Charity in memory of six-year-old needs your help to win share of £16,000

Our parent company’s charitable arm, The Gannett Foundation, is providing £128k in cash to support local charities across the country and we have a £16,000 share to distribute across the north west.

In August and September, we asked readers to decide where this money should be spent and after being inundated with nominations William’s Gift has been put forward as the nominee for Warrington.

It joins a shortlist of nine other charities from across the region who will take a share of the available funding.

Now, we are putting the power to allocate the cash back into the hands of our readers.

We need your help to make sure that William’s Gift receives a big share of the money.

William's sister Sophia with some of the little bags of smiles

For the next three weeks, you are invited to collect tokens printed inside the Warrington Guardian which can then be sent to collections across the area or posted in to us.

Each token collected will be used to allocate the cash to the nominated charity – so if William’s Gift collects 50 per cent of all tokens collected it will receive 50 per cent of the £16,000.

William Fenton from Callands was born with a rare disease that affected his bowel - aganglionosis - and was fed intravenously with total parenteral nutrition (TPN).

William passed away on December 11, 2019 at the age of six when he developed complications.

William Fenton, who passed away when he was just six years old

His parents Jane and David set up William’s Gift in their son’s memory as they wanted to create little boxes of smiles for children in hospital and make their time on a ward or in a waiting room a little more bearable.

Jane, who is one of the charity trustees, said: “We are really pleased to have been chosen as the Warrington Guardian’s charity in the Cash for Charities campaign.

“The money will help us expand our care packages for children and their families in hospital.

“We currently offer a range of care packages but we are keen to expand the support to include intensive care departments in the hospitals we cover.

“We personally know how difficult it can be to have a child in intensive care and as parents, you don’t want to leave them, even to get some food.

“So, we are hoping to put together some packages for parents that will include essential items that might help in these situations.”

A little bag of help for parents who have a child in intensive care

Pick up a copy of this week's Warrington Guardian and turn to page 32 to find the first token. The deadline for voting is Sunday, November 20.

You can post your tokens or drop them off at collection points which are located at the following places:

• Asda Superstore (Birchwood Shopping Centre), 1 Dewhurst Road, Birchwood, WA3 7PG

• Valli Opticians (Birchwood Shopping Centre), 1 Dewhurst Road, Birchwood, WA3 7PG

• Marks and Spencer, Gemini Retail Park, Warrington, WA5 7WG

• Asda Superstore, Westbrook Shopping Centre, Cromwell Avenue, Warrington, WA5 8UG

• Tesco Extra, Winwick Road, Warrington, WA2 7NE

• Sainsbury’s, 100 Church Street, Warrington, WA1 2TN

• Asda Superstore (Cockedge Shopping Centre), Warrington, WA1 2QA

• Morrison’s, Greenhall’s Avenue, Warrington, WA4 6RN

• One Stop, Callands Road, Warrington, WA5 9RJ

Here are all the finalists in the running for the £16,000 Gannett Foundation funding:

Byrne Avenue Trust, Rock Ferry, Wirral

What they do: Byrne Avenue Trust was set up to rescue, restore and re-open Byrne Avenue Baths, a 1930s building in the heart of Rock Ferry, Wirral. After substantial restoration of the first areas, the Baths re-opened a year ago as a Sports and Community Centre.

What the money would be used for: The money would fund two new activity clubs. Buggy Club will be open to babies and toddlers and their grown up, whether that is mum, dad, grannie and grandad, auntie or uncle. It will be a fun place for little ones to play with a range of sports related equipment, helping them to develop co-ordination, dexterity, language, and social skills. The Byrne Avenue Pensioners (BAPs) will be a warm, welcoming social club open to everyone of an older generation. The BAPs will plan their weekly activities but initially it will be board games, music, sports or films, accompanied by refreshments.

Willowbrook Hospice, Prescot

What they do: Willowbrook Hospice is an independent UK charity formed in 1993 to establish and create a local, specialist palliative care unit for the community.

What the money would be used for: The provision of health and wellbeing support for people living within our community living with a life-limiting illness. The hospice needs a virtual reality machine which will enable people living with acute pain to achieve some respite during VR delivery at drop-in clinics. The cost is in the region of £3,500 and has been proven to provide relief from pain.

NeuroMuscular Centre, Winsford

What they do: They provide essential services and specialist advice for people and families affected by neuromuscular conditions across Cheshire and beyond. They provide services that the NHS does not, including physiotherapy, training and development courses, young person support, advice, and ConnectUp social programmes, all of which support the physical and mental health of the community.

What the money would be used for: The funds would help purchase new equipment for the therapies department, specifically for equipment that can be used in the neuromuscular gym - the only one in Europe! Much of the equipment used in the gym is specialised and cannot be bought 'off the rack' as is the case for regular gyms. Some of the equipment is custom built, ensuring it is safe and accessible for all who use it. The gym features more than a dozen items of accessible equipment to suit all needs, including resistance and cardiovascular equipment and can accommodate multiple users.

The Aaron Dixon Memorial Fund/Cardiac Risk in the Young, Northwich

What they do: Prevent young sudden cardiac deaths through awareness, screening and research, and supporting affected families. The Aaron Dixon Memorial Fund is ring fenced within the CRY Charity, raising money to fund the free heart screening of young adults aged 14-35 in Cheshire and the north west.

What the money would be used for: The money would fund future screening days in Cheshire and the north west. Each screening day costs the Aaron Dixon Memorial Fund £6,000 where 100 young adults aged between 14-35 are screened.

The Bury Project, Bury

What they do: Personal debt is a burden too great for many to cope with by themselves. It leads some to despair of life itself, and it prevents others from fulfilling their potential.

For Bury residents experiencing such distress, the CAP Debt centre offers a free debt counselling and support service. The Bury Project charity runs the centre in partnership with national debt charity Christians Against Poverty (CAP). The debt coach and a team of committed trained volunteers guide clients through the complex process of dealing with debt, and then presents them with professional advice and ongoing support from CAP’s qualified debt advisors.

What the money would be used for: The cost-of-living crisis is inevitably causing an increase in the number of people seeking debt advice from supportive organisations such as Citizens Advice Bureau and Stepchange. Many of these organisations are operating at full capacity. This is also the case with Bury’s CAP Debt centre, with some clients having to wait three months to receive help. The restriction on current capacity is also resulting in some people being turned away. The Bury Project would like to increase capacity by 50% for 2023 and thereby assist more people. This will only be possible if more funding can be secured.

Bolton Mountain Rescue Team, Bolton

What they do: As a non-government funded charity, the main aim is to relieve the suffering and distress of those who become injured during outdoor activities or vulnerable adults/children who are missing/lost. They do this with a team of 70 volunteers who are available 24/7 regardless of weather conditions and personal commitment. Engaging with people from all walks of life, age groups, ethnicity, they also engage with the local community to educate them about hazards of the outdoors and how to stay safe, providing unquestionable help to those in need.

What the money would be used for: The team needs waterproof jackets and trousers that are able to keep them warm and dry during their time outside in the worst weather conditions. The current equipment has been in use for more than 20 years so needs replacing as it’s no longer waterproof. The clothing required is specialist clothing and specific to the needs of mountain rescue teams.

Credu Connecting Carers, Llandrindod Wells

What they do: 1:1 family support working towards shared personal outcomes, creating sustainability and resilience for carers to be enable them to continue to care and lead the life that they chose. Community support links carers with their local community offering peer support and reducing isolation. Voice and influence is a carers forum, where carers have a voice to influence the services that affect them.

What the money would be used for: Adult carers need wellbeing courses to support them in their role. The Hive, in the centre of Welshpool, is a drop-in centre and needs funding and young people on the ASD spectrum need a virtual reality system. After being given some ground by a carer and their family for us to create a vegetable patch, it needs a shed.

Dr Kershaw’s Hospice, Royton

What they do: To provide palliative and end of life care. Support is given to patients and their families and services include community care, hospice at home, in patient unit admission, complementary therapy and bereavement support.

What the money would be used for: The grant would allow the hospice to buy specialist equipment and systems to enhance patient care, better monitor, understand their needs/symptoms and enable staff to deliver medication and/or communication with the patient and their loved ones, making their final days the best they can be. Providing comfortable facilities in the Hospice for patients and their loved ones, providing care packages and access to complimentary therapy and bereavement services as well as wellbeing sessions and pamper gifts.

East Lancashire Hospice, Blackburn

What they do: Provide palliative care to people in the communities of Blackburn, Darwen, Hyndburn and the Ribble Valley who are suffering with a life limiting illness.

What the money would be used for: Towards the bathing service, to help patients who are not able to use their own bathroom facilities.

Cash for Charities T&Cs

Newsquest terms and conditions will apply where relevant to the grants process; please visit newsquest.co.uk/prize-competition-rules. Personal data will be used by Newsquest and its agents solely for the administration of the grants process and will not be shared with any third party; our general privacy notice is at: newsquest.co.uk/privacy-policy. This campaign will be published in multiple Newsquest publications across this Newsquest region. The 10 charities chosen by the local editorial panel will be voted for by our readers. The value of the grant awarded to each of the 10 charities will be calculated pro rata according to their share of the vote. Only original voting coupons will be accepted, no photocopies. The cash grants will be sent by BACS transfer. Grants are conditional on completion of the relevant project and a successful nominee charity may be required to evidence its use of the grant. The top 10 charities selected for the vote will be contacted to provide additional information for entry into the readers’ vote; should this information not be provided within the timescale provided then the editorial panel will select an alternative charity. The charity must be registered with the Charities Commission and have not received a grant from the Gannett Foundation in the last two years.