Hi,

Thank you for taking the time to read our story.

We are on a mission to collect as many gifts and toys (which must be brand new for infection control reasons) as we possibly can, so that we can deliver them across hospitals and hospices acorss Northern Ireland, for those sick children and young people who unfortunately are too ill to spend Christmas at home and so will be spending the festive time on a hospital ward.

This idea for me came about after having been fighting leukaemia. I had plenty of long stays in hospital and unfortunately one of the worst times I spent in hospital was over Christmas 2014. Not only was I extremely sick and could barely lift my head or walk but Christmas was my favourite time of the year and I had been looking forward to it the whole year. So it was devastating to be in a hospital ward and not at home surrounded by my family, eating christmas dinner, opening presents by the fire and listening to Christmas music!

It got me thinking that there are so many young people who end up in this position every single year and unfoetunately some will spend more than one Christmas in hospital. I instantly wanted to do something no matter how small to help make Christmas a little brighter for them and give them something to smile about... so the Smile Project's Christmas Gift Appeal was born :)

Our first appeal was in 2015 and it was absolutely incredible we were snowed under with presents of all kinds and we were able to distribute them to 3 main children hospitals across NI. 2016 we grew even more and were able to distribute to 4 main hospitals aswell as Amy's House, Paul's House and supporting the activity directors for children and teenagers for Belfast City and Royal Hospital for Sick Children. We also have been able to give very special gifts to those local children who are having an extremely hard time and to say that the gift put a smile on their face is an understatement, they've been so grateful, so happy and it is amazing to see what your donations are doing.

Every child and family that receive our gifts are amazed by the generosity and support of you all. They could not be more thankful for your support and kindness at a time of difficulty for them! You put a smile on the child's face and their whole family :)

This year we hope to be even bigger again! But we do need donations to come in so that we can get purchasing some fabulous gifts that we can give to sick children and put a huge smile on their face! Plus we have an amazing new children's hospital just built and we would love to be able to provide it with items that all the children and young people can benefit of during their stay in hospital and hopefully make their time in there pass quicker :)

Thanks again for taking the time to read this and thank you for your support 💗 We really appreciate it 💗

Let your smile change the world, don't let the world change your smile :)