Grimsby firm's anniversary gift will make children's wishes come true
TWENTY-five terminally ill children will be jetting off to the magical land of Christmas thanks to a £10,000 donation from one generous Grimsby business.
GBA, the car import and export company based off Westside Road, raised the staggering amount of cash for When You Wish Upon A Star, the local charity that takes terminally and seriously ill children to Lapland every year.
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LAPLAND LOOT: Sam Judah, managing director of GBA, presents Joanne Heywood of When You Wish Upon A Star with a cheque for £10,000 along with marketing executive of GBA Alison Mitchell. Picture: David Lee Photography Ltd
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MAGICAL MEMORIES: Joanne Heywood and Pat Wright on a previous When You Wish Upon A Star charity trip to Lapland.
They presented the surprise cheque to astounded charity members, who fundraise all year round to raise the £80,000 needed for the trip.
Founder of the charity, Joanne Haywood, said: "GBA approached us at the end of last year asking how much it would cost to fund a place on the Lapland trip for every year it has been in operation – 25 places. Since then, it has gone above and beyond to raise that money.
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"A £10,000 cheque is a huge boost for us and it couldn't come at a better time.
"Charities are struggling at the moment because people just don't have the same amount of money to give in these hard times.
"We are currently out five nights a week fundraising because not sending children to Lapland is simply not an option.
"The problem is that we have to put children's individual wishes on hold while we get Lapland funded.
"There are children on our books at the moment who are waiting for us to raise the money to fund their wishes.
"Hopefully, this £10,000 means that we can crack on and fulfil their wishes as we are much closer to the Lapland target."
The firm raised the money through various fundraisers during the year, including sponsored walks, cricket matches and golf tournaments.
It will continue its fundraising events until the end of the year so the likelihood is it will smash the £10,000 target.
Managing director for the GBA group, Sam Judah, praised the efforts of his staff at their 25th anniversary celebration.
He said: "At the start of this celebratory year we wanted to do something for charity and we chose When You Wish Upon A Star.
"Our ambition and aim was to pay for 25 terminally ill children to go to Lapland and I am thrilled to say, we have achieved our target.
"This is all down to the generosity of our staff, customers, suppliers. The effort everyone made was and is tremendous.
"It means a lot to the company that we have been able to do this for the local children who are so brave."
If you would like to help When You Wish Upon A Star make the dreams of terminally ill children come true, you can call the charity on 01472 827 100 or e-mail yorks@whenyou wishuponastar.org.uk
See page 12 for more on GBA's 25th anniversary.
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