The winner of Newlife’s amazing Big Brand Raffle has been revealed, with an Oxfordshire family taking home the coveted prize of over £750 worth of high-street shopping vouchers.
Gareth and Rhiannon Birket, who have used the charities services before for son William, were the lucky winners of the raffle, which provided over £750 worth of vouchers for top high street brands including Primark, River Island and Oliver Bonas.
Funds raised from the sale of the Big Brand raffle tickets will go towards helping disabled and vulnerable children secure the vital equipment they need right across the UK through Newlife’s charity services.
Newlife is the UK’s largest children’s charity provider of disability equipment and has changed the lives of over 25,000 disabled and terminally ill children in the UK through a range of free services, including grants for vital disability equipment. Newlife is also the only charity provider of emergency equipment loans, often provided within 72 hours, and also provides a nurse helpline to support families as well as a Play Therapy Pod Service which loans specialist toys to aid child development.
Raffle winners Gareth and Rhiannon were delighted to pick up the prize, especially whilst caring for son William, who has Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome, a severe form of epilepsy, alongside developmental and muscle problems.
William needed a specialist car seat to support him during journeys, which is exactly what Newlife provided to him through the Equipment Grant Service. William now has the support he needs when out and about in the car, and will be in the correct position if he were to have a seizure.
Dad Gareth said: “After a long week in hospital with this little trooper, it was a lovely surprise to get home to lots of vouchers that we won in the Newlife Raffle!
“We’re so grateful to Newlife & these vouchers. We have a disabled son called William who Newlife have previously funded a supportive car seat for, so we simply entered the raffle as a means of supporting a great charity that has helped us considerably.
“We’ll use the vouchers to make sure that William & his little sister are kitted out for the summer holidays. We also have another baby on the way, due in October, so the vouchers will come in really useful for making sure all the children have lots of warm clothes so they can get out and about this winter!”
The Big brand Raffle is just one of the ways Newlife raises vital funds, with fundraising events and revenue from Newlife’s stores across the UK also helping to provide the equipment and support disabled and terminally children and their families desperately need.
Joanna Duggan, Director of Fundraising at Newlife, said: “We are so grateful for everyone who entered the Raffle, and I’m delighted to see that the winner is one of the families we’ve helped in the past to secure vital equipment.
“Each entry to the raffle or ticket bought has directly contributed to making a difference to the life of a disabled or terminally ill child. This could potentially provide life-changing specialist equipment enabling them to fulfil their potential.”
