Sarah Royal from Idle in Bradford donated more than 700 selection boxes to some children in hospitals at Christmas, an annual tradition which has been going on for the past three years.
The beneficiary of this generosity in the first year was Bradford Royal Infirmary (BRI). In the second and third years, Airedale General Hospital was added to the beneficiaries, receiving festive deliveries alongside BRI.
Last year, Sarah who manages Yorkshire Water’s social media channels from their Bradford headquarters requested to get some help from her friends and colleagues so that a third hospital could be included, Calderdale Royal.
The appeal dubbed Yorkshire Water Cares at Christmas supported food banks and homeless charities in the Humber and Yorkshire region again this past year, with donations of basic food supplies and Christmas goodies, including selection boxes. These poured in from kind-hearted colleagues.
Sarah’s target which she set herself was to deliver 350 boxes last year — a target which got duly smashed by all the donations of boxes and cash from her family, colleagues and friends.
Sarah’s friends, Ricky Alonso and Aman Athwal, owners of Northern Granite, have offered to match every selection box collected (up to the 350 target) with a £1 donation to charity so she’s already raised at least £350 for that worthy cause too.
Member of Parliament for Bradford West, Naz Shah, accompanied Sarah en route to her delivery of this ‘Christmas cheer’ to the children of Bradford Royal infirmary on Thursday 22 December 2016.
Sarah said; “It must be awful to be a kid in hospital at Christmas so it’s nice to see them smile when we drop by to say Merry Christmas with our chocolate treats. Thank you so much to everyone who has donated and I’m hoping my appeal will grow again next year.”
Calderdale Royal and Airedale Hospital children’s wards also received a delivery from Sarah on the exact same day along with Holly Lynch MP and Kris Hopkins MP.