Haverhill shop manager’s bidding to raise money for My WiSH

Could you take a leaf out of Kim Garner’s book and take on raising money for a local charity?

That’s the challenge being offered by My WiSH Charity as they aim to encourage shops to follow the lead of Kim who is the manager of Thing-Me-Bobs store in Haverhill.

Kim has currently raised over £30 through collection tins on display in the shop in Queen Street and, added to that, the store also sells plastic bags for 10p which also goes to the charity.

Kim, who lives in the town, decided to raise the money for the charity, which supports work carried out at the West Suffolk Hospital, Newmarket Community Hospital and community services in Suffolk, as her grandson Tommy Harris, now aged seven, was cared for following his birth at the hospital in Bury St Edmunds.

The money raised in the shop will be directed towards the neonatal unit where the youngster was cared for and now My WiSH is asking for other businesses to take the collection tins.

Kim was given the all clear by the Thing-Me-Bobs business to raise the money for My WiSH Charity as they hit their fundraising target for the East Anglia’s Children’s Hospice (EACH).

She said her grandson was due in September 2013 but mum Samantha Harris gave birth two months prematurely.

“He had to have a feeding tube and oxygen as his lungs were not quite developed and was on the unit for two-and-a-half weeks,” she said.

 

“Seeing all the other tiny babies in the unit you realise how much hard work goes into caring for them.

“We could not fault them in any way at all and they gave the parents a lot of support as well.”

She said Tommy, who is a pupil at Coupals Primary School, in Chalkstone Way, Haverhill, was “really tiny” when he was born but is now a healthy, strong young lad.

Sue Smith, head of fundraising for My WiSH Charity said, “Thank you so much to Kim and Thing-Me-Bobs for supporting us. We hope others will want to follow suit and support their local NHS charity. You can choose exactly which area of health care you wish to donate to and the beauty is it stays local, so your friends and family will be the ones to benefit from from your generosity”.

 

 

 

Written by Russell Cook for My WiSH Charity

Main photo: Kim Garner, manager, Thing-Me-Bobs, Haverhill