£2387 FOR RONALD MACDONALD HOUSE
Staff at The Mall Blackburn have raised over £2300 for The Ronald MacDonald House at Liverpool’s Alder Hey Children’s Hospital.
The donation comes after the neice of the shopping centre’s Marketing Assistant, Vickie Mawdsley, was treated at the hospital.
Two year old Lenia was born with Vectral syndrome and Acute Spina Bifida and has undergone many major operations, including open heart surgery in October 2010.
Following this her mother, Leanne, stayed in the Ronald MacDonald House for two weeks, which is accommodation specifically set up for parents of children in the hospital.
Leanne could be close to her daughter and also receive emotional support from other parents whilst staying in the house.
Lenia is still under the care of specialist consultants at the hospital and Vickie from The Mall Blackburn decided to volunteer her time during the festive period to provide a gift wrapping service to raise money for the Ronald MacDonald House.
She was also joined by Leanne, niece Shauny Ingham and two younger family friends, Mollie Wareing and Mariam Ahmed, who spend a lot of time with Lenia.
After meeting the little girl and hearing of her plight, management decided to donate some of the the proceeds of their Santa’s Grotto to the cause too, taking the total to a fantastic £2387.99. Retailers including Superdrug, Primark, Argos and Matalan kindly donated wrapping paper to support the wrapping service.
Speaking about her decision to raise money for the cause, Vickie said: “The past two years have been extremely upsetting and worrying for the whole family and Lenia has met each challenge with such bravery and determination.
“The support my sister received was second to none and I knew I had to do something to repay the hospital and the Ronald MacDonald House for all their efforts.
“We worked hard to wrap gifts in the run up to Christmas and I was delighted when management announced that some of the proceeds from Santa’s Grotto would be added to the money raised through the gift wrapping service.
“The money will go towards helping other families with sick children at the hospital and I feel very proud that we have done our bit to go some way to thanking them.”
Loraine Jones, General Manager at The Mall Blackburn, added: “We all fell in love with Lenia when she came to The Mall and the decision to donate further funds was a very easy one.
“I know I speak on behalf of every single member of staff here when I say that we wish Lenia all the luck in the world as she continues on her journey to recovery.”
-ends-
Pictures show: Please click on below links to download high or low resolution versions of the pictures
Lenia after her heart surgery in 2010 and on March 7th this year presenting the cheque to Jan Thomas of Ronald MacDonald House.
(left to right) Leanne Mawdsley, Lenia Aman, Vickie Mawdsley (Marketing Assistant, The Mall Blackburn), Shauny Ingham (Niece of Leanne and Vickie), Loraine Jones (General Manager, The Mall Blackburn), Jan Thomas (Ronald MacDonald House)
Notes to editors:
More information about The Mall
The Mall is the UK's leading community shopping centre Fund. Managed by Capital & Regional and Aviva Investors, The Mall Fund owns 9 shopping centres across the UK - home to approximately 1220 retail units and attracting approximately 1.9 million shopping visits every week.
Shopping as it should be…………. www.themall.co.uk
For further editorial information about The Mall Blackburn, contact Paula Holden, Denise Dawson or Julie Hackett at ICG on 01772 679383 or email paula@icgonline.co.uk, denise@icgonline.co.uk or Julie@icgonline.co.uk
Out of hour contact is Paula Holden on 07772268378
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