Your boundless generosity
It’s the campaign that’s captured the imagination of the nation – and as cheques keep flooding in, you tell us how much it means to be able to help our caring heroes
it took only took a week for your big-hearted donations to reach £1million.
Now you’ve broken through the £2million barrier in just over a fortnight.
Another 4,700 cheques arrived yesterday, taking the total amount donated to MailForce by almost 44,000 Daily Mail readers soaring past £2.1million.
So far 25,700 of you have sent envelopes containing a staggering £1.3million in cheques to the charity – backed by the Daily Mail – which is leading a campaign to ease the shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) faced by NHS and care staff.
A total of 18,000 of you have donated almost £750,000 through the online fundraising page and one generous reader has pledged £100,000 anonymously.
Your donations, along with generous pledges from philanthropists and corporate partners, have helped the fund reach £7.1million.
Such is the scale of your generosity, that it takes ten volunteers a full day to open all your letters and then send the cheques to the bank. if all the cheques were placed in a line they would now stretch across central London from trafalgar Square to the tower of London.
Hundreds of your donations come with colourful greetings cards, postcards and beautifully written notes – each expressing gratitude to the NHS and care workers.
Some of you felt compelled to donate because of the excellent treatment you have previously received from doctors and nurses.
And once again, readers pledged money to the charity to honour the memory of a relative, friend or neighbour.
Alongside his donation, Colin Griffiths wrote: ‘i am donating this cheque in memory of my eldest son Mark (age 57) who passed away on April 5 with the virus.’
Mr Griffiths said he made the pledge on behalf of ‘everybody involved in care at this sad and terrible time’.
Mary Farrell, from Wigston in Leicestershire, sent money in memory of her partner William, who died aged 90 last month.
She wrote: ‘He spent several weeks lonely at home and finally alone in hospital. Anything anyone can do to support those able to assist must be done until we are able to overcome this deadly virus.’ Glenn Cole pledged money to the charity after a nurse called Jayne, who was also his neighbour, died recently.
He wrote: ‘i applaud the Daily Mail’s initiative and support all NHS staff and thank you for setting up this charity. My payment is in Jayne’s memory and with grateful thanks to all NHS staff.’
One note from a Mr G. Percox said: ‘this is in memory of my dear friend Christine Morgan who passed away on 28/04/20.’
the cheques have come from every corner of the UK, pledging donations from £5 to £2,000. Some gave generous portions of their pension, while others donated hundreds of pounds from their salaries and savings.
Mr H. Langford donated a full week of his pension after reading about how Mail Force flew in 20 tonnes of PPE into the UK two weeks ago.
He wrote: ‘i want to thank you for all your efforts to help in this crisis. i was waiting for you to start an appeal fund as i knew you would do but to launch it with an airliner full of PPE was amazing. i am a 76-year-old widower with health problems so there is nothing i can do to help the NHS and care home carers.
‘All i can do is donate to your fund so i have enclosed one full week of my pension and i am pleased to be able to donate in this way.’
Judith Storie and her husband are both over 70 and self-isolating in telford, Shropshire. Mrs Storrie sent in a generous cheque after noticing that their carers ‘haven’t always had PPE equipment’.
Some letters fondly recalled the treatment you received in hospital. Maurice Owens wrote: ‘i am most grateful for the wonderful treatment i had at my local hospital, the Queen Alexandra in Portsmouth, for a severe head injury.
‘At 97 i am once again back home on my own (family all gone) enjoying life and wonderful friends.’
Mail Force chartered a jumbo jet packed with 20 tons of personal protective equipment from Shanghai to London. the £1million cargo included 50,000 medical coveralls and 100,000 masks.
After passing safety tests, the equipment was delivered to a hospital, an ambulance trust, several care homes and a hospice. Household names who have thrown their support behind the charity include Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, Sir Cliff Richard, Sir Michael Caine and Dame Vera Lynn.
‘I’ve sent my weekly pension’