AN Easter ‘eggs’travaganza event at a Wrexham shopping centre will kick start a major boost for a children’s hospice charity.
Eagles Meadow Wrexham; Pictured are Kevin Critchley,Eagles Meadow, Wrexham centre Manager with Head of fundraising for Hope House Alison Marsh.
Shoppers at Eagles Meadow have been treating the shallow pool at the top of the centre’s Spanish Steps like a wishing well and throwing in their loose change
The latest batch of money is being donated to the charity which has two hospices, Hope House near Oswestry and Ty Gobaith in the Conwy Valley.
It marks the beginning of a major fund-raising effort after Eagles Meadow announced the hospice has been selected as their chosen charity for 2019.
The campaign will be officially launched during a day of free, family-friendly, fun activities to mark the Easter holidays on Saturday April 20 from 11 am to 4 pm.
‘Eggs’cited young shoppers and their families will find a special marquee, set up in the area outside Burger King, where they will be able to have their face painted, meet the Easter bunny and make their own Easter baskets to fill with chocolate eggs before they leave.
There will also be a collection for Hope House/Tŷ Gobaith children’s hospices which provides care and support to life-limited children, young people and their families from Shropshire, Cheshire, North and Mid Wales.
Eagles Meadow manager Kevin Critchley said: “We recently did a big sweep of the water feature and we have a stash of coins which need to find their way to a good cause.
“When we decided to organise a collection for Hope House/Tŷ Gobaith at the free Easter holiday activities, as part of our decision to designate the charity as our cause for the year, it made sense that we boosted this by adding in the coins from the water feature.
“Eagles Meadow is at the heart of the Wrexham community and we like to put on activities during the school holidays for families to enjoy together. It will be nice for us all to club together and support Hope House/Tŷ Gobaith Children’s Hospices at the same time.
“The coins from the fountain have come from the community so it seems important that they are put back there and it is hard to think of a more deserving cause than our local children’s hospice.”
The Eagles Meadow team have also organised for a haul of Easter eggs to be sent back to the hospice for the children and their young siblings staying there over the Easter weekend to enjoy.
Last year, 23 local families cared for by Hope House/Tŷ Gobaith Children’s Hospices faced their biggest fear and their child died. During the same period, the hospice charity supported an additional 107 families who were affected by sudden death.
Alison Marsh, Head of Fundraising, said: “We can’t thank Eagles Meadow and the Wrexham community enough for their continued and generous support of the children we help look after and their families.
“We are currently supporting 39 families from the Wrexham area across all arms of our services.
“These are families who may walk through Eagles Meadow every day, have friends who work there or simply live nearby.
“For every family we support there are two we can’t, we must be there for every mum dad sister and brother who needs us so thank you to Eagles Meadow for helping us towards this dream.”
For more information about Hope House/Tŷ Gobaith Children’s Hospices, go to www.hopehouse.org.uk
