as motor-neurone disease, heart failure and Parkinson's disease. Although they help many people at the end of their lives, 50% of patients admitted to the in-patient unit return home.
Having had personal experience of the hospice I'm very grateful of the good work they do and the extra time they gave to my father-in-law. I didn't know him for long before he became ill so the extra three years are very precious indeed.
Link
St Catherine's Hospice
A friend's daughter is giving up chocolate for March - no mean feat! I tried to give up chocolate for Lent in my teenage years - got all the way to 39 days and had a hot chocolate, completely forgetting that it did count as "chocolate". I seem to remember eating a lot of Caramac...
Anyway, Eileen Brown is raising money for the British Heart Foundation. Founded in 1961 by a group of medical professionals, they fund pioneering research into the causes, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of coronary heart disease and other heart diseases and defects. Over the last 50 years their research has reduced the size of pacemakers from a bulky, external device to one that can be implanted, explored genetics and how heart disease can be inherited and led to new and safer surgical techniques.
The British Heart Foundation leads campaigns to keep the public informed and the dangers of heart disease and preventative measures such as diet and exercise. They also take these campaigns to governments, schools and workplaces - among other things they have been at the forfront of many anti-smoking campaigns.
Links
British Heart Foundation
Eileen's JustGiving Page
I've just realised I've completely forgotten a donation for last week! As the cold begins to bite here in the UK my mind turned to Shelter. Shelter help millions of people with housing problems in the UK every year. Not only the homeless - they also advise people facing repossession or eviction and try to prevent people from losing their homes with legal representation.
They also use their expert knowledge and experience to campaign for fairer housing laws in the UK. Among recent successful campaigns are a change in the law to prevent "revenge evictions" and a u-turn on government spending on Local Welfare Assistance.
Links
Shelter Homepage
This one was forwarded by my friend Lucy Jordache. Youth Upliftment International are a Canadian charity who work in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic with street children. The charity was started in 2008 by Katelyn Bateman who visited the region on a holiday and left wanting to help the children she had seen begging and shoe-shining on the streets. And first she raised money and collected donations of clothing and basic medical and school supplies and eventually led to them opening a school to educate the street children,Collège Amélioration Jeunesse.
Towards the end of last year they ran a fundraising campaign to keep the school open for this educational year. They hit their target but funds are always needed to provide a safe, high-quality education to these children who would not be able to afford one otherwise.
I find Katelyn's story remarkably inspiring. How one person's will to change lives is making a difference. I'm sure we can all take something from that.
Links
Youth Upliftment International
Buy A Square, Save Our School
I have been enjoying comedian and TV presenter Richard Osman's "World Cup Of Chocolate" on Twitter over the last few days and he has asked for donations to this charity. Child's I Foundation was started in 2009 by Lucy Buck. Based in Uganda but hoping to extend to other countries, the foundation works to place orphaned children into loving homes. They provide short-term life saving care and aim to resettle the children within six months. They firstly attempt to trace family members but if no extended family can be found they then place them in foster or adoptive care.
In 2011 they started the Ugandans Adopt campaign and have so far found homes for over 140 children. This is sadly just a drop in the ocean however in a country where it is estimated 50,000 children are currently living in orphanages.
Links
Child's I Foundation
Richard Osman - Twitter
P.S. Dairy Milk won. A travesty I tell you!
