Beneficiaries

Charity centre gets a helping hand

A centre giving respite to seriously ill children and their families has been helped by the Sunshine Fund.

The Rainbow Trust, who are a national charity with a regional base in the North East, run a respite home in Hexham – called Fernstone – which provides support for families who have children with terminal or life-threatening diseases.

Children, together with their parents, can visit the home for holidays and be fully supported by the staff so that the family can have a relaxing time together.

A lot of the children that attend Fernstone cannot move around easily and need assistance getting around. The centre currently has a tracking hoist in one of the bedrooms that helps put children into bed, but it does not extend into the bathroom. And that is where the Sunshine Fund came in to help.

Extra funds have meant that an extension to the current tracking system has been made, which now enables access to the bathroom. It also means that some young people will be able to get themselves into the bath without extra assistance.

Chris Barker, head of fundraising at Rainbow Trust, said: “The Sunshine Fund has been a wonderful support to the Rainbow Trust over the years, providing essential equipment for our children with life-threatening and terminal illnesses. The hoist will make a huge difference to our families.”

The hoist is the latest equipment provided to the respite home by the Sunshine Fund, which provided a new play area in 2005 and a hydrotherapy pool in 2001.
Sunshine Fund manager Jo Harris said: “We are delighted to once again be able to offer our support to Fernstone, which does such wonderful work for the children and their families.

“Not only does it support the children who benefit from its facilities, but also their parents and brothers and sisters.

“When people deal with a serious illness in children it has a traumatic effect on the family as a whole. And there can be no doubt that Fernstone and the Rainbow Trust do indeed have a huge impact on these youngsters and their families at a very difficult time in their lives.”


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