An eight-year-old boy is aiming to raise £1,000 for a local children’s charity.
Alfie McDowell has a fundraising page, set up by his mum, Rachel Hault, and hopes he can raise the target amount before the end of 2021 for Isle of Play.
Ms Hault said it’s the first time her son has done anything like this for charity.
’Because Alfie and I regularly use the services offered by Isle of Play, we responded to their appeal towards the end of last year to raise £1,000 by the end of 2021,’ she said.
’They’ve been hit quite hard by the pandemic. I thought it would be a great way to raise money for them.
’We have the two walks coming up this weekend and the next.
fundraising
’If Alfie’s up for it, he’ll cross over the bridge on Saturday and walk over to Windy Corner and back as well. This will be his first time fundraising, but he walks regularly with me and the Walking Mann group, and I thought it was a good way of combining something he already enjoys with the fundraising.’
Ms Hault said she and Alfie are going to have fun during the year-long effort to raise funds for Isle of Play.
’I just want to make it fun for him, rather than doing something that might not be enjoyable for him or he might lose interest in, as we have got an entire year to try to raise the money, I thought we’d stick with things that he enjoys so that he can keep going.’
In terms of the amount raised so far, Ms Hault said: ’We’re slowly getting there. We’ll have a lot of people from the Walking Mann group with us on Saturday supporting us. Ian Dunbar has accommodated the fundraising we’re doing into his business walks that we attend and we can’t thank him enough.
’We’re trying to get the word out as best as possible as Alfie’s doing something quite challenging.’
Ms Hault will be hosting a bingo night at the Palace Hotel on Saturday, March 27, doors open from 2.30pm and bingo is 3pm to 5pm. Tickets can be bought from the bingo hall on the day and it’s £2 per strip for a raffle.
Chris Gregory from Isle of Play said: ’It’s great to see a child and his mum so invested in something they feel strongly about.
’We’ve got about 20 people who have expressed interest in raising one-thousand-pounds in a year, especially seeing as we’ve struggled to find funds in recent times.
’Children have been largely ignored throughout this pandemic in terms of their rights. We need to make sure children are given time and extra space to catch up on lost play-time,’ he added.
Donations can be made to Alfie’s fundraising page online at www.goldengiving.com.