Shining light on our supporters

HI Sunshine News Readers, THIS week’s column looks at the various individuals and organisations who have put on their fundraising hats and supported The Sunshine Fund over the last few weeks. As a small, regional charity we receive zero statutory funding, and so we rely solely on the generosity of donors and supporters, and this is something we can’t do alone.

We hold a range of different fundraising events across the year, but external support is so important as it not only spreads awareness of our cause, but it also generates much-needed income which fills the gaps between events, to ensure that we can fund the life-changing equipment that children and families in our community are waiting patiently but desperately for.

There are so many ways people can support our charity; whether it’s by holding a fundraiser, entering our weekly £1 lottery, making one-off donations or setting up a recurring monthly text-to-give donation.

To sign up for our weekly lottery, please visit https://bit.ly/3wyqkbm. Players can control how many tickets they buy and can cancel at any time. The draw takes place every Saturday and you have the chance to win the national prize of £25,000, as well as the local prize pot, and a monthly bonus prize. This month, players have the opportunity to win an iphone 15, or £1,000 in cash! Our lottery helps us generate regular, sustainable income and 50% of ticket sales come directly to us, so we can support local children living with disabilities, additional needs and terminal illness.

So, without further ado, here’s who we’d like to give a special shout out to this week… firstly, we want to thank our wonderful friends at Stagecoach. Last week we spoke about their donation of Easter eggs to Hadrian School, but they also ran a week-long stint of bucket collections on their buses.

The team dressed in costumes, donned bunny ears and spread some springtime joy over the holidays, all to raise money for The Sunshine Fund. We’re delighted to announce that they raised a whopping £2,000 in total. This is fantastic news and will allow us to tick off some of our outstanding equipment!

We’d like to say a huge thank you not only to the fabulous team at Stagecoach (namely Shaun, Jon and Carl), but also to the generous passengers who spared change in a time where we appreciate that money is tight,. It really does show that sense of community still exists, and that a little can go a long way.

And the support doesn’t stop there… A few weeks ago, we were invited to Northumberland Golf Club by our longterm supporter, Liz Solomon, for a coffee morning to raise funds for our charity. Our team were greeted with coffee, cake and a charity raffle. It was a lovely sunny morning and what brought even more sunshine was the total amount raised – £1,158.37! Thank you so much to all who attended and to Liz and the golf club for their support.

Next, we’d like to shine a light on a couple of upcoming events that will be happening in the next week. Firstly, taking place today, is a ‘lunch & fizz’ hosted by Carroll and Vicky Pattison, who have supported our charity for years. Taking place at the Hilton in Gateshead, guests will have the opportunity to ask Vicky questions over an intimate lunch, and take part in a raffle and auction to raise funds for our charity.

Lastly, but certainly not least, we’d like to thank Michelle Embleton, a long-term friend of the charity. Michelle is an avid runner who has taken part in a plethora of charity races for The Sunshine Fund. She is one of our loyal Great North Runners and she’s painted the toon yellow at many of our Sunshine Runs, and now she is also racing in the Manchester Marathon for us this Sunday. Michelle says: “This event was my first ever marathon and enjoyed it so much I had to go back this year and again for Team Sunshine. I’m hoping the weather is kind , so a bit of light drizzle would be perfect to get me through the Manchester to Altrincham and back route. I’ll have my support crew with me, friend Sarah and also my 14-year-old son Charlie who also helps to fundraise for Team Sunshine, along with four other running friends taking part on the day. If anyone wants to track me, you can search online for my name so look out for a purple vest with a gold strip with AHRC for my running club.”

You can sponsor Michelle by visiting her Justgiving page at www.justgiving. com/page/michelle-embleton1708882870316. We wish her good luck and we’re sure she’ll smash it. Thanks Michelle!

Thanks for reading,