Jessica, five, leaves her fundraising mark
Jessica Willey from Washington has raised enough money selling homemade bookmarks to pay for the lunch of over 180 staff and residents at three North East care homes.
Jessica Willey, aged five, from Washington has raised £200 by selling homemade bookmarks.
And she has used the money to pay for the lunch of more than 180 staff and residents at three North East care homes.
She teamed up with Wysteria Avenue in Houghton – who provided the lunches with no service charge – to deliver them to North View Lodge in Castletown, Washington Lodge and the Pavillion in Houghton.
It is not the first time the duo have partnered up.
In April, Jessica raised more than £240 selling pictures of rainbows which she used to donate lunches to NHS staff.
Her mum, Andrea has told the Echo where Jessica’s latest fundraising idea came from.
She said: “After making and selling the rainbows, she decided that she was going to start with bookmarks.
“She named it the ‘bookmark for hope’ campaign.
“People were asking for her for their own unique patterns.
“In the end, she made about 100 which have again been bought by people from as far as Florida.
“We have family in nursing homes so she is aware that residents can’t see their own families.
“So she wanted to do something to help bring cheer to them and their carers.”
Jessica received a Commonwealth Point of Light award for her fund-raising work with the rainbows.
Andrea has spoken about how proud she was to see her daughter deliver the latest round of lunches.
She added: “It was Joe Mccormick’s (owner of Wysteria Avenue) idea to have Jessica come along this time to help with the deliveries.
“There was a little bit of money left over and Joe’s daughter works on the Covid ward at South Tyneside hospital, so I told him to use the rest of the money to do packed lunches for her and her colleagues. “I am so proud of her. “And there was such a positive reaction from the residents and their carers.
“Who knows what Jessica will do next.”