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Hi everyone my Name is Ella Small and I am now 15 Years old. I just wanted to send you this note to ask for your help supporting a great charity called Rainbows. Rainbows provide me with much needed care and attention in a home from home environment. As some of you may know I have a number of needs that make me very special, and make it very difficult for me to lead a normal life. Rainbows is a charity set up to help life limited children like me when things aren’t going well and I need some extra support. From time to time my Mum and Dad find the sleepless nights and constant caring a bit tough and we all need some time to recharge our batteries; Rainbows provides this for us. Rainbows helps us to make our family life as good as it can be, providing help and support for Mum, Dad and my 3 siblings Joe , Charlie and Daisy when they need time to be part of a normal family.
I have been coming to Rainbows since I was three years old and in that time the level of funding Rainbows receives from the government has reduced such that the charity now needs to raise over £3.8million each year just to keep the doors open.
If my family and other families like ours lose the opportunity for respite care at Rainbows it will be a devastating blow. This is why I have asked my Dad (Andy) and my Uncle (Daryl) to do something fantastic and raise some money to help Rainbows out. In June 2011 my Dad and my Uncle have agreed to climb Mount Kilimanjaro and in doing so attempt to raise around £7,500 for this fantastic charity.
This is where you come in! We need a considerable amount of sponsorship to reach our target. I would love you to read the details about Rainbows below which explain a bit more about the fundraising challenge and the work that Rainbows do. I hope that you will see what a worthy cause Rainbows is and will be able to sponsor my Dad and my Uncle Daryl and help us reach our target.
Should you wish to know anymore about me, Rainbows or the Kilimanjaro trek then please contact my Dad (Andy.small@morgansindall.com) or my Uncle Daryl (darylcockerill@charnwoodpubco.co.uk) and they will be pleased to help. I do hope you can support us and help me and my friends to enjoy some much needed respite at Rainbows hospice.
Thank you and lots of love Ella X
Just like everyone else, children at Rainbows need a place to play, laugh and love life. A place where they and their families are cared for and supported.
As the only hospice in the East Midlands for children and young people, Rainbows is a place where life-limited children and their families can come for support that they cannot get anywhere else locally.
It’s every parent’s worst nightmare to be told their child will die before them, but for an estimated 20,000 families across the UK, this is a reality. Some of these children will die when they’re very young, others will deteriorate slowly over a number of years.
Rainbows cares for over 220 children and their families every year. Each family has on average 5 members, meaning that Rainbows provides care and support to well over 1,000 people yearly.
An incredible team helps to control symptoms and improve quality of life. To do this, the professional care team uses specialist therapies and equipment, such as multi-sensory facilities, hydrotherapy, play and music therapy.
In most cases, full-time care falls to the parents – 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Not surprisingly the whole family is under huge emotional, physical and financial strain.
Rainbows helps children and families in these situations with the emotional and physical challenges they face, helping them to make the most of the precious time they have together and caring for them through to bereavement and beyond.
To provide such a high level of expertise and professional care will cost £3.8 million a year. Rainbows gets very little money from the government, in fact less than 15 percent and therefore relies almost solely on the generosity of members of the public, fundraising events and sponsorship.
The truth is that Rainbows could not do their work without the help of people like you – and I know that together we can bring more love, smiles and laughter to our children and families. Please help them to be there.
Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.
So please dig deep and donate now.
