She’s living in a box... for charity

A WOMAN from Newport has completed 50 hours inside a glass box to raise awareness for autism. Amanda C ullen, 45, beg an her isola tion inside the glass box inside the S pytty Road T esco Extra on Thursday. She h as managed to r aise nearly £3,000 for n ational charity Caudwell Children, which supports children with the condition. According to Am anda, who wor ks at the T esco stor e, the toughest par t was putting up w ith noise all da y and night. She said: “In the daytime the noise doesn’t bother you. It is nice beca use when people give a don ation you ar e able to thank them. “As it is a 24-hour T esco you get people who come in after a nigh t out. You don’t notice ho w noisy it is when you ar e wor king and ho w many people actually come and do their shopping at two in the morning. “Everyone was really supportive. People came into the store just to support me and many were people who had children with autism so that helped motivate me.” When she left the bo x Amanda was gr eeted by more than 100 people and received a glass of Prosecco. “I am just going to chill out tonight” said Amanda. “I am going to watch television with my kids and get a takeaway. I may have a drink to help me sleep but I don’t think I will need it.” Before entering the box she said she was motiva ted to do the challenge because it was such a good cause. “Autism is one of the country’s most prevalent disabilities, with 133,500 childr en currently diagnosed with the condition in the UK. “That’s a staggering number and yet many people, including myself, have little or no understanding of the disability. The charity appr oached the stor e to see if they would be interested in doing it. “All the volunteers names were put into a pot and mine was the one that was selected.”