27 Feb Harold Wood volunteers hit £1 million target for local charity
The Harold Wood Volunteer Group have reached their £1 million target for Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity, which supports families caring for a seriously ill child.
On 7 March at 12 noon at the charity’s Harold Wood shop at 33 Station Road, Essex, the group, along with the Deputy Mayor of Havering, Cllr Dilip Patel, will celebrate completing their One Million Campaign – one month ahead of schedule and in their 25th anniversary year – with prosecco, balloons and the completed totalizer.
Their accomplishment is testament to the commitment of the 33 volunteers, eight of whom were among the original team of 16 involved when the shop officially opened in April 1993.
The Harold Wood Volunteer Group launched their campaign last September in a bid to increase the £950,000 they had already raised for Rainbow Trust since 1993.
Rainbow Trust enables families who have a child with a life threatening illness to make the most of their time together. Through its nine care teams across England, including Essex, Rainbow Trust pairs each family with an expert Family Support Worker who helps them at home, in hospital and in the community, for as long as it is needed.
Rainbow Trust Patron and Harold Wood shop founder and manager Pauline Obee OBE was thrilled to have reached their target and thanked everyone involved.
“I am absolutely delighted,” she said. “We celebrate our 25th Anniversary in March, which is when we first leased the shop, and it is quite an achievement. My only regret is that the shop’s co-founder, the late John Penrose, isn’t here to see it.
“John and I had always said we would make a million or make 25 years so we made it our goal so I felt relieved and elated to have achieved both.”
