Family fun at The Beehive community arts centre in Honiton raised £485 to help children with disabilities and terminal illness in Devon.

The money was collected by Honiton Pantomime Society at its February performances of Sleeping Beauty and brings the total collected for Devon fundraising campaign Sam’s Legacy to £6,693.

Sam’s Legacy was launched last October by leading UK children’s disability charity Newlife Foundation with the support of the Allen family from Hemyock. Newlife had supported their teenage son Sam through provision of a mobility scooter so he could get around as he fought a courageous battle against cancer. Sadly, Sam passed away last summer, aged 18.

Newlife Foundation currently needs £40,000 a year to continue its support of disabled and terminally ill children in Devon through provision of the right equipment at the right time. The charity offers a wide range of equipment – including specialist beds and car seats for safety, buggies and walking frames for mobility and communication aids so children can tell their parents when they are hungry or in pain.

Since October 2014, Sam’s Legacy has helped fund five pieces of disability equipment – a wheelchair, specialist seating, two buggies and a car seat.

Newlife Foundation Operations Manager Stephen Morgan said: “Statutory services’ budgets all around the UK are being tightened, which means that without the support of organisations like Newlife Foundation many children will simply go without the specialist equipment they need to transform their daily lives.

“With applications to Newlife Foundation at an all-time high – 25 per cent up on last year – the charity is increasingly looking to ‘local heroes’ to help fund life-changing equipment for children in their own areas. The support of local fundraisers in Devon for Sam’s Legacy is making a huge impact on the lives of local children with disabilities or terminal illness in the county. We can’t thank fundraisers – like the members of Honiton Pantomime Society – enough for their continued support.”

For more information about ‘Sam’s Legacy’, go to: www.newlifecharity.co.uk/sam. Alternatively, you can call the Newlife Community Fundraising Team on 0800 988 4640 (free from UK landlines).

To find out more about the range of equipment grant and loan support services offered by the charity, call the Newlife Nurse Helpline on 0800 902 0095 (free from UK landlines) or email nurses@newlifecharity.co.uk.

Web: https://newlifecharity.co.uk
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