Local charity, Charlie House has been presented with a cheque for £3,500 from Shona MacAskill, chartered financial planner at Gary Walker & Co Wealth Management. £1,000 was raised from Business Networking lunches that Shona held throughout the year and as part of a Senior Partner Practice of St. James’s Wealth Management, Shona requested and received a further £2,500 from the St. James’s Place Charitable Foundation.
“Delighted to be able to support such a worthwhile local charity which has children at it’s very heart. I’d also like to thank the generosity of the ladies who have come along to my networking lunches throughout 2017 and have helped to raise such a wonderful amount.
The charity was founded by Aberdeen mum, Tracy Johnstone, and aims to help make life better for babies, children and young people who have life-threatening or life-limiting conditions, and to support their parents, brothers and sisters, and all those who love them.
Tracy and her husband Craig, experienced difficulties in receiving appropriate support when it was found that Louis, their youngest son, would require 24-hour care, 7 days a week and potentially not live to adulthood. The family tried everywhere locally to get support but there was none; Louis was too complex for most of the local support networks. Eventually, the family had to travel over 100 miles to the nearest support facility.
Tracy, and her husband Craig, became determined to make a difference to other local families in the same situation and the seed for the charity, Charlie House was sown. The charity currently provides support to children with life-limiting conditions and their family in the area by providing a Community Children’s Nurse in partnership with NHS Grampian and through regular activities, coffee mornings and an annual activity short break. The ultimate dream is to build a specialist care and support centre in Aberdeen, the charity is working very hard in making this dream a reality.
As Susan Crighton, director of fundraising, Charlie House comments, “We were delighted when Shona chose Charlie House to receive the donations from her lunches this year and then felt that Christmas had come early when we heard that we were also to receive a further £2,500. £3,500 goes a long way to help us to deliver and expand the activities and services we currently deliver including Activities Club, Siblings Club, Parents Group, activity short breaks and the Charlie House Community Nurse. Our sincere thanks to Shona and to all who supported her lunches and, of course, to the St. James’s Place Charitable Foundation.”
The St. James's Place Charitable Foundation is the charitable arm of St. James's Place Wealth Management. The Foundation has been supporting those in need since the Group’s formation in 1992. As a result of the commitment of its entire community, the Foundation has become one of the most successful company charities in the UK.