The good and the bad
The good and the bad in society and people was evident today.
THE GOOD:-
In work, I was approached by friend and colleague Paul Evans, with a very generous donation to the JAM Fund in lieu of sending Christmas cards. Like every charity, the JAM Fund has suffered a huge loss of income during the pandemic, almost to the point of non existence and I am glad there are no paid staff to consider.
THE BAD:-
watching the local evening news there was a story about a local special school, Ysgol Y Deri. The school had suffered a burglary in which thousands of pounds worth of "Intervention therapy" equipment, in the form of surf and paddle boards, life jackets etc had been stolen, depriving the children who rely on this, the possibility of continued support. All of the equipment had been purchased from donations. Tomorrow, the JAM Fund will donate £1000 (the last of it's reserves) towards starting to replace this equipment and Paul's donation will be used towards this. In addition, two hospital wards (both neo natal) are receiving a total of £4250 for equipment which was previously promised and which was funded by brothers Dave and Derek Humphries earlier this year and will be donated to their local communities.
Paul asked me to explain about the charity in this post and to make it public.I would simply ask anyone to take a look at the charity website www.jamfund.co.uk. Suffice to say, that the charity is run in memory of my youngest son who passed away in January 2004 aged 5 years after a very courageous battle against cancer and later also meningitis. Jamie spent his final birthday, Christmas Day 2003, being transferred into high dependency when he awoke suffering heart failure. This is an experience I hope no other family has to suffer and Jamie's charity is his legacy, closing in on half a million pounds raised during the last 16yrs. It isn't a Captain Tom level achievement but as they say, every little helps. Please look at the "past events" and "your money" pages on the website for an insight into what the charity has achieved and is about. Finally, if you ARE considering a charity donation in any form, however small, it is my intention to try and offer more assistance to the school and it's amazing staff and children if I can and donations to the charity can be made by e-mailing jamfund@sky.com where you will be directed to the charity account details.
My apologies for the length of the post but I believe it is for a good cause.
Thanks and Merry Christmas.