Wellwishers save NHS fundraiser’s Xmas gesture after vouchers loss:
TEARS AS WELLWISHERS STEP IN TO SAVE DAY
AN NHS fundraiser left heartbroken when she lost £300 in shopping vouchers has thanked those who rallied around to help save her Christmas.
Bethan Jones lost the book of high street vouchers she had saved all year for after visiting her local Co-op the week before last to buy sweets for staff at Ysbyty Gwynedd.
After searching the area the following morning, only three worthless pages that appeared to have been torn from the voucher book were found discarded on the floor.
The 40-year-old mum of four from
Groeslon, Caernarfon, had been raising money for the hospital’s Alaw ward which treats cancer patients – including two of her own close family members in the past.
Through organising festive photoshoots, Ms Jones and her three youngest children, Evie, eight, Danny, seven and Ayla, six, raised £400 for the hospital ward.
With the money, they decided to make 40 gift bags full of special treats for patients who would end up spending Christmas day in hospital.
But despite her acts of kindness, and weeks worth of work to edit the pictures, Ms Jones not only ended up losing her vouchers, she was also hit with an £85 parking fine while out shopping with her children for the hospital gift bags.
Ms Jones said: “I was heartbroken – but I put on a brave face and carried on with everything else.”
She added: “I was just hoping someone would be kind enough to hand them in if they found them.
“But the next morning, when my partner went back to the Co-op, he found the three blank adverts at the front of the book had been ripped out and thrown on the floor – but the vouchers were gone.”
In a bid to save her Christmas, friends raised more than £150 in a raffle to put towards her Christmas presents, while others donated directly to Ms Jones and through a fundraising page set up by another friend.
She said: “I was having donations from people that I didn’t even know, it was so overwhelming – I was so shocked.
“A close friend who has just finished chemo herself has also donated, and another friend set up a GoFundMe page that raised £140.
“I just burst into tears, I was so overwhelmed by everyone’s kindness.
“It was so nice that people thought to do that for me.
“With the money that was over, I bought chocolates to give to all the
staff at Awyr Las.”
Ms Jones also told how earlier this year she’d undergone a procedure to have a cancerous sarcoma removed – making her annual fundraising effort even more important to them all this year.
Last year, the family raised £1,700 for Glan Clwyd cancer ward, with money going to the Alaw ward in 2018.
“It truly has been a bad one this year, but at least we can end it on a positive note,” Ms Jones added.
“You don’t realise how many good people there are out there – my faith in kindness and friendship really has been restored.”