On the evening of Thursday 28th the members of Restoration lodge met for their September meeting in Darlington. This was a double congratulation – Firstly because the lodge collected £250 for the TLC Teddies and secondly £250 for Annabelle Challenge.
Firstly, Steven Hicks asked the members if they could do a collection for the TLC Teddies at this meeting and the lodge raised a celebratory sum of £250.
Secondly £250 for Annabelle Challenge – the story behind this donation began 6 months earlier on the slopes of mount Everest. Jason Brimson who attended to collect the £250 cheque from the lodge and Dave Riches of Restoration, along with a handful of like-minded individuals completed the trek to Everest Base Camp, and one of the reasons for doing this was to raise funds for various charities, in Jason’s case ‘Annabelle’s Challenge’
The following month Dave gave a presentation of the trek to the Lodge, and explained a little about the charity ‘Annabelle’s Challenge’. Dave asked the members of Restoration if they could donate £50 the following month, and Dave was immediately reminded of the generosity of the members to be raised to £250.
Now it’s all very well sending off money to good causes, but Dave likes the personal touch, and thought that £250 is a larger than usual sum, so he invited Jason to attend at the September meeting, so that he could present Jason with a cheque, and he could have an opportunity to explain some more about where the money is going. The charity is still relatively small, so raising awareness is top priority, and Dave thinks he can safely say that has been achieved.
Annabelle’s Challenge is the leading charity for Vascular Ehlers-Danlos syndrome in the UK. At the heart of the charity is Annabelle, a brave little girl from Bury who is the inspiration behind the challenge to raise awareness and support for patients and families affected by vascular EDS. VEDS is a life threatening connective tissue disorder that affects all tissues, arteries and internal organs making them extremely fragile. Patients are at risk of sudden arterial or organ rupture.
Website
https://www.annabelleschallenge.org/
