A KINDHEARTED Bromsgrove girl has celebrated her tenth birthday by launching a campaign to raise £10,000 in ten weeks for an Alvechurch charity.
Jamie Taylor, who goes to St John’s Middle School, wants to collect the cash for the Baby Ava’s Support Foundation.
The charity’s aim is to provide memory boxes for bereaved parents who have lost children through stillbirth, neonatal death and perinatal mortality – stillbirths and early neonatal deaths under seven days.
The organisation will also raise funds to supply neonatal equipment to hospitals that is not available through the NHS.
The charity was started after the passing of Ava Helene Atkinson. She came into the World on May 26, 2014, at the Alexandra Hospital but due to being born so early she was faced with many health problems and was unable to breathe on her own.
She was too poorly to be transferred to a specialist children’s hospital and hours later, when her condition had not improved, the devastating decision was made to withdraw treatment.
Minutes after coming off ventilation she passed away peacefully surrounded by her family, except her daddy Richard who was flying back into the country at the time.
Even though Richard never got the chance to say hello or goodbye, a memory box handed to the family has been a great source of comfort to him.
Jamie’s quest is based on the ‘paperclip’ challenge where a person take a paperclip and trades it for something more valuable. Then they swap that for something even more valuable and repeat the process until they are left with something of high value.
Jamie started with £10 and initially swapped that for some kitchenware. Several items later and she now has a patio set worth £1,000. By November 14, she hopes to have something worth £10,000 that she can sell on with the cash going to Baby Ava’s Support Foundation.
Jamie told The Standard: “I’ve wanted to do something for charity ever since I was little and when I saw all the brilliant work Richard does for his charity, I asked if I could help.”
Her mum Jo Jeffries said: “I couldn’t be more proud of Jamie, her ideas and her huge heart.
“She is an inspiration and has her sights firmly set on presenting Richard with a cheque for such a huge amount of money.
“So far, it looks as though she is rallying the community to do just that.”
As well as the 10 10 10 challenge, Jamie has also had £260 pledged on her JustGiving page.
“My friends are also doing a ten mile walk with me and we are hoping my school, St John’s Middle, will help us raise money with a non-uniform day too,“ added Jamie.
Go to http://tinyurl.com/z5hlztv to donate to Jamie’s JustGiving page and visit http://www.babyavasfoundation.org/ for more on Baby Ava’s Support Foundation.
