A JEWELLERS in Reading has raised a huge amount in support of the Royal Berks Charity paediatric appeal.
With a target of £44,000, the paediatric appeal is hoping to purchase 44 reclining chairs to improve overnight sleeping facilities on the children’s ward.
Clare Allen, communications officer at the charity said:”At the moment the beds are very basic and don’t offer much comfort if you have to stay with your child overnight.
“The new chairs will offer a much more comfortable seat during the day but can then be reclined to provide the best night’s sleep possible.”
Jacobs the Jewellers has helped generate £13,000 towards the fund via multiple channels, including their recent ‘guess the crystals’ and ‘chair share’ schemes.
Adam Jacobs, partner at Jacobs the Jewellers, said: “We support the community that supports us and have been fundraising with the charity for more than a decade.”
Jacobs has had a long-running relationship with the charity and in 2018 raised more than £90,000 towards new equipment for the Berkshire Cancer Centre.
Despite a disruptive couple of years due to the pandemic, Mr. Jacobs and his colleagues were keen to continue their fundraising efforts for the hospital.
Mr Jacobs continued:“Once we got the team back together everyone was keen to restart our work with the charity.
“We like to support a specific appeal and the paediatric appeal made a lot of sense to us as we have lots of customers who are parents/grandparents and have been through the children’s ward and slept on rickety chairs.”
The paediatric ward cares for patients who range in age from newborn babies to 16-years-old and the staff are always looking for ways to enhance the experience.
Delivery of the first ten chairs was made earlier this month and the charity is hopeful the fantastic support they have received from the community will continue.
Kate Martin, fundraising manager at the charity, said: “Some of our appeals had to take a backseat whilst we focused on our NHS staff and ensured their wellbeing was looked after.
“We are really lucky to have people like Adam in our community, doing events and fundraising and we’ve had to really rely on our community to do our fundraising for us with many events being cancelled due to Covid-19.”
Another element of the project is to refurbish the playroom as therapeutic play can often reduce anxiety for children when making their first visits to a hospital.
To learn more about the charitable work of Jacobs the Jewellers, or to partake in their chair share scheme, please visit jacobsthejewellers.com
Alternatively, to research the appeal or make a direct donation, please log onto royalberkscharity.co.uk/paediatric-appeal
