How Four Year Old George Helped Lyra

A chance meeting between a 4 year old boy who wanted to help children with disabilities, and a little girl with cerebral palsy led to a fundraising story you will never forget.

George found out about Heel & Toe Children’s Charity through his mum, Stephanie as she had previously fundraised for the the charity with her dance school ‘Polka School of Dance’. When Stephanie visited Heel & Toe’s Centre in Pelton, County Durham to hand over the money raised, George was insistent he wanted to join her and see exactly how that money would be helping children.

When George Met Lyra

Lyra has cerebral palsy, epilepsy and Global Development Delay which restricts her learning and movement. She attends weekly therapy sessions at Heel & Toe Charity which help her with her development, and teaches her to overcome milestones her mum thought would never be possible.

It was a normal day for Lyra who was working hard in her therapy session the day George came to visit Heel & Toe. He was introduced into the session and sat down next to Lyra, they started to play games together and interact, taking an instant liking to each other. From that moment on George knew he wanted to raise more money for the charity and the for the money he raised to go to Lyra’s therapy pot.

What is a therapy pot?

As the charity is not Government funded, needs to raise £500,000 per year to survive and relies solely on public donations and business support, they decided to set up a therapy pot for each child. This therapy pot allows parents, friends and family to fundraise through any means they can and donate the money directly to their selected childs therapy pot. Parents can also access the funds from the therapy pot to pay for additional chargeable services that Heel & Toe provides such as; Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, Speech & Language and SEN Tutoring.

 

What George Did Next…

George decided that he quite liked swimming, in fact he couldn’t actually swim until just 6 months previously so he challenged himself to swim a total of 200 metres and hoped to raise £1000 for Lyra. His parents set up a fundraising page on Just Giving and George began to practice. His amazing challenge was picked up by the local press and he gave his first interview with the Durham Advertiser – CLICK TO READ.

George completed his 200 metre swim in June and managed to raise a fantastic total of £1,117.58!!

Feeling Inspired?

Visit our ‘Meet The Kids’ page on our website for more information on the children we are helping. There are many different ways you can help;

  • Set up a Direct Debit Payment to one of the Children’s Therapy Pots. CLICK HERE FOR INFO
  • Send a one off donation to your chosen child.
  • Organise a fundraising event with money raised going to your chosen child.
  • Take part in one of our organised charity events which we run throughout the year.
  • Choose us as your nominated charity for the year (or the foreseeable future) to raise funds with your friends/family/staff or students.
  • Through your employer, ask your payroll department to set up a standing order to our charity through your place of work (Payroll Charity Giving) CLICK HERE FOR INFO.

 

For more information on how to support us CLICK HERE.